Why is the Sky Blue?

Ruiz-Healy Art is pleased to present Why is the sky blue? organized by guest curator Octavio Avendaño Trujillo featuring works by Jesse Amado, Laura Anderson Barbata, Cecilia Biagini, Nate Cassie, Aníbal Delgado, Hersúa, Cisco Jiménez, Magali Lara, Chuck Ramirez, Guillermo Santamarina, Hills Snyder, and Pilar Villela. The exhibition will be on display at Ruiz-Healy Art November 18, 2015 through February 13, 2016 and an opening reception will be held the following evening, Thursday, November 19th 6:00- 8:00p.m. Art Critic and Curator Octavio Avendaño Trujillo will present an Art Talk at 5:30 on Wednesday, November 18, 2015 at the Southwest School of Art contextualizing the exhibition at Ruiz-Healy Art.

Why is the sky blue? explores the gradual shift within the modern tradition of abstraction that was transformed by the peripheries in a corpus where various problems can be overwritten. Aesthetic production registered in this context opened up another room where the abstract signs are translatable and challenge the viewer from the poetic to the political. From this argument stems the inclusion in this exhibition of twelve artists from the United States, Mexico and Argentina, whose production encompasses works which date back to 1971 (Hersúa, Mexico) and extend to the present with Jesse Amado's site-specific intervention.

About the artists: 

Jesse Amado (San Antonio, 1951) his art can be found in various private and public collections throughout the United States and Internationally, including the Smithsonian Museum of American Art. Laura Anderson Barbata (Mexico City, 1962) her work belongs to the collection of the MoMA in New York. Cecilia Biagini (Buenos Aires, 1967) she has exhibited internationally and at MoMA PS1. Nate Cassie (New Jersey, 1970) his artworks can be found in numerous collections including the Linda Pace Foundation and The McNay Art Museum, San Antonio. Aníbal Delgado (Guadalajara, 1949) won the Pollock-Krasner prize, 2007. Hersúa (Ciudad Obregón, Sonora 1940) has exhibited in museums such as the Centre Pompidou, where he was awarded a scholarship. Cisco Jiménez (Cuernavaca, 1969) his work belongs to collections like Coppel Collection, Jimmie Durham and Francis Alÿs, among others. Magali Lara (Mexico City, 1956) has exhibited in museums such as the Stedelijk Museum will Actuale Kunst, Belgium. Chuck Ramirez (San Antonio, 1962) was a major force in the San Antonio community art. In 2012, The Smithsonian American Art Museum purchased works by Ramirez. Guillermo Santamarina (Mexico City, 1957) has participated in the Istanbul Biennial and Sao Paulo Biennial, among others. Hills Snyder (San Antonio, 1950) has received grants and fellowships from Art Matters, the NEA Mid-America, The Dallas Museum of Art and the Artist Foundation of San Antonio, among others. Pilar Villela (Mexico City 1972) studied philosophy at Middlesex University in London, has exhibited individually and collectively, and is also a curator and art writer.

About the curator:

Octavio Avendaño Trujillo (Mexico, 1985) was Director and co-founder of the Ibero-American Colloquium of Art Criticism in 2014. He was Associate Curator of the Museum of Modern Art in Mexico City in 2010 and from 2013 to 2015. He was a member of the seminar Zonas de Disturbio taught by Ph.D. Mariana Botey and Ph.D. Cuauhtemoc Medina. In 2014, he published Mitos Oficiales (Periferia / RM) in which 34 young Mexican artists and cultural agents in the 1990s in Mexico participated. As a curator, he has presented exhibitions in Mexico, the Netherlands and Italy, and currently works as an independent curator and art critic.

view exhibition on artsy

download exhibition catalogue