Luis Tapia Ay Que Vida!

Luis Eligio Tapia is one of the leading contemporary Hispanic artists in the united States. From the 1970s, when Tapia first began to paint his carved wood figures of saints, he has led the traditional carving and painting arts of New Mexico in bold new directions. Tapia's keen interpretations of modern culture and daily life in his native northern New Mexico are unexpected, ironic, colourful windows of culture that reflect the artist's abundant sense of humour and humanity. His work is irreverent, not out of disrespect for traditional culture or religion, but as a challenge to contemporary society in its encouragement of uniformity and elitist definitions of class, style and beauty.Quirarte, Jacinto is the author of 'Luis Tapia Ay Que Vida!', published 2003 under ISBN 9780890134368 and ISBN 0890134367.