Work by UTSA's Ricky Armendariz is on display at Ruiz-Healy Art through Dec. 6

"Zeus Dreams of Himself," 2014, oil on carved panel, Ricky Armendariz

(Nov. 25, 2014) -- Ruiz-Healy Art will host a solo exhibition of new works by Ricky Armendariz, UTSA associate professor of art and art history, through Saturday, Dec. 6. The exhibit, "In the Belly of the Beast," features oil-on-carved-panel works and wood block prints.

Born in El Paso, Texas, Armendariz is known for his carved paintings and text-based imagery. The works begin as moody depictions of desert sunsets or night skies, and then use disruptive humor to ask questions about identity and place.

The exhibit title refers to a painting by Francisco Goya known as "Saturn Devouring His Son," a disturbing portrait that illustrates the Roman myth of the Titan Saturn eating his children one by one as they are born in order to thwart a foretelling that he would be overthrown by one of his offspring. His son Jupiter, hidden by Saturn's wife, fulfills the prophecy.

Armendariz' landscapes contain Native American stories intertwined with Greek mythologies with a thread of tragedy running throughout. Text in the paintings combines Spanish and English sayings, which come from the artist's roots in the U.S.-Mexico borderlands.

"Landscape is synonymous with our culture," says Armendariz, speaking of the Tejano identification with the staggering expanse of land and sky that is Texas.

Into a lush backdrop, he cuts intricate images of birds, animals and other symbols of life in the Southwest and emblems of motion and conflict. Phrases of his own invention or culled from song lyrics are added. In some pieces, words dominate the work.

Armendariz received his Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from UTSA in 1995 and his Master of Fine Arts degree from the University of Colorado at Boulder in 1999. In 2013 he was an artist in residence at Künstlerhaus Bethanien Berlin, Germany.

His work is in the permanent collections of the Denver Art Museum and San Antonio Museum of Art, and has been exhibited at the Dallas Contemporary; Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Bogota, Colombia; Ningxia University, Yinchuan, China; Academia de San Carlos, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, México D.F.; and Mexic-Arte Museum in Austin, among many other venues.

Founded in 2004, Ruiz-Healy Art is in the historic Olmos Park district at 201-A East Olmos Drive, San Antonio, Texas, 78212. The gallery specializes in contemporary and modern art with an emphasis on Latin American and Texas-connected artists. Gallery hours are 11 a.m.-4 p.m., Tuesday-Saturday, and by appointment.

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For more information, contact Ruiz-Healy Art at 210-804-2219 or email Alana Coates.

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