Elias Rivera is a painter whose work creates timeless images. His classical training and Old Master technique evoke a true narrative quality rarely seen in contemporary realist painting. Vibrant colours and varied light play off of figures and settings in Rivera’s inspired portraits. Regardless of the particulars of culture, place and time that appear in each painting, Elias Rivera consistently captures the essence of humanity. Each painting “reflects a moment in time, a thought, or feeling,” as actor and friend Gene Hackman writes in the foreword. In New Mexico, Rivera began painting the native populations – capturing bright clothing and a different kind of daily life. These bold, brightly coloured compositions quickly established him as an internationally acclaimed painter. "Raised in New York City, Rivera moved to New Mexico as an adult. Many of his paintings depict the brightly colored southwestern fashions and crowded marketplaces of Guatemala, where he spent time in the ’80s. Lucie-Smith briefly introduces the artist and the book in the first fourteen pages, and the rest is left to the beauty of the paintings." - Foreword Reviews