"Pillars of Strength"

"A pillar is a bridge between Heaven and Earth. The vertical axis both unites and divides the two. Someone who can be trusted with your stability gives comfort and support through difficult times.  Each piece has the architectural idea of a "pillar" and is a distinctively new direction for my art". 

Arthur Lopez is one of the leading Santos carvers in New Mexico.  The process for Arthur's work is bound in tradition.  After the piece is carved, covered in gesso (a glue made from rabbit hide) which is allowed to dry and then sanded, then painted with natural and watercolor pigment.  Natural colored pigments, such as brown, are derived from black walnut hulls.   These are the time involved and historic foundations for his work.  

We are pleased to present this fantastic body of work from one of the leading Santos artists in the country.  Arthur's artistic expression continues to breakthrough the history of Traditional Spanish Colonial art in New Mexico.  Each piece demonstrates his expressive ideas utilizing and honoring traditional techniques to arrive at his uniquely contemporary, one-of-a-kind creations.  Consistently Arthur has pushed the boundaries of the New Mexico Santero tradition that has placed him a the forefront of his craft.

Arthur's work is found in numerous museum and public collections, including Albuquerque Museum of Art & History,  Denver Art Museum,  Freedom Museum (911 Memorial at Ground Zero), Harwood Museum of Art, Museum of International Folk Art,  Museum of Spanish Colonial Art, and the State of New Mexico Permanent Art Collection.

"My paintings take place on the desert soil known as Piedra De Lumbre, in New Mexico—a sacred landscape from where I watch the sun rise and set over red earth and juniper trees, and my new series based on this land is bound together by the title, Cielos De Arrebol.

In Spanish, the word "arrebol" has a particular meaning tied to the atmosphere: It describes the colors in the clouds evident when the sky glows in the pink-ish sunlight at a particular time of day. My new series focuses on geographical landmarks that are signature to the region, such as the mountains surrounding Ghost Ranch, Abiquiu Lake, and the Pedernal. As a point of reference, most art historians immediately recognize the blue Pedernal mountain area in O'Keeffe's paintings; I painted several miles southwest from this well-known vantage point at Casita De Arrebol. The change in the location provided a change in perspective, a new angle on a well-known subject." Andrea Vargas