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Elias Rivera
Edward Lucie-Smith, Gene Hackman
The magic of Rivera’s art is that it is simultaneously figurative and
abstract, without having to compromise either aspect. Elias Rivera is a
painter whose work both creates timeless images and displays virtuosity
of technique. Born and educated in New York City, Rivera studied at The
Art Students League in the late 1950s and continued to work in New York
until 1982 when he relocated to Santa Fe. During his long career, Rivera
has painted the human drama as it unfolds in settings as varied as civil-rights
demonstrations, subways, rodeos, and the marketplaces of Guatemala,
Mexico and Peru. His classical training and Old Master technique invoke
a true narrative quality rarely seen in contemporary realist painting. This
long-awaited, lavishly illustrated monograph spans forty years of Rivera’s
work and is the first to document his most recent large-scale paintings of
unique marketplaces, street scenes, and the people who inspire them.
Regardless of the particulars of culture, place and time that appear in
each painting, Elias Rivera consistently captures the essence of humanity.
Edward Lucie-Smith is an internationally known art historian, born in
Jamaica and educated in Britain, who has more than one hundred titles
to his credit. Gene Hackman is a two-time Academy Award winning actor
and when in Santa Fe, participates in weekly painting sessions with Elias
Rivera.
Elias Rivera painted social history at its best, from civil rights demonstrations
and rodeo events to daily life in Central and South America, so it's fitting that
the oversized ELIAS RIVERA tribute embraces a wide range of his works
spanning a forty-year time frame. The monograph will prove essential for any
comprehensive art library collection; not just those in Rivera's Santa Fe home:
it gathers his realistic paintings in full color, gives them an oversized format to
gain as much of the real work as possible, and pairs them with actor Gene
Hackman's foreword and Edward Lucie-Smith's art history background to
provide all the insights newcomers need to appreciate Rivera's style and
heritage. There's nothing like it on the market, making it a rare, unique treat.
Hudson Hills Press spared no expense in this large scale, fully color illustrated
monograph of one of the strong figurative painters in America today. Beginning
with a page long statement by Governor Bill Richardson of New Mexico, followed
by an introduction by the artist's friend Gene Hackman, and written by the always
informative and dependable Edward Lucie-Smith, this huge book is overflowing with
the richly color-saturated paintings of American Indians in Mexico and Guatemala
with a nice sampling of Rivera's paintings for the noise of the cities of New York
and Los Angeles. It is a well-detailed visual biography of a painter whose work
continues to enthrall collectors.
http://www.hudsonhills.com/title_detail/197/5/
