the Governor's Arts Award Winners

Arthur López

Santa Fe

2022 Recipient, Visual Artist

Arthur López (Santa Fe) a contemporary wood santero sculptor whose work pushes the boundaries of traditional santero art. He has been exhibited internationally, including at KOHI-Kulturraum in Karlsruhe, Germany, and LAProjects in Landshut, Germany. Arthur López was born and raised in Santa Fe and is proud to be working in the long tradition of New Mexico santero artists. A key desire of his is to transcend the bounds of the traditional santero art and use his art as a medium for expressing the full range of his culture and the world around him. He is a 2019 United States Artists Fellow in Traditional Arts and in 2017 he received The Folk Art Society of America's Award of Distinction for giving the santero tradition a contemporary style and being a leader in design and meaning. In 2015 he was awarded the City of Santa Fe's Mayor's Award for Excellence in the Arts. His work has been exhibited internationally at the 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art at the 2nd International Triennial of Kogei, when the theme was "The Arts Grounded in Region," as well as a part of "Song of the West" at KOHI-Kulturraum in Karlsruhe, Germany and "The Saints From a Land So Remote" from LAProjects in Landshut, Germany.