Fruit Cocktail 2002

Chuck Ramirez draws a sharp contrast between the homogeneity of the peas and the medley of colors and textures found in the fruit cocktail. These fruits and vegetables are magnified to epic proportions, the mixed fruit recalling the complexities of multicultural mixing and the peas signifying the sameness of humankind. These two images are a nod to the artist’s bicultural upbringing (his father was Mexican American and his mother Anglo). The autobiographical comparisons don’t end there, however. As an HIV-positive man, Ramirez also seems to draw comparisons between the fruit cocktail and the assortment of HIV meds he took daily to survive. Ramirez, who was diagnosed with HIV in 1990, is part of a generation of people who saw the diagnosis as a virtual death sentence before the availability of antiretroviral treatment in 1996.