RICHARD ‘RICKY’ ARMENDARIZ AMERICAN, B. 1969, FOOL FOR LOVE, 2023, Woodblock print, 26 x 22 in, 66 x 55.9 cm, Edition of 10
February 8 – April 19, 2024
Richard ‘Ricky’ Armendariz
Ruiz-Healy Art
In Person Viewing:
74 East 79th Street, 2D New York, NY 10075
Online Viewing:
Thursday, February 8th, 6:00-8:00 PM
Showcasing three oils on carved birch wood, along with the companion’s prints, presents to the viewer the process of woodblock creation. Armendariz uses power tools to carve away at birch wood panels meticulously. The carving produces a traditional woodblock print: an image achieved through the artistic process of carving by thinking backward and using negative and positive space.
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. The exhibition takes its title from a Charles Bukowski poem, The Laughing Heart: “You can’t beat death but/ You can beat death in life, sometimes./ And the more often you learn to do it,/ The more light there will be./ Your life is your life./ Know it while you have it./ You are marvelous/ The gods wait to delight/ In you.”
The desire to assign symbolism to animals sharing our world connects human cultures across time. Armendariz states that many works in the exhibition are “tied to our current state of the border, the exodus of people from one country to another, looking for a better life.”
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.
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.”
