Excerpt:
...Nicholas Herrera is a New Mexican santero, an artist
who makes images of saints. But his achievement is a
great deal more than this: he brings to his work a refreshing
and often unexpected look at contemporary society.
Until he began seriously making art,
Herrera’s destructive lifestyle was leading him along
the road that many Hispanic New Mexicans take – to imprisonment
or death. After being involved in a serious car accident,
however, he turned his life around and discovered that
art could provide him with a means of making a living.
It has now become a way of life.
Se Esta
Acabando la Agua / Finishing Up the Water, 2001, 24
x 18 ins., 61 x 45.7 cm, collection of Sheila and Kirk
Ellis, photo: Venus Masci.