For Mateo Romero’s (Cochiti Pueblo) solo show at Manitou Galleries, coinciding with SWAIA’s Santa Fe Indian Market, the artist showcases his heavy impasto, palette knife paintings that juxtapose the old and the new. “[My work] is based on surface, movement, expressionism, light and feeling,” the artist says. In 12 fresh paintings for Land of Light and Shadows, Romero pushes boundaries while highlighting pueblo culture, and more specifically Tewa Pueblo culture.
Okhúwá Sunset, oil on canvas, 24 x 24”
Romero explains that the show theme is encapsulated in the show title. “Going over my recent work and thinking about the essence of Northern New Mexico landscape,” he says, “it comes down to two main ideas: light and space. A major idea is that the heavy, golden light falling at dusk captures the poeh ha (Tewa) or breath of life in the land. The Rio Grande Pueblo ‘worldview’ holds man as not being distinct from the land as in Western European canons of the sublime. He is instead a part of it and sublimated into it as in Japanese ideas of animism in Shinto religion.”
In an effort to reclaim space and as an Indigenous critique of place, Romero also titles his richly colorful landscape paintings with existing Tewa names. We see this for works like Okhúwá Series and Okhúwá Sunset, with Okhúwá meaning “cloud” in Tewa; Aveh Tsugeh Series #5, which is Tewa for “wild choke cherry place” in reference to the town of Abiquiú; and Misatay Series #4, meaning “church.” These are new subject matter and a new direction for the artist.
Misatay Series #4, oil on canvas, 24 x 24”
“I’m doing a series of Indigenous/pueblo churches for [the show],” shares Romero. “I’m particularly interested in these scenes as I think they offer a glimpse into a cultural synergy that occurs between Native and mainstream. It’s a place where new ideas and ideologies are absorbed into the pueblo world and metabolized in a beautiful way.”
Manitou Galleries general manager, Cyndi Hall, echoes this sentiment. “Romero’s paintings reflect a pattern of evolution and change,” she says. “The artist himself has acknowledged that his work is constantly evolving, with each painting building upon the previous one…By blending old and new, Romero creates a sense of timelessness in his paintings. It is this combination of ancient and modern, stillness and movement, that makes [his] paintings truly unique and captivating…His work not only celebrates the beauty and complexity of Pueblo culture but also invites us to explore and embrace the endless possibilities of growth and transformation in our own lives.”
Aveh Tsugeh Series #5, oil on canvas, 24 x 24”
For his show piece simply titled Storm Clouds, in line with the Okhúwá works, Romero continues on a path of depicting “big sky paintings,” which are meant to be celebratory, joyful and “open to the energy of the sky and color,” he says. The artist’s use of impasto, an aesthetic element inspired by the likes of van Gogh and contemporary artist Louisa McElwain, also contributes to his unique dichotomies surrounding “stillness and movement” mentioned by Hall and strongly present in Storm Clouds.
Land of Light and Shadows opens August 15, with a reception from 5 to 7 p.m., and hangs through August 24. Don’t miss this opportunity to feast upon stunning imagery and honor a bit of history.
Manitou Galleries
August 15-24, 2024
123 W. Palace Avenue, Santa Fe, NM 87501 (505) 986-0440, www.manitougalleries.com
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