Borderless: The Art of Luis Tapia

Born in Santa Fe, New Mexico, in 1950, sculptor Luis Tapia is a pioneering Chicano artist who for forty-five years has pushed the art of polychrome wood sculpture to new levels of craftsmanship and social and political commentary. Tapia's works speak to the complexity of Latino/Hispano/Chicano identity, history, and contemporary culture, offering compelling insights and challenging perspectives on life in the barrio, on the border, and beyond.

Rooted in a folk art tradition established in seventeenth-century New Mexico, Tapia's work at once honors its origins, reinterprets traditional subject matter, and revitalizes age-old techniques. As an artist and activist whose works have been internationally exhibited and collected, Tapia informs and educates non-Hispanic viewers about the Chicano and Nuevomexicano experience. At the same time, he transcends cultural and ethnic borders through the elegance of his craft and commentary.

In this first publication devoted to Tapia's artistic legacy, leading art historians, curators, and literary figures consider Tapia's art both inside and outside the local and regional contexts in which it is made. With more than 100 photographic reproductions, Borderless illuminates Tapia's relevance and vitality within the broader national and international artistic conversation.

Author: Dana Gioia
Publisher: Museum of Latin American Art
Published: 07/12/2017
Pages: 204
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 4.35lbs
Size: 12.30h x 10.40w x 0.90d
ISBN: 9780980108088


Review Citation(s):
Library Journal 11/15/2017 pg. 78

About the Author
Hayes, Edward: - Edward Hayes is curator of exhibitions at the Museum of Latin American Art (MOLAA), a position he began in 2013 after working at the McNay Art Museum in San Antonio. Hayes curated MOLAA's Luis Tapia: Cada mente es un mundo (2017) and has coordinated numerous other MOLAA exhibitions, including Dreamland: A Frank Romero Retrospective (2017), Korda: Revolutionary Photographer (2015), Frida Kahlo, Her Photos (2014), and Neomexicanism (2014). Hayes is author of Dreamland: A Frank Romero Retrospective and has supported several McNay publications, including Andy Warhol: Fame and Misfortune (2012) and Estampas de la Raza: Contemporary Prints from the Romo Collection (2012).Lippard, Lucy R.: - Lucy R. Lippard is a writer, activist, sometime curator, and author of twenty-four books on contemporary art and cultural criticism, including Undermining: A Wild Ride through Land Use, Politics and Art in the Changing West (2014), Down Country: The Tano of the Galisteo Basin, 1250-1782 (2010), Mixed Blessings: New Art in a Multicultural America (1990), and The Lure of the Local: Senses of Place in a Multicentered Society (1997). Recipient of nine honorary degrees, a Guggenheim fellowship, and a Lannan grant, among other awards, she lives off the grid in rural New Mexico, where she edits the monthly community newsletter El Puente de Galisteo.Gioia, Dana: - Dana Gioia is the Poet Laureate of California. He is the author of five collections of poetry, including Interrogations at Noon (2001), which won the American Book Award, and 99 Poems: New & Selected (2016). His three critical collections include Can Poetry Matter? (1992), which was a finalist for the National Book Critics Award. Gioia has written three opera libretti and edited twenty literary anthologies. He served as chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts from 2003 to 2009. He holds the Judge Widney Chair of Poetry and Public Culture at the University of Southern California.

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