Arthur Lopez – “Cecilia-Vox: Mariachi Spectacular”, Saint Cecilia, Wood Santos
$ 12,500.00
Arthur Lopez is one of the leading Santos carvers in New Mexico. This piece is entitled “Cecilia-Vox: Mariachi Spectacular”. The piece is part of his 2026 show, Altar Visions of the West. .
Don’t miss this extraordinary, brilliantly colorful live musical broadcast straight from the soul of the Southwest. In this visually stunning fine art presentation, St. Cecilia—the patron saint of music and singers—is beautifully reimagined as a festive New Mexican mariachi vocalist. Watch as she strums her guitar mid-song on a historic Santa Fe adobe street, flanked by two trumpet-playing mariachi cherubs floating against a blazing sunset sky. This sacred, regional scene is uniquely staged as a live broadcast glowing from within a meticulously hand-carved, retro 1950s Philco Predicta-inspired television cabinet. It is a masterful, nostalgic blend of styling and deep-rooted visual art you won’t want to miss.
Arthur wrote of his show “Altar-Visions of the West”.
For generations, the global imagination has seen the American West through a cinematic lens—a landscape of Hollywood soundstages, romanticized archetypes, and exported myths. This vintage broadcast loop of cowboys and outlaws created a beautiful, shared story, but it often drifted above a much deeper, more tangible cultural reality that has thrived here for centuries. In Altar Visions of the West, radical regionalist Arthur Lopez tunes out the static of the mythologized frontier to celebrate the enduring, sacred craftsmanship rooted in the actual earth of the region. In this series, the mid-century television set is reimagined as a contemporary altar. Just as traditional New Mexican altar screens have historically provided a window into the divine, the vintage screen provided a window into a beautifully fabricated mythology. Lopez playfully collapses the distance between the sacred and the modern by hand-carving these “television” vessels entirely from wood, housing his figures within them. Every knob, vent, and screen is meticulously rendered by hand and finished with natural and water-based pigments— transforming the mass-produced geometry of industrial design into an intimate, artisan creation. While these works draw directly from a deep-rooted regional lineage, they transcend the boundaries of traditional devotional objects to stand as masterful works of contemporary fine art.
Lopez uses his virtuosic carving skills to engage in a sophisticated, witty dialogue with modern media. The result is a stunning technical paradox: rigid, mid-century technology sculpted from organic native materials. These pieces do not rely on found electronic components; they are skilled feats of pure sculpture, where every grain line and chiseled dial represents a deliberate aesthetic choice. Within these labor-intensive wooden consoles, the figures stand as the true, enduring anchors of regional identity. The individual pieces in the exhibition serve as specific, conceptual channels.
Altar-Visions of the West is an invitation to look past the screen and touch the grain. It reminds us that while myths are transmitted through airwaves, true culture is carved from the earth. Through this stunning new body of work, Lopez honors the hand of the artisan and proves that in a fast-paced digital era, the most radical act an artist can perform is to stay deeply, unapologetically rooted in their own culture.
The process for Arthur’s work is bound in tradition. After the piece is carved, it is covered in gesso (a glue made from rabbit hide), which is allowed to dry and then sanded. It is painted with both natural and watercolor pigments. Natural colored pigments, such as brown, are derived from black walnut hulls. These are the time involved and historic foundations for his work.
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Arthur Lopez is one of the leading Santos carvers in New Mexico. This piece is entitled “Cecilia-Vox: Mariachi Spectacular”. The piece is part of his 2026 show, Altar Visions of the West. .
Don’t miss this extraordinary, brilliantly colorful live musical broadcast straight from the soul of the Southwest. In this visually stunning fine art presentation, St. Cecilia—the patron saint of music and singers—is beautifully reimagined as a festive New Mexican mariachi vocalist. Watch as she strums her guitar mid-song on a historic Santa Fe adobe street, flanked by two trumpet-playing mariachi cherubs floating against a blazing sunset sky. This sacred, regional scene is uniquely staged as a live broadcast glowing from within a meticulously hand-carved, retro 1950s Philco Predicta-inspired television cabinet. It is a masterful, nostalgic blend of styling and deep-rooted visual art you won’t want to miss.
Arthur wrote of his show “Altar-Visions of the West”.
For generations, the global imagination has seen the American West through a cinematic lens—a landscape of Hollywood soundstages, romanticized archetypes, and exported myths. This vintage broadcast loop of cowboys and outlaws created a beautiful, shared story, but it often drifted above a much deeper, more tangible cultural reality that has thrived here for centuries. In Altar Visions of the West, radical regionalist Arthur Lopez tunes out the static of the mythologized frontier to celebrate the enduring, sacred craftsmanship rooted in the actual earth of the region. In this series, the mid-century television set is reimagined as a contemporary altar. Just as traditional New Mexican altar screens have historically provided a window into the divine, the vintage screen provided a window into a beautifully fabricated mythology. Lopez playfully collapses the distance between the sacred and the modern by hand-carving these “television” vessels entirely from wood, housing his figures within them. Every knob, vent, and screen is meticulously rendered by hand and finished with natural and water-based pigments— transforming the mass-produced geometry of industrial design into an intimate, artisan creation. While these works draw directly from a deep-rooted regional lineage, they transcend the boundaries of traditional devotional objects to stand as masterful works of contemporary fine art.
Lopez uses his virtuosic carving skills to engage in a sophisticated, witty dialogue with modern media. The result is a stunning technical paradox: rigid, mid-century technology sculpted from organic native materials. These pieces do not rely on found electronic components; they are skilled feats of pure sculpture, where every grain line and chiseled dial represents a deliberate aesthetic choice. Within these labor-intensive wooden consoles, the figures stand as the true, enduring anchors of regional identity. The individual pieces in the exhibition serve as specific, conceptual channels.
Altar-Visions of the West is an invitation to look past the screen and touch the grain. It reminds us that while myths are transmitted through airwaves, true culture is carved from the earth. Through this stunning new body of work, Lopez honors the hand of the artisan and proves that in a fast-paced digital era, the most radical act an artist can perform is to stay deeply, unapologetically rooted in their own culture.
The process for Arthur’s work is bound in tradition. After the piece is carved, it is covered in gesso (a glue made from rabbit hide), which is allowed to dry and then sanded. It is painted with both natural and watercolor pigments. Natural colored pigments, such as brown, are derived from black walnut hulls. These are the time involved and historic foundations for his work.
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Lopez, Arthur (b. 1971)
Arthur Lopez
Arthur Lopez (b.1971) said, "I firmly believe that you can still use traditional methods to create contemporary work."
Though most of Arthur's work represents Saints, you do not have to be of any particular religion to appreciate them as art. Equally crucial to López is his need to transcend the bounds of the traditional santero and use his art to express the full range of his culture and the world around him. López has exhibited in numerous shows throughout the Southwest and is in many prominent museum collections nationwide. His work has been exhibited internationally at the 2nd International Triennial of Kogei - "The Arts Grounded in Region," 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa, Japan; "Song of the West," Kohi Kulturaum, Karlsruhe, Germany and "The Saints From a Land So Remote" - LAProjects, Landshut, Germany. Arthur Lopez was born and raised in Santa Fe, New Mexico, and he is proud to be working in the long tradition of New Mexico santero artists. His keen attention to detail has garnered him many awards, and he is highly esteemed as one of New Mexico's most popular santero wood sculptors. In 2015 Arthur Lopez was awarded the City of Santa Fe Mayor's Award for Excellence in the Arts.
"My work comes out of my faith."