Eloquently distilling the essence of daily life in these Indigenous communities, Rivera’s striking canvases are brimming with figures bathed in radiant light and color. With a successful career spanning more than half a century, Elias Rivera (1937 – 2019) was a renowned Santa Fe-based painter. In his vibrant works inspired by Dutch, Spanish, and Italian Old Master paintings, Rivera chronicles vivid scenes of life in New Mexico, Guatemala, Mexico, and Peru. Capturing moments in time, almost cinematically, Rivera portrays bustling markets and the unique customs of these diverse peoples in his exquisite, original compositions.Born in Bronx, NY, Rivera attended the School of Industrial Arts from 1953 to 1954, and then the Art Students League from 1955 to 1961, where he studied with and was mentored by artist Frank Mason. He moved to Santa Fe, New Mexico, in 1982, where he met his future wife, artist Susan Contreras, and lived and worked throughout the rest of his life. Rivera received the Governor’s Award for Excellence in the Arts in 2004. A major monograph entitled Elias Rivera was published in 2006 with an essay by well-known art critic and writer Edward Lucie-Smith. Following a tragic car accident in 2011, Rivera stopped working in 2015 and passed away in 2019 in Santa Fe.