Mateo Romero (born 1966) is a
Native American painter. He was born in
Berkeley, California
Berkeley ( ) is a city on the eastern shore of San Francisco Bay in northern Alameda County, California, United States. It is named after the 18th-century Irish bishop and philosopher George Berkeley. It borders the cities of Oakland and E ...
, and is a member of the
Cochiti Pueblo
Cochiti (; Eastern Keresan: Kotyit ʰocʰi̥tʰ– "Forgotten", Navajo: ''Tǫ́ʼgaaʼ'') is a census-designated place (CDP) in Sandoval County, New Mexico, United States. A historic pueblo of the Cochiti people, it is part of the Albuquerque Met ...
.
Background
Mateo Romero was born on December 9, 1966. His father, Santiago Romero was a Southern Keresan Cochiti artist.
["Mateo Romero: 2008 Indian Market Poster Artist." ''Towa Artists''](_blank)
(retrieved 17 Jan 09) His mother is Nellie Guth, a European-American.
[Clark, Garth. ''Free Spirit: The New Native American Potter.'' Hertogenbosch, Netherlands: Stedelijik Museum's, 2006: 102-123.] His father's mother, Teresita Chavez Romero, was a traditional
ceramicist
Ceramic art is art made from ceramic materials, including clay. It may take forms including artistic pottery, including tableware, tiles, figurines and other sculpture. As one of the plastic arts, ceramic art is one of the visual arts. Wh ...
, known for her seated clay figurines and functional jars or ''ollas''.
[Schaaf, Gregory. "Four Painters." ''Native Peoples Magazine.''](_blank)
2 Jan 2005 (retrieved 17 Jan 09) Mateo's Indian name is ''He-tse-tewa'' or "War Shield."
Art career
Romero attended
Dartmouth College
Dartmouth College (; ) is a private research university in Hanover, New Hampshire. Established in 1769 by Eleazar Wheelock, it is one of the nine colonial colleges chartered before the American Revolution. Although founded to educate Native ...
,
Hanover
Hanover (; german: Hannover ; nds, Hannober) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Lower Saxony. Its 535,932 (2021) inhabitants make it the 13th-largest city in Germany as well as the fourth-largest city in Northern Germany ...
,
New Hampshire
New Hampshire is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Gulf of Maine to the east, and the Canadian province of Quebec to the nor ...
and studied under
Varujan Boghosian and Frank Moss.
He briefly attended the
Institute of American Indian Arts
The Institute of American Indian Arts (IAIA) is a public tribal land-grant college in Santa Fe, New Mexico. The college focuses on Native American art. It operates the Museum of Contemporary Native Arts (MoCNA), which is housed in the historic S ...
. At the
University of New Mexico
The University of New Mexico (UNM; es, Universidad de Nuevo México) is a public research university in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Founded in 1889, it is the state's flagship academic institution and the largest by enrollment, with over 25,400 ...
in
Albuquerque
Albuquerque ( ; ), ; kee, Arawageeki; tow, Vakêêke; zun, Alo:ke:k'ya; apj, Gołgéeki'yé. abbreviated ABQ, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of New Mexico. Its nicknames, The Duke City and Burque, both reference its founding in ...
, Romero earned his MFA Degree in printmaking.
At the
School for Advanced Research
The School for Advanced Research (SAR), until 2007 known as the School of American Research and founded in 1907 as the School for American Archaeology (SAA), is an advanced research center located in Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA. Since 1967, the s ...
, he furthered his painting techniques as a Dubin Fellow in 2002. In 2008, he was chosen to be the
SWAIA Indian Market poster artist.
Mateo began painting narrative scenes providing social commentary on contemporary Pueblo life. Subject matter for his paintings falls into four categories: "Addictions," "Indian Gaming," "
Bonnie and Clyde," and "Voices at Wounded Knee," according to writer Gregory Schaaf, PhD.
He moved towards
mixed media
In visual art, mixed media describes artwork in which more than one medium or material has been employed.
Assemblages, collages, and sculpture are three common examples of art using different media. Materials used to create mixed media art incl ...
and began working with historical photographs his "Dancers" series, which employs a technique he personally invented that incorporates asphalt into the surface.
Romero's work was part of ''Stretching the Canvas: Eight Decades of Native Painting'' (2019–21), a survey at the
in New York.
Personal
Romero lives in
Pojoaque Pueblo with his wife, Melissa, and their three children, Rain, Povi, and Erik.
His brother,
Diego Romero is also a successful artist.
References
Collections
Peabody Essex Museum
The Peabody Essex Museum (PEM) in Salem, Massachusetts, US, is a successor to the East India Marine Society, established in 1799. It combines the collections of the former Peabody Museum of Salem (which acquired the Society's collection) and th ...
External links
Mateo Romero Vision Project, by Jessica R. Metcalfe
Peabody Essex Museum
{{DEFAULTSORT:Romero, Mateo
1966 births
Painters from New Mexico
Dartmouth College alumni
Living people
Native American painters
Institute of American Indian Arts alumni
Pueblo artists
Academy of Art University alumni
20th-century Native Americans
21st-century Native Americans