As the first artist competitively selected for the DoSeum’s AIR (Artist-in-
Residence) program, Richard Armendariz (b. 1967, El Paso) transformed the
museum’s Bobbie and John Nau Special Exhibits Gallery with The Dream Keeper
(March 4 - April 20, 2017), his immersive multimedia installation. Building a 22
x 22 foot tent from two-by-fours and bed sheets, Armendariz created a space for
self-reflection, an environment where a multi-generational audience could literally
and metaphorically “enter the work” to have what the artist has referred to as a
“user-friendly” experience with his art. Armendariz combined deliberate craft
with purposeful narrative, juxtaposing the rudimentary and inventive (rasquache)
with the well thought out, methodical, and meticulous, reminding participants
that in the seemingly ordinary, or everyday, they could encounter what is otherworldly,
magical, and extraordinary. The Dream Keeper, while a new direction for
Armendariz in scale and materials, conceptually is in keeping with his trajectory
of smart artmaking that reveals his vision of border syncretism; “a big menudo”
(soup) is how the artist has described that border experience defined by cultural
mestizaje (mixing) and the co-existence of “high” and “low.” What has informed
Armendariz’ at once cross-cultural, Chicano, and Border approach to artmaking?
