The Pastoral and the Celestial
Ruiz-Healy Art is pleased to present The Pastoral and the Celestial, opening on Wednesday, March 20th, with an opening reception from 6:00 to 8:00 PM at our San Antonio gallery. The Pastoral and the Celestial will be on view through May 18th, 2024. The exhibit brings together Richard 'Ricky' Armendariz, Cecilia Biagini, Graciela Iturbide, Nicolas Leiva, and Cecilia Paredes in a celebration of painting, photography, and ceramics, inviting the viewer into a realm where the boundaries between the tangible and the imagined blur.
In The Planets from her Celestial series, Cecilia Paredes looks to cultural production across time and space, using images and astronomical frameworks from Ancient Egyptian, Indian, Iranian, and Incan archival material. Paredes engages in a mythological synthesis from these historical documents, combining images of celestial bodies and zoomorphic constellations into a cohesive whole. Analogously, Ricky Armendariz’s Blue Meditations series turns to the moon to explore physicality, “The Moon is a familiar character in my work, but this time I distill it down to quick gestural expressions in an attempt to concentrate on drawing and painting as a meditation, a form of healing for the body, mind, and spirit," the artist states.
Nicolas Leiva works with a vocabulary of pure fantasy and cosmic inspiration. Bright colors and primal designs are the signature of this artist's expressionistic technique. This is especially true in his Constellation series, which encapsulates the artist’s craft. Embedded in Leiva's collection of forms and surface designs is a symbolic language that contains the narrative of an ethereal realm, but underlying his tales of paradise is a very real physical practice that is social, as well. “He reflects in the mysteries and immensity of the cosmos,” says Patricia Ruiz-Healy about Leiva.
The color blue is employed in various works, with each artist creating their definition. The magnetizing blue tonality used by Biagini in Agua Viva invites the viewer to submerge themselves in a deeper analysis of the painting. Biagini draws inspiration from the movement of the body’s rhythmic contractions while underwater. She juxtaposes chaos and order using a bold sense of color and line. Meanwhile, Armendariz sees blue as a complete color with elements of introspection and a soothing coolness representative of life’s lessons.
In conjunction with the introspection of the human experience, many artists see wildlife, such as animals and landscapes, as a way to interject into the conversation of environmental stewardship. In her work Armadillo, Paredes transforms her body into the form of this fabulous animal. The artist is fond of marginal beings and animals often misunderstood and seen as loners. Graciela Iturbide artfully creates juxtapositions of traditional environments with peculiar details. Her photograph Mujer ángel Desierto de Sonora, México, is a seemingly contradictory image. A woman in a traditional Seri dress heads down to the empty desert plain holding her boom box—a reminder of the technological and material influence of the United States on Indigenous culture. The title transforms the figure into a celestial being: we cannot see her face, and she appears to be flying into another realm, arms spread and hair blowing in the wind.
The Pastoral and the Celestial invites us into a realm where the boundaries between the tangible and the imagined blur. These artists invite us to reflect on our relationship with the environment, culture, and mysticism, revealing our world's myriad forms of beauty.
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Graciela IturbideUntitled, Isla del Padre, Gulf of Mexico, South Texas series, 2004Pigment print on Hahnemuhle Photo Rag watercolor paper.33 x 33 in
83.8 x 83.8 cm
AP -
Graciela IturbideMujer ángel Desierto de Sonora, México, 1979, 2017Silver Gelatin Print16 x 20 in
40.6 x 50.8 cm -
Graciela IturbideCaballito para Gerszo Lafayette, Louisiana, 1997Silver Gelatin Print14 x 11"
35.6 x 27.9 cm -
Cecilia BiaginiQFWFQ, 2018Acrylic on canvas49 x 41 in
124.5 x 104.1 cm -
Cecilia BiaginiLunar State, 2018Acrylic on canvas55 x 15 in
139.7 x 38.1 cm -
Cecilia BiaginiSmall Rock, 2018Acrylic on canvas12 x 11 in
30.5 x 27.9 cm -
Richard 'Ricky' ArmendarizConsegui al rooster, consegui el crow, consegui el ebb pero no el flow..., 2006Oil on carved plywood48 x 72"
121.9 x 182.8 cm
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Cecilia ParedesAnimal de mi Tiempo: Armadillo, 2002Photo performance cibachrome print41 x 56"
104.1 x 142.2 cmAP -
Cecilia ParedesWalking in my Galaxy Blue, 2023Photo performance inkjet print39 x 45 in
99.1 x 114.3 cmEdition of 7 plus 3 artist's proofs -
Cecilia ParedesThe Planets, 2022Acrylic and watercolor on printed linen67 x 54 in
170.2 x 137.2 cm -
Richard 'Ricky' ArmendarizI used to think, I had It muy malo, Until I heard the whippoorwill cry , 2006Oil on Carved Plywood48 x 72 in
121.9 x 182.9 cm -
Cecilia BiaginiAgua Viva, 2018Acrylic on canvas43 x 25"
109.2 x 63.5 cm -
Richard 'Ricky' ArmendarizBlue Meditations #1, 2018Mixed media on watercolor paper mounted on masonite9 x 9 in
22.9 x 22.9 cm -
Richard 'Ricky' ArmendarizBlue Meditations #3, 2018Mixed media on watercolor paper mounted on masonite9 x 9 in
22.9 x 22.9 cm -
Richard 'Ricky' ArmendarizBlue Meditations #2, 2018Mixed media on watercolor paper mounted on masonite9 x 9 in
22.9 x 22.9 cm -
Nicolás LeivaFloreros Tropicales, 2024Glazed ceramic27 x 15 in
68.6 x 38.1 cm -
Nicolás LeivaBarcas 3, 2019-2020Glazed Ceramic17 x 9 x 7.5 in
42.2 x 22.9 x 19.1 cm -
Nicolás LeivaConstellation 3 , 2017-2021Glazed Ceramic9 in diameter, 22.9 cm diameter
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Nicolás LeivaConstellation 19, 2017-2021Glazed ceramic5.5 in diameter
14 cm -
Nicolás LeivaConstellation 21, 2017-2021Glazed ceramic5.5 in diameter
14 cm -
Nicolás LeivaConstellation 23, 2017-2021Glazed ceramic9 in diameter
22.9 cm -
Nicolás LeivaConstellation 24, 2017-2021Glazed ceramic5.5 in diameter
14 cm -
Nicolás LeivaConstellation 27, 2017-2021Glazed ceramic9 in
22.9 cm -
Nicolás LeivaConstellation 26, 2017-2021Glazed ceramic9 in diameter
22.9 cm
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Installation images by Ansen Seale
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Installation images by Ansen Seale
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Installation images by Ansen Seale
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Installation images by Ansen Seale
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Installation images by Ansen Seale
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Installation images by Ansen Seale
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Installation images by Ansen Seale
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Installation images by Ansen Seale
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The Pastoral and the Celestial
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