Artist delves into 'Belly of the Beast’

Over the years, the physicality of Armendariz’s work has prompted more than one hopeful printmaker to approach him.

“Printmakers come up to my paintings and go, 'I can print that,’” he said.

But he had resisted committing his work to paper until recently. While doing a three-month residency at the Künstlerhaus Bethanien in Berlin through the Blue Star Contemporary Art Museum, Armendariz had access to a nearly 200-year-old printing press that allowed him to create prints on the scale of his paintings.

“And I was hooked. I was like, 'This is what I want to do,’” he said.

“In the Belly of the Beast,” an exhibit of new work by Armendariz at Ruiz-Healy Art, features new paintings and, yes, prints — really big ones.