Franco Mondini-Ruiz
Encyclopedia
Franco Mondini-Ruiz is an American artist who lives and works in New York, New York and San Antonio, Texas
. He is of Mexican and Italian descent. According to art critic Roberta Smith
, 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.
s common in his hometown of San Antonio, Texas
. In the mid-90s Mondini-Ruiz purchased a botánica
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 botánica
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).
. The exhibition, titled "Mexican Museum of Modern Art" included piñata versions of works by Donald Judd
, Piet Mondrian
, Andy Warhol
, Jeff Koons
, and many other modern and contemporary artists. A version of this series was also shown at Artpace
in San Antonio, this time under the title "Modern Piñatas".
San Antonio, Texas
San Antonio is the seventh-largest city in the United States of America and the second-largest city within the state of Texas, with a population of 1.33 million. Located in the American Southwest and the south–central part of Texas, the city serves as the seat of Bexar County. In 2011,...
. He is of Mexican and Italian descent. According to art critic Roberta Smith
Roberta Smith
Roberta Smith is an art critic for the New York Times and a lecturer on contemporary art.Born in New York City and raised in Lawrence, Kansas, Smith studied at Grinnell College in Iowa. Her career in the arts started in 1968 while an undergraduate summer intern at the Corcoran Gallery of Art in...
, 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.
Infinito Botanica
One of Mondini-Ruiz's earliest major projects was his "Infinito Botanica," an installation that references the Mexican botánicaBotánica
A botánica is a retail store that sells folk medicine, religious candles and statuary, amulets, and other products regarded as magical or as alternative medicine...
s common in his hometown of San Antonio, Texas
San Antonio, Texas
San Antonio is the seventh-largest city in the United States of America and the second-largest city within the state of Texas, with a population of 1.33 million. Located in the American Southwest and the south–central part of Texas, the city serves as the seat of Bexar County. In 2011,...
. In the mid-90s Mondini-Ruiz purchased a botánica
Botánica
A botánica is a retail store that sells folk medicine, religious candles and statuary, amulets, and other products regarded as magical or as alternative medicine...
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 botánica
Botánica
A botánica is a retail store that sells folk medicine, religious candles and statuary, amulets, and other products regarded as magical or as alternative medicine...
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 in collaboration with the Newark MuseumNewark Museum
The Newark Museum is the largest museum in New Jersey, USA. It holds fine collections of American art, decorative arts, contemporary art, and arts of Asia, Africa, the Americas, and the ancient world...
. The exhibition, titled "Mexican Museum of Modern Art" included piñata versions of works by Donald Judd
Donald Judd
Donald Clarence Judd was an American artist associated with minimalism . In his work, Judd sought autonomy and clarity for the constructed object and the space created by it, ultimately achieving a rigorously democratic presentation without compositional hierarchy...
, Piet Mondrian
Piet Mondrian
Pieter Cornelis "Piet" Mondriaan, after 1906 Mondrian , was a Dutch painter.He was an important contributor to the De Stijl art movement and group, which was founded by Theo van Doesburg. He evolved a non-representational form which he termed Neo-Plasticism...
, Andy Warhol
Andy Warhol
Andrew Warhola , known as Andy Warhol, was an American painter, printmaker, and filmmaker who was a leading figure in the visual art movement known as pop art...
, Jeff Koons
Jeff Koons
Jeffrey "Jeff" Koons is an American artist known for his reproductions of banal objects—such as balloon animals produced in stainless steel with mirror finish surfaces....
, and many other modern and contemporary artists. A version of this series was also shown at Artpace
Artpace
Artpace is a non-profit public charity contemporary art center in San Antonio, Texas founded in 1995 by Linda Pace in a converted car dealership. The center was originally privately funded, but is now publicly funded...
in San Antonio, this time under the title "Modern Piñatas".
High Pink
In 2005, D.A.P. 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.Further reading
- Review of Quattrocento by Roberta Smith in New York Times
- Review of Quattrocento by Edward Leffingwell in Art in America
- Review of 2000 Whitney Biennial by Katy Seigel in Art Forum
- Review of Que Purdy by Catherine D. Anspon in Art Lies
- Interview by Cary Cordova for Smithsonian Archives
- Art at Our Doorstep: San Antonio Writers and Artists featuring Franco Mondini-Ruiz. Edited by Nan Cuba and Riley Robinson (Trinity University Press, 2008).