Featured White Papers
Content provided in partnership with
Franco Mondini-Ruiz at Frederieke Taylor
Art in America, May, 2006 by Edward Leffingwell
Flashing irony, eyebrows and snappy titles, New York-based Tejano artist Franco Mondini-Ruiz unleashed the participatory Christmas-shopping extravaganza of "Quattrocento," an exhibition of 400 hilarious 8-by-10-inch acrylic-on-canvas paintings that satisfied and spoofed the collecting impulse and his own creative urge. At $400 per--the price of a pair of kicky Chanel slides--collectors got the work of their choice and some face time with the aproned artist at work. The setup was a variation on the tradition of itinerant Mexican artists who produce the devotional paintings known as retablos santos. Rather than expressing gratitude for the intercession of the Virgin in desperate times, these exuberant paintings featured misty Italian landscapes; mirrored ballrooms with dangling chandeliers; tipsy, soignee women in ball gowns; and Chelsea boys galore--painterly, fluid and confident throughout.
Known for "Infinito Botanica," a stand of tchotchkes marketed curbside as sculptural vignettes for the 2000 Whitney Biennial, Mondini-Ruiz has since taken his production on the road, first offering 99 paintings for $99 each. Awarded a 2004 Rome Prize, he appeared in Florence and Rome, where 100 paintings each fetched 100 euros. He began to enlist assistants: janitors, scholars and children in need of a babysitter. He learned that Roman ruins are very popular. For this New York outing, as a painting was sold and removed from display (it was cash or check only), a color printout took its place. Multiple red dots designated the number of "commissioned variables," each guaranteed to be equal to or better than the first.
There were takers for most and repeaters for many. Gucci Goo irreverently portrayed a strappy stiletto fixed to a wad of pink gum, while a perky West Highland White terrier barked from the corner of Cave Canem. The dog-walker of Chelsea Morning sported an orange muscle shirt, lean black jeans and flip-flops as though they were secondary sexual characteristics. Suited up in jacket, tie, shorts and high heels, Man with Manolos dangled a cigarette in one hand and an attache case in the other. In the glow of a chandelier, Boy in a Bar was suitably equipped with martini, briefcase and cell phone. At the time of this writing, the very popular A Woman of Letters sold once and then three times more in variants: a diva at her desk takes white plume in hand by candlelight, suitably bracketed by a matched pair of towering framed Italian landscapes.
COPYRIGHT 2006 Brant Publications, Inc.
COPYRIGHT 2008 Gale, Cengage Learning
