Upcoming Exhibition: October 24, 2025 — November 30, 2025
Manos de Memoria brings together the distinctive voices of New Mexico artists Eric Romero and Vicente Telles in a collaborative exhibition. Through works rooted in deep cultural memory, ritual, faith, and labor, both artists invite the viewer to engage with the hands—the makers’ hands—as vessels of lineage, resilience, and creative transformation.
Eric Romero
Eric Romero (B. 1983) is a painter whose work is inspired by the histories, rituals, and landscapes of his native New Mexico. Using traditional oil painting techniques, his allegorical figurative artworks blend the discipline of the old masters with the myths, stories, and spiritual practices that define the culture of the region.
Romero’s pieces often explore themes of faith, memory, and survival. Through symbolic gestures, carefully composed scenes, and intricate details, his figures act as witnesses to lived experiences, reflecting the resilience and endurance of cultural traditions. His paintings strike a balance between the sacred and the everyday, allowing narratives and meanings to emerge gradually, layer by layer.
As a self-taught artist, Romero approaches his work with intention and patience, developing each piece over time to create images that serve as spaces for reflection. His art emphasizes the importance of history, storytelling, and belief in shaping the present. Romero’s paintings are included in various private and public collections, as well as notable exhibitions.
Vicente Telles
Vicente Telles (B. 1983) is a Santero and Cultural Iconographer whose work navigates the tension between tradition and reinvention. Rooted in the centuries-old practices of his native New Mexico, Telles began painting retablos—saints rendered on hand-carved wood—using pigments ground from local clays and minerals, layered on homemade gesso and sealed with piñon sap varnish. For Telles, the act of making is an act of devotion: to his ancestors, to the land, and to the survival of cultural memory.
Pushing beyond traditional forms, Telles reimagines Catholic and cultural iconography, expanding the Santero practice into contemporary contexts. Working with textiles, handmade papers, and salvaged or repurposed materials, his images inhabit the space between the sacred and the everyday, insisting that heritage is not static but alive and evolving. “Being a Santero and Cultural Iconographer,” he explains, “means being a teacher, a student, and an observer of tradition, and a maker of the contemporary.”
Through this lens, Telles’s Santos and contemporary works transcend religion, becoming symbols for resilience, continuity, and the changing face of heritage. His art embodies both devotion and disruption, preserving centuries of practice alive while reinterpreting its themes and motifs for modern life. Telles’s work is included in private and public collections throughout the United States and abroad.