INVERNADERO

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Ricardo Vicente Jose Ruiz: Who Will Make the Wind When the Trees Are Gone / Excerpt 1

Invernadero presents Ricardo Vicente Jose Ruiz: Who Will Make the Wind When the Trees Are Gone / Excerpt 1, on view from August 3 through September 3.

Disconnect my phone, jettison my computer, route my debtors to a pit on an island, and bury me under the oak tree I planted with my father. My body holds secrets only the worms will understand. Before this moment I learned I am actually a wooden statue with a crescent moon for a head. As I became still I could hear my grandfather beside me humming "Sana sana colita de rana Si no sanas hoy Sanarás mañana …"

Ricardo has been developing a contemporary mythos and symbology where the participants in the narrative are the materialized consciousness of fauna and flora. The characters motion through latent instinct to act as caretakers for simultaneously occurring physical and psychic systems. Their actions occur alongside fluid personal impetus to engage in nuanced gestures such as mutation, affection, and mischief. The work is meant to preserve and illustrate an ethnographic history of communities whose routine emphasized biodiversity.

Ricardo is a multidisciplinary artist who synthesizes Indigenous folklore and ecological practices as a foundation to discuss sociopolitical corruption in the Americas. Grounded in research, prose, personal memoir, and the philosophical teachings of Curanderísmo (Mexican faith healing), Ricardo initiates a conversation as to how does healing manifest in the 21st century. With a studio practice rooted in drawing; works manifest in traditional media, publication, and community based curatorial projects pointed towards deconstructing difficult histories navigated via marginalized groups affected by colonialism. Their intention is to disseminate an intersectional dialogue that accesses past, present, and future timelines to locate modes for metaphysical reconciliation.

Ricardo migrates between Southwest Texas and the East Coast. They have maintained an active exhibition, research, and curatorial practice for over a decade. They are the recipient of various awards including a residency at Oxbow and a Virginia Museum of Fine Arts-Artist Fellowship. Recently Ricardo concluded a two-year long project in Pittsburgh, PA with Artist Images Resource, funded by a National Endowment for the Arts grant. In this project they produced a series of traditional print works that discussed their Cherokee ancestors’ history navigating the Trail of Tears alongside contemporary folklore. The body of work was used as a platform to develop a curriculum in local public schools to showcase how storytelling can be an entry point for healing.
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​​Ricardo Vicente Jose Ruiz, Untitled, watercolor on paper, 8.5 x 11 in.
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​​Ricardo Vicente Jose Ruiz, Untitled, watercolor on paper, 8.5 x 11 in.
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​​Ricardo Vicente Jose Ruiz, birthday eve, piano in the background, Topo Chico and Ginger Beer in my future and my wonderful parents have a circa 80's Snoopy soap dish tray that I lost on an Ebay snipe two years ago in transit, watercolor on paper, 8.5 x 11 in.
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​​Ricardo Vicente Jose Ruiz, Untitled, watercolor on paper, 8.5 x 11 in.
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​​Ricardo Vicente Jose Ruiz, Untitled, watercolor on paper, 8.5 x 11 in.
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​​Ricardo Vicente Jose Ruiz, Untitled, watercolor on paper, 8.5 x 11 in.
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​​Ricardo Vicente Jose Ruiz, Untitled, watercolor on paper, 8.5 x 11 in.