Contemporary artist Mateo Romero ’89, who lives on the Pojoaque Pueblo reservation in New Mexico with his wife and children, has established a reputation for vibrant paintings and mixed media pieces that portray Southwest Native culture. Many compositions use thick layers of paint to depict ceremonial dances and feast-day celebrations, sometimes incorporating historical images or Romero’s own photography. His work is in private and public collections around the world, including the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian and the Hood Museum. “Painting for me has the potential to connect people to each other,” he says. “It’s not just a Native thing. It’s a human experience.”  

Read more about Romero in the January/February 2017 issue of DAM.