Antique

Nicholas Herrera sits in his studio, with a work in progress sitting just over his shoulder.(Photos are courtesy of David Michael Kennedy, another El Rito native, who was featured on NPR in 2011.)



The Three Kings Pasando Por Nuevo Mexico, by Nicholas Herrera.



The Last Supper, by Nicholas Herrera.


There are two things that have put El Rito on the map. In the little village in northern New Mexico, there's a tiny cafe that serves the best red-chili Frito pie in the world. And then there's the santero — Nicholas Herrera.
"This is where I live," says Herrera. "This is my studio."

As a santero, or saint carver, Herrera continues a tradition of Spanish religious art that goes back to the 1700s in this remote part of the American Southwest. But his works are not relics. He carves edgy, comic, satirical pieces that reflect contemporary realities of the hispanos of the high desert.
Herrera is 51 and still looks like the biker he once was. His black hair falls in a braid down his back; he wears a thick, droopy mustache and a jean jacket.
In his sunbathed studio, he creates art that holds up a mirror to this scenic and socially troubled land. On his table, for instance, is a work in progress. Two police officers standing about a foot high are pointing handguns at a teenager. The teen represents a popular El Rito boy named Victor Villapando, who was shot and killed by the police last summer. He reached for a toy pistol; some say he was suicidal. A grand jury chose not to indict the officer.

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