Signed Rivera,lower right

Provenance:  Private Collection,Los Angeles,California acquired from Riva Yares Gallery,Santa Fe,New Mexico Elias Rivera was born in 1937 of Puerto Rican parents living in the Bronx.  He attended the Art Students League under the tutelage of Frank Mason and painted somewhat disturbing canvases of raw life and strife in the New York area.  After moving to Santa Fe,New Mexico in 1982 his palette blossomed under the sun of the high desert and his work was influenced by the Native American culture of Santa Fe. Rivera began to visit Guatemala because he believed the culture was rich and loved the colors and patterns of the fabrics.   Here he began to fully realize his powerful palette,once again painting ordinary people clustered in life situations similar to Fruits of Harvest. The drama of Rivera's painting comes from the almost abstract color fields he creates in his drapery of the costumes: his paintings are never forced or posed - they are just captured moments of fascinating mood and humanity.