Ruiz-Healy Art
Richard 'Ricky' Armendariz: The Gods Wait To Delight In You...C.B.
Richard 'Ricky' Armendariz: The Gods Wait To Delight In You...C.B.
Richard 'Ricky' Armendariz
The exhibit features new woodblock prints along with unique oil on carved Baltic birch reliefs that illustrate traditional printmaking techniques and non-traditional carving techniques. The result displays the intricate mark-making process and allows multiple colors to shine through in the crevices of the carved wood. Armendariz’s work explores the American Southwest’s cultural and biographical narratives drawn from classic novels, poetry, Tejano, and country music lyrics. Much of Armendariz’s work references song lyrics, reinforcing the link between words' nuanced meanings and imagery.
Throughout his career, the animal world has been a significant source of inspiration, representing emotions, conflicts, personal experiences, and more. Armendariz incorporates highly saturated color choices that pay homage to astrological signs, the supernatural, and song lyrics. Armendariz’s opus references Greek and Mesoamerica mythology and iconography alongside Mexican, American, and Indigenous cultures and the flora and fauna native to the American Southwest. The archetypical animals, coyotes, rabbits, owls, and birds, are enigmatic and reused and, in turn, recontextualized by the artist, becoming antagonists and protagonists. Anthropomorphized animals in motion serve as stand-ins for the metaphorical and literal idea of the movement of people, whether forced or involuntary. Animals in flux make up the exhibition: hawks fly down in the air together, rabbits and birds flee, and a female skeleton rides her horse.
Image Credit:
Richard 'Ricky' Armendariz, "The Gods Wait to Delight in You," 2023, Signed and dated lower right, numbered lower left, Wood block print, 49.75 x 30.5 in, 126.4 x 77.5 cm, Edition 1 of 5
Charles Bukowski
Richard 'Ricky' Armendariz, "It's Complicated (after Zeus and Callisto)," 2021, Signed and dated lower right, numbered lower left, Woodblock print, 43 x 64 in, 109.2 x 162.6 cm, Edition 2 of 5
Richard 'Ricky' Armendariz, "La Muerte y su Caballo," 2023, Signed and dated lower right, numbered lower left, Wood block print, 25.75 x 49.75 in, 65.4 x 126.4 cm, Edition of 1 of 5
Richard 'Ricky' Armendariz, "Wish I Could Leave Well Enough Alone," 2023, Signed and dated lower right, numbered lower left, Oil on carved birch wood, 48 x 28 in, 121.9 x 71.1 cm
Armendariz was born and raised in El Paso and resides in San Antonio, Texas. “Romanticism for the American landscape and the hybridization of Mexican, American, and Indigenous cultures have always informed the content of my work. Images with cultural, biographical, art, and historical references are carved into the surfaces of my woodblocks. I use traditional printmaking techniques and non-traditional carving methods to achieve my aesthetic. The content found in classic novels, poems, and song lyrics is referenced to elevate and reinforce the conceptual link between the nuanced meanings of words and my imagery. Themes involving power dynamics, destiny, and the role chance plays in our lives make up the conceptual backbone of my work.”
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Ruiz-Healy Art
201-A East Olmos Drive, San Antonio, Texas 78212 | 74 East 79th Street, 2D, New York, New York 10075
210.804.2219 | 646.833.7709
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