Low Down     •     New Works on Paper by Ricardo Vicente Jose Ruiz     •     June 10th - July 23rd, 2016

​There exists a singular narrative of workers, thieves, criminals, and other difficult individuals, caught in a back and forth mire, on their trek to unknown lands. These characters align themselves with socially marginalized individuals whom the artist has known through personal experience while traveling through North America. The work intends to expound on the traumas of discrimination and lack of opportunities afforded to disenfranchised groups but provide a point of healing through spiritual reconciliation and mediation in its discussion. All of the individuals exist as companions on the same plane as they attempt to understand their circumstances and motion towards their next state of being.

Ricardo Vicente Jose Ruiz maintains a multidisciplinary practice rooted in drawing in order to engage oral traditions of storytelling and superstition. Ricardo's work reflects on the ability of allegory to make connections within contemporary society and earlier cultures. The everyday rhythms of life are interpreted through images of unknown circumstance and a visual language of symbols. Ricardo extends a deep interest in personal memoir, ritual, and the difficult histories of North America. Engagement with the ascension and regression of civilization throughout history is a fixture within the artist’s work. His work motions towards a presence of wanderlust and ecstasy in a collective need to get lost. 

Ricardo was born in Corpus Christi, Texas and has exhibited throughout North America, France, and Germany. He is currently attending Virginia Commonwealth University as a candidate in the Graduate Painting - Printmaking Program. 

ricardovicentejoseruiz.com

Read a review of the show here