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

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 and three unique matrixes composed of oil on carved Baltic birch reliefs. The pairing illustrates traditional printmaking and non-traditional carving techniques. Shown for the first time, the matrix and the print illuminate the printmaking and intricate mark-making processes. 

A significant aspect of Armendariz's work involves harnessing seemingly mundane and ubiquitous symbols to craft narratives that resonate on multiple levels. “Everybody can understand a plant in a vase, a coyote, a bull, or a crow. These aren't difficult things to understand. But if you allow them, they speak on other layers and levels going back to art history, mythology, popular culture, and belief systems.”

The exhibit features new woodblock prints and three unique matrixes composed of oil on carved Baltic birch reliefs. The pairing illustrates traditional printmaking and non-traditional carving techniques. Shown for the first time, the matrix and the print illuminate the printmaking and intricate mark-making processes. 

If You Can Keep Your Head  and If  You Can Keep Your Head (Aquarius) both take inspiration from the Rudyard Kipling poem titled IF.

 

If you can keep your head when all about you   

    Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,   

If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,

    But make allowance for their doubting too;   

If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,

    Or being lied about, don’t deal in lies,

Or being hated, don’t give way to hating,

    And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise:

 

Armendariz interprets this poem  by understanding that “If you can keep your head when all about you are losing theirs...(and blaming it on you)…life will be challenging, but if you can keep your cool and be flexible like the reed in the river, you will persevere." Upon further examination of these works the viewer can see hawks “falling” a phenomenon known as “whiffling." This further illustrates the idea that while all of those around you might be losing their composure, you are staying composed amidst the madness.