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Contemporary Bodegones

Past exhibition
May 9 - September 6, 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 Contemporary Bodegones, a group exhibition of works by Pedro Diego Alvarado, Yvette Mayorga, Eva Marengo Sanchez, Vick Quezada, and Chuck Ramírez, on view from May 9th to September 6th, 2024, at our New York City gallery. An opening reception will be held on May 9th from 6:00 to 8:00 pm. Contemporary Bodegones brings together works related to the featured artists’ individual lived histories and explores how food interlinks us with both identity and broader social issues. 


Pedro Diego Alvarado draws a compelling parallel between the historical context of the Dutch Golden Age and contemporary points at issue. Alvarado’s work highlights a deep engagement with themes like urbanization, globalization, and international trade, echoing the social and economic factors that originally fueled the popularity of still-life genres in the Northern and Spanish Netherlands, with a growing emphasis on domesticity and personal possessions. The inclusion of fruits such as pomegranates, zapote, and naranjas Chinas in Alvarado’s paintings serves multiple symbolic purposes, reflecting the influence of global trade on local traditions. To him, the wide array of tropical fruits, their cultivation, and their presence in everyday life “are a part of what it is to be Mexican.” Alvarado invites viewers to reflect on the ongoing dialogue between the past and the present, between local identities and global currents.


Similarly, Eva Marengo Sanchez shares Alvarado’s perception, illustrating the links between food, culture, and geography and how food is quintessential to contemporary San Antonio. “I love food and its power to carry memory, create community, and shape identity, and as the subject of my work, it’s how I express my family history, life in San Antonio, and contemporary Mexican American culture.”


Chuck Ramirez’s Coconuts series transforms the slur “coconut”—brown on the outside, white on the inside—and converts degrading name-calling into the proud tag of another, more layered identity. Ramirez recognizes photography’s use in projecting mass-culture representations of identity, even as he undercuts the stereotyped slurs in identity politics and the related artistic and historical canon. 


Utilizing the color pink, Yvette Mayorga subverts the notions of girlhood and femininity to deconstruct the notion of the American Dream. Mayorga’s work fuses Rococo, Maximalist, and religious iconography. Mayorga states, “It makes sense for pink and Rococo to be powerful in my world, a tool of seduction to draw people in and then force them to sit with the work and find out what it’s about.” In her painting, Tweety Hot Lovers (After Century Vase c. 1876), the thick acrylic paint mimics the texture of icing. It creates a form after The Century Vase, which originally included bison-head handles and a profile of George Washington. Armed with pink glitz and glam decoration, golden chains, and a Tweety bird, Mayorga challenges this powerful American patriotic symbol.


Vick Quezada reworks themes surrounding the US-Mexican border, ranging from immigration and colonialism to capitalism, mass production, and the constitutional system. ICE Remains, and Stainless Remains are ceramic hand-pressed stylized stainless trays inspired by the cafeteria trays found at Fort Hood, now named Fort Cavazos, in Texas. The form of the trays imitates a product of industrialization, questioning established economic concepts of “value,” but the hand-made quality and materials link them to the Earth. These trays illustrate colonial histories endured by Mestizx-Indigenous people. The artist’s choice of medium emphasizes their call for land rights and reparations from colonialism while honoring and embracing the ceramic traditions of the Indigenous people of Northern Mexico.
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Works
  • Yvette Mayorga Pinknologic Anxiety (After Francois Boucher, Madame de Pompadour, c. 1755), 2020 Acrylic piping and collage on canvas 40 x 30 x 1.5 in 101.6 x 76.2 x 3.8 cm
    Yvette Mayorga
    Pinknologic Anxiety (After Francois Boucher, Madame de Pompadour, c. 1755), 2020
    Acrylic piping and collage on canvas
    40 x 30 x 1.5 in
    101.6 x 76.2 x 3.8 cm
  • Chuck Ramirez Candy Tray: Fouquet's, Paris, 2003, 2011 Pigment inkjet print 48 x 36 in 121.9 x 91.4 cm 3 / 3
    Chuck Ramirez
    Candy Tray: Fouquet's, Paris, 2003, 2011
    Pigment inkjet print
    48 x 36 in
    121.9 x 91.4 cm
    3 / 3
  • Yvette Mayorga Tweety Hot Lovers (After Century Vase c. 1876), 2021 Acrylic piping and collage on canvas 24.5 x 20 x 2.5 in 62.2 x 50.8 x 6.3 cm
    Yvette Mayorga
    Tweety Hot Lovers (After Century Vase c. 1876), 2021
    Acrylic piping and collage on canvas
    24.5 x 20 x 2.5 in
    62.2 x 50.8 x 6.3 cm
  • Pedro Diego Alvarado-Rivera Reflejos de Naranjas Chinas, 2024 Oil on linen 36.75 x 42.3 in 93.3 x 107.4 cm
    Pedro Diego Alvarado-Rivera
    Reflejos de Naranjas Chinas, 2024
    Oil on linen
    36.75 x 42.3 in
    93.3 x 107.4 cm
  • Pedro Diego Alvarado-Rivera Reflejos de Zapotes, 2024 Oil on linen 40.16 x 43.75 in 102 x 118 cm
    Pedro Diego Alvarado-Rivera
    Reflejos de Zapotes, 2024
    Oil on linen
    40.16 x 43.75 in
    102 x 118 cm
  • Pedro Diego Alvarado-Rivera Reflejos de Granadas, 2024 Oil on linen 35.5 x 41.3 in 90.2 x 105.4 cm
    Pedro Diego Alvarado-Rivera
    Reflejos de Granadas, 2024
    Oil on linen
    35.5 x 41.3 in
    90.2 x 105.4 cm
  • Vick Quezada ICE Remains, 2023 Ceramic, mid fire clay with white satin underglaze 7.25 x 9 x 1 in each 18.4 x 22.9 x 2.5 cm each Total Installation: 16 in x 52.5 in
    Vick Quezada
    ICE Remains, 2023
    Ceramic, mid fire clay with white satin underglaze
    7.25 x 9 x 1 in each
    18.4 x 22.9 x 2.5 cm each

    Total Installation: 16 in x 52.5 in
  • Chuck Ramirez Seven Days: Breakfast Tacos, 2003, 2020 Pigment inkjet print 24 x 30 in 61 x 76.2 cm AP 1/3 aside from the edition of 6
    Chuck Ramirez
    Seven Days: Breakfast Tacos, 2003, 2020
    Pigment inkjet print
    24 x 30 in
    61 x 76.2 cm
    AP 1/3 aside from the edition of 6
  • Vick Quezada Stainless Remains, 2023 Ceramic, mid fire clay with a palladium glaze 10 x 13.5 x 1 in each 25.4 x 34.3 x 2.5 cm each Total Installation: 25 in x 84 in
    Vick Quezada
    Stainless Remains, 2023
    Ceramic, mid fire clay with a palladium glaze
    10 x 13.5 x 1 in each
    25.4 x 34.3 x 2.5 cm each

    Total Installation: 25 in x 84 in
  • Chuck Ramirez Coconuts, 1997, 2002 Pigment inkjet print 16 x 16" each one Set of 3 photographs 6/10
    Chuck Ramirez
    Coconuts, 1997, 2002
    Pigment inkjet print
    16 x 16" each one
    Set of 3 photographs
    6/10
  • Eva Marengo Sanchez Otw. Text me your order, 2024 Oil on canvas 29 x 54 in 73.7 x 137.2 cm
    Eva Marengo Sanchez
    Otw. Text me your order, 2024
    Oil on canvas
    29 x 54 in
    73.7 x 137.2 cm
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
  • Installation images by Daniel Terna
    Installation images by Daniel Terna
Press
  • Eva Marengo Sanchez, Otw. Text me your order, 2024, Signed lower right, Oil on canvas, 29 x 54 in, 73.7 x 137.2 cm

    ‘Contemporary Bodegones’ and ‘Monomythology’ Reviews: Yesterday’s Subjects, Today’s Artists

    Brian P. Kelly, The Wall Street Journal , August 2, 2024
  • Vick Quezada, Stainless Remains, 2023, 10 x 13.5 x 1 in, 25.4 x 34.3 x 2.5 cm.

    Ruiz-Healy Art in New York exhibits 'Contemporary Bodegones'

    Art Daily, May 10, 2024
  • Yvette Mayorga, Pinknologic Anxiety, (After Francois Boucher Madame de Pompadour, c. 1755), 2020, Acrylic piping and collage on canvas, 30 x 40 in per panel, 76.2 x 101.6 cm per panel

    Must See: "Contemporary Bodegones" at Ruiz Healy Art New York

    ArtForum
    May 9, 2024

Related artists

  • Pedro Diego Alvarado-Rivera

    Pedro Diego Alvarado-Rivera

  • Yvette Mayorga

    Yvette Mayorga

  • Chuck Ramirez

    Chuck Ramirez

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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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