Artist Spotlight - Tlacaelel Fuentes — Contemporary Art Curator Magazine

Photo by Michael Gorman of the Michael Gormant Gallery

Biography

On a late summer afternoon in Taos, New Mexico USA, the scent of sagebrush lingers in the air as artist and performer Patricio Tlacaelel Trujillo y Fuentes prepares to step onto the stage September 20th and 21st. Dressed in ceremonial costume, framed by swirling fog and dimmed lights, he becomes not just a performer but a conduit—of memory, movement, and myth.

Ventana Rosa, 2000. Cut paper, 81.3 cm x 101.6 cm. In the permanent collection of the Millicent Rogers Museum of Taos, New Mexico

Last fall, his one-man adaptation of Yo Soy Joaquín, Rodolfo “Corky” Gonzales’s iconic Chicano poem, was staged at the Taos Center for the Arts. For Tlacaelel, the performance is both homage and offering.
“I was born into this poem,” he says. “The sound of the Brown Berets marching in cadence still echoes in me.”

Eternal Flame, 2016. Cut paper, 45.72 cm x 68.58 cm

Known widely by his singular given name, Tlacaelel is a force of nature in New Mexico’s cultural landscape. His multidisciplinary career spans performance, visual art, and curation, all animated by a deeply personal pursuit of expression. His works, whether danced, spoken, or delicately cut into paper, embody a rare kind of intensity—rooted in tradition yet never content to remain still.

Saint Francis, 1999. Cut paper, 76 cm x 109 cm

Last year, 2025 Tlacaelel co-curated ¡CHICANAO! Caminos Distintos, a landmark exhibition of Chicano art at the Millicent Rogers Museum, where his own papel picado installations was also on view. Their finely incised layers recall generations of ceremonial craft, yet his compositions hum with contemporary urgency—an aesthetic both reverent and defiant.

The Ranch, Cut paper, 15.24 cm x 20.32 cm

His path to this moment has been anything but linear. Born and raised in the Southwest, he trained under celebrated modernists such as poet Owen Dodson and choreographer Paul Sanasardo, and has performed with El Teatro Campesino in California and at New York’s MoMA. Along the way, he’s collected not only accolades but a fierce sense of creative independence.

Orange Sunlight, 1992. Cut paper, 22.86 cm x 22.86 cm

“He doesn’t separate art from life,” says longtime friend and gallery partner Michael Gorman, who represents Tlacaelel at the Michael Gorman Gallery in Taos. “There’s an obsessive rhythm to his work—it’s physical, poetic, and always evolving.”

Nuestra Señora de la Luz / Our Lady of the Light, 2023. Cut paper, 139.7 cm x 88.9 cm

In June of 2025, Tlacaelel’s cut-paper works were featured at Art Santa Fe’s 25th anniversary show, drawing attention for their layered complexity and striking cultural synthesis. Whether performing live or presenting a new visual piece, he invites his audience to look more closely—at their roots, their rituals, and the stories passed down between them.

The Rose, Cut paper, 27.94 cm x 43.18 cm

And while his work often dances on the edge of the political, it resists easy classification. What emerges instead is something both ancient and immediate—a style, a voice, a presence.

Xoloitzuintli, 2021. Cut paper, 60.96 cm x 45.72 cm. In a private collection.

With more projects on the horizon and ongoing representation through the Michael Gorman Gallery, Tlacaelel remains devoted to the work, however it takes shape. “I will keep going,” he says, smiling, “until they throw me away, like a little church mouse.”

Intersection of Aztec and Spaniard, 2019. Cut paper, 25.4 cm x 20.32 cm

But anyone who’s seen him in motion knows: Tlacaelel is not going anywhere. His story—like his art—moves forward with grace, grit, and unrelenting soul.

Soutwetern Landscape USA, 2021, cut paper, 28 cm x 43 cm

Artist Statement

Cut paper has been a fascination for me since a very young age. I've always enjoyed the feel of paper and scissors in my hand. Rice paper, handmade paper, construction paper and other textured papers are my medium for creating my work. Since paper is easily obtained, and I grew up poor, paper became my obsession. My first experience was at the age of five, and at age 68, I continue to cut paper.

Plate, 1992. Cut paper on dinner plate, 23 cm

My work has been featured in magazines, newspapers and art reviews. I have had exhibitions in art galleries, restaurants, community centers and museums. Most recently my work was added to the permanent collection of the Millicent Rogers Museum in Taos, New Mexico, and this summer I will present it in Santa Fe, New Mexico in an art fair sponsored by the Redwood Art Group in a show titled, Art Santa Fe.

People from around the United States have collected my work for their homes and offices and a few have become patrons of my work. I often don't title my work so that people are free to explore the works on their own, as opposed to me titeling them, and therefore suggesting what the viewer should see.

Flowers for Vase 60.96 cm x 45.72 cm. In a private collection.

My first exhibitions took place in New York City where I did performance art at the Museum of Modern Art, and showed my cut paper at La Mama Gallery. Today my works have been shown at the Albuquerque Museum, the Millicent Rogers Musuem and this July 9th through 11th at the Santa Fe Convention Center, which will attract artists from all over the world.

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