Franco Mondini-Ruiz (born 1961) is an American artist who lives and works in

San Antonio, Texas San Antonio ( ; Spanish for "Anthony of Padua, Saint Anthony") is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in Greater San Antonio. San Antonio is the List of Texas metropolitan areas, third-largest metropolitan area in Texa ...

and

New York, New York New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on New York Harbor, one of the world's largest natural harb ...

. He is of Mexican and Italian descent. According to art critic

Roberta Smith Roberta Smith (born 1948) is co-chief art critic of ''The New York Times'' and a lecturer on contemporary art. She is the first woman to hold that position at the Times. Education and early life Born in 1948 in New York City and raised in Lawre ...

, his work "questions notions of preciousness and art-market exclusivity while delivering a fizzy visual pleasure". Mondini-Ruiz takes a variety of approaches to creating art, working in installation, performance, painting, sculpture, and short stories. He was a 2004 Artist-in-Residence at the

McColl Center for Visual Art McColl Center (formerly McColl Center for Art + Innovation) is an artist residency and contemporary art space located at 721 North Tryon Street in Charlotte, North Carolina.20 years of Artists-In-Residence
McColl Center

Infinito Botanica

One of Mondini-Ruiz's earliest major projects was his "Infinito Botanica," an installation that references the Mexican

botánica A botánica (often written botanica and less commonly known as a hierbería or botica) is a religious goods store. The name ''botánica'' is Spanish and translates as "botany" or "plant store," referring to these establishments' function as dis ...

s common in his hometown of

. In the mid-90s Mondini-Ruiz purchased a

on South Flores street in San Antonio that had been in operation since the 1930s. He used this space to create a hybrid installation / store, which he considered "part of a social and figurative sculpture that mixed traditional

fare with his own sculpture and installations, as well as with the contemporary work of local cutting-edge and outsider artists, locally made craft, folk art, cultural artifacts and junk." Mondini-Ruiz has created different site-specific versions of this project at the Center for Curatorial Studies at Bard College (1999), the Whitney Biennial (2000), and the Kemper Art Museum in St Louis (2001).

Piñatas

Mondini-Ruiz has also created a series of piñata versions of famous works of modern and contemporary art. These piñatas have been exhibited at the

Aljira, A Center for Contemporary Art Aljira, a Center for Contemporary Art was an artist-centered space in Newark, New Jersey, United States founded in 1983, designated a Major Arts Organization by New Jersey's State Council on the Arts. Aljira displayed the work of both established ...

in collaboration with the

Newark Museum The Newark Museum of Art, formerly known as the Newark Museum, in Newark, New Jersey is the state's largest museum. It holds major collections of American art, decorative arts, contemporary art, and arts of Asia (including a large collection of T ...

. The exhibition, titled "Mexican Museum of Modern Art" included piñata versions of works by

Donald Judd Donald Clarence Judd (June 3, 1928February 12, 1994) was an American artist associated with minimalism.Tate Modern websit"Tate Modern Past Exhibitions Donald Judd" Retrieved on February 19, 2009. In his work, Judd sought autonomy and clarity for ...

Piet Mondrian Pieter Cornelis Mondriaan (; 7 March 1872 – 1 February 1944), known after 1911 as Piet Mondrian (, , ), was a Dutch Painting, painter and Theory of art, art theoretician who is regarded as one of the greatest artists of the 20th century. He w ...

Andy Warhol Andy Warhol (;''Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary''"Warhol" born Andrew Warhola Jr.; August 6, 1928 – February 22, 1987) was an American visual artist, film director and producer. A leading figure in the pop art movement, Warhol ...

Jeff Koons Jeffrey Lynn Koons (; born January 21, 1955) is an American artist recognized for his work dealing with popular culture and his sculptures depicting everyday objects, including balloon animals produced in stainless steel with mirror- finish s ...

, and many other modern and contemporary artists. A version of this series was also shown at

Artpace Artpace (also known as Artpace San Antonio) is a non-profit contemporary art foundation located in downtown San Antonio, Texas that is free and open to the public. Founded by artist, collector, and philanthropist Linda Pace, Artpace opened its d ...

in San Antonio, this time under the title "Modern Piñatas".

High Pink

In 2005,

Distributed Art Publishers D.A.P./Distributed Art Publishers, Inc. is an American company that distributes and publishes books on art, photography, design, and visual culture.

published Franco Mondini-Ruiz's book "High Pink: Tex-Mex Fairy Tales." The book includes short stories from South Texas and photographs of Mondini-Ruiz's artwork.See

References

External links

Franco Mondini-Ruiz official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mondini-Ruiz, Franco 20th-century American painters American male painters 21st-century American painters American artists of Mexican descent Living people 1961 births St. Mary's University, Texas alumni Artists from San Antonio Painters from New York City American people of Italian descent 20th-century American sculptors 20th-century American male artists American male sculptors Sculptors from New York (state)

Infinito Botanica

Piñatas

High Pink

References

Further reading

External links