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Richard 'Ricky' Armendariz: The Gods Wait to Delight in You...C.B.

Past exhibition
February 8 - April 19, 2024 New York City
  • Overview
  • Works
  • Installation Views
  • Press
Overview
Installation image by Daniel Terna
Installation image by Daniel Terna

Ruiz-Healy Art is pleased to present Richard 'Ricky' Armendariz: The Gods Wait to Delight in You…C.B., a solo exhibition of works by Texas-based artist Richard ‘Ricky’ Armendariz at our New York City gallery. This is Armendariz’s fourth solo exhibition with the gallery and his first solo exhibition at a gallery in New York City. The exhibit will open on Thursday, February 8th, with an opening reception with the artist from 6:00-8:00 PM; it will be on view through March 29th, 2024. The exhibit features new woodblock prints along with unique oil on carved Baltic birch reliefs that illustrate traditional printmaking techniques and non-traditional carving techniques. The result displays the intricate mark-making process and allows multiple colors to shine through in the crevices of the carved wood.

 

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.”

 

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. The Predicament features an owl in flight holding a fire stick, symbolic of knowledge, and emulates the idea of choosing understanding or blissful ignorance. In Wish I Could Leave Well Enough, a coyote and other fauna are fleeing an unseen danger, taking with them knowledge, as represented by the burning stick in the mouth of the coyote. 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.” 

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Works
  • Richard 'Ricky' Armendariz The Gods Wait to Delight in You, 2023 Wood block print 49.75 x 30.5 in 126.4 x 77.5 cm Edition of 5
    Richard 'Ricky' Armendariz
    The Gods Wait to Delight in You, 2023
    Wood block print
    49.75 x 30.5 in
    126.4 x 77.5 cm
    Edition of 5
  • Richard 'Ricky' Armendariz The Gods Wait to Delight in You, 2023 Oil on carved birch wood 49.75 x 30.5 in 126.4 x 77.5 cm
    Richard 'Ricky' Armendariz
    The Gods Wait to Delight in You, 2023
    Oil on carved birch wood
    49.75 x 30.5 in
    126.4 x 77.5 cm
  • Richard 'Ricky' Armendariz The Predicament, 2023 Woodblock print, Hare & Hound Press 49.75 x 30.5 in 126.4 x 77.5 cm Edition of 5
    Richard 'Ricky' Armendariz
    The Predicament, 2023
    Woodblock print, Hare & Hound Press
    49.75 x 30.5 in
    126.4 x 77.5 cm
    Edition of 5
  • Richard 'Ricky' Armendariz The Predicament, 2023 Oil on carved birch wood 49.75 x 30.5 in 126.4 x 77.5 cm
    Richard 'Ricky' Armendariz
    The Predicament, 2023
    Oil on carved birch wood
    49.75 x 30.5 in
    126.4 x 77.5 cm
  • Richard 'Ricky' Armendariz Wish I Could Leave Well Enough Alone, 2023 Oil on carved birch wood 48 x 28 in 121.9 x 71.1 cm
    Richard 'Ricky' Armendariz
    Wish I Could Leave Well Enough Alone, 2023
    Oil on carved birch wood
    48 x 28 in
    121.9 x 71.1 cm
  • Richard 'Ricky' Armendariz Wish I could Leave Well Enough Alone, 2023 Wood block print 49.75 x 30.5 in 126.4 x 77.5 cm Edition of 5
    Richard 'Ricky' Armendariz
    Wish I could Leave Well Enough Alone, 2023
    Wood block print
    49.75 x 30.5 in
    126.4 x 77.5 cm
    Edition of 5
  • Richard 'Ricky' Armendariz La Muerta y su Caballo, 2023 Wood block print 25.75 x 49.75 in 65.4 x 126.4 cm Edition of 5
    Richard 'Ricky' Armendariz
    La Muerta y su Caballo, 2023
    Wood block print
    25.75 x 49.75 in
    65.4 x 126.4 cm
    Edition of 5
  • Richard 'Ricky' Armendariz Fool for Love, 2023 Woodblock print 26 x 22 in 66 x 55.9 cm Edition of 10
    Richard 'Ricky' Armendariz
    Fool for Love, 2023
    Woodblock print
    26 x 22 in
    66 x 55.9 cm
    Edition of 10
  • Richard 'Ricky' Armendariz It's Complicated (after Zeus and Callisto), 2021 Woodblock print 43 x 64 in 109.2 x 162.6 cm Edition of 5
    Richard 'Ricky' Armendariz
    It's Complicated (after Zeus and Callisto), 2021
    Woodblock print
    43 x 64 in
    109.2 x 162.6 cm
    Edition of 5
  • Richard 'Ricky' Armendariz Novios, Sagittarius, 2022 Woodblock print 20 x 20 in 50.8 x 50.8 cm Edition of 5
    Richard 'Ricky' Armendariz
    Novios, Sagittarius, 2022
    Woodblock print
    20 x 20 in
    50.8 x 50.8 cm
    Edition of 5
  • Richard 'Ricky' Armendariz Novios, Scorpio, 2022 Woodblock print 20 x 20 in 50.8 x 50.8 cm Edition of 5
    Richard 'Ricky' Armendariz
    Novios, Scorpio, 2022
    Woodblock print
    20 x 20 in
    50.8 x 50.8 cm
    Edition of 5
  • Richard 'Ricky' Armendariz Novios, Taurus, 2022 Woodblock print 20 x 20 in 50.8 x 50.8 cm Edition of 5
    Richard 'Ricky' Armendariz
    Novios, Taurus, 2022
    Woodblock print
    20 x 20 in
    50.8 x 50.8 cm
    Edition of 5
  • Richard 'Ricky' Armendariz Hide Fox and All After, 2022 Woodblock print, Anderson Ranch, CO 18 x 20 in 45.7 x 50.8 cm Edition of 5 plus 1 artist's proof
    Richard 'Ricky' Armendariz
    Hide Fox and All After, 2022
    Woodblock print, Anderson Ranch, CO
    18 x 20 in
    45.7 x 50.8 cm
    Edition of 5 plus 1 artist's proof
  • Richard 'Ricky' Armendariz Suertudo (Scorpio), 2023 Woodblock print 21.5 x 21.5 in 54.6 x 54.6 cm Edition of 10
    Richard 'Ricky' Armendariz
    Suertudo (Scorpio), 2023
    Woodblock print
    21.5 x 21.5 in
    54.6 x 54.6 cm
    Edition of 10
  • Richard 'Ricky' Armendariz If You Can Keep Your Head, Anderson Ranch Residency, CO,, 2022 Woodblock on Japanese paper 20 x 20 in 50.8 x 50.8 cm Edition of 4
    Richard 'Ricky' Armendariz
    If You Can Keep Your Head, Anderson Ranch Residency, CO,, 2022
    Woodblock on Japanese paper
    20 x 20 in
    50.8 x 50.8 cm
    Edition of 4
Installation Views
  • Installation images by Daniel Terna
    Installation images by Daniel Terna
  • Installation images by Daniel Terna
    Installation images by Daniel Terna
  • Installation images by Daniel Terna
    Installation images by Daniel Terna
  • Installation images by Daniel Terna
    Installation images by Daniel Terna
  • Installation images by Daniel Terna
    Installation images by Daniel Terna
  • Installation images by Daniel Terna
    Installation images by Daniel Terna
  • Installation images by Daniel Terna
    Installation images by Daniel Terna
  • Installation images by Daniel Terna
    Installation images by Daniel Terna
  • Installation images by Daniel Terna
    Installation images by Daniel Terna
  • Installation images by Daniel Terna
    Installation images by Daniel Terna
  • Installation images by Daniel Terna
    Installation images by Daniel Terna
  • Installation images by Daniel Terna
    Installation images by Daniel Terna
  • Installation images by Daniel Terna
    Installation images by Daniel Terna
Press
  • Fool for Love, 2023, Signed & dated lower right, numbered lower left, Woodblock print, 26 x 22 in, 66 x 55.9 cm, Edition 1 of 10.

    Ruiz-Healy Art opens an exhibition of works by Texas-based artist Richard 'Ricky' Armendariz

    ArtDaily
    February 26, 2024
  • Richard 'Ricky' Armendariz, The Predicament, 2023 Signed and dated lower right, numbered lower left, Oil on carved birch wood, 49.75 x 30.5 in, 126.4 x 77.5 cm

    Must See: "The Gods Wait to Delight in You...C.B." at Ruiz-Healy Art | New York

    ArtForum
    February 23, 2024

Related artist

  • Richard 'Ricky' Armendariz

    Richard 'Ricky' Armendariz

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Ruiz-Healy Art, San Antonio

Open Wednesday - Saturday from 11AM to 4PM and by appointment | 210.804.2219

201-A East Olmos Drive, San Antonio, Texas 78212 

 

Ruiz-Healy Art, New York

Open Wednesday - Friday from 11AM to 5PM and by appointment | 646.833.7709

74 East 79th Street, 2D, New York, New York 10075

  

 

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