The Afternoon Invents Itself

Gustavo Ramos Rivera: La Tarde Que Se Inventa - The Afternoon Invents Itself

When:  Fri., Sept. 7 – Sun., Dec. 2, 2007
Where:  Fig Garden, Duncan and Hallowell Galleries
Conversation with the Artist: Fri., Sept. 7, 4:00 pm

“And if the drawing can make us think of Basquiat, and the composition reminds us of the Catalans, Miró and Tapies, or the North Americans, Twombly and Diebenkorn – it’s in the texture where we reencounter the Mexican painters, particularly those from Oaxaca, Toledo and Morales. But it is, more than anything, in the color where the unique personality of Ramos Rivera is affirmed. For as Robert Bly said when speaking of Ramos Rivera’s painting: ‘there are so many memories hidden in these blues, whites, reds, and yellows….’”
-Alberto Blanco


Long overdue, the Fresno Art Museum is presenting for the first time a comprehensive survey of Gustavo Ramos Rivera’s paintings, drawings, constructions, limited edition artists’ books, and monotypes. Born in 1940 in Ciudad Acuña, Mexico, Ramos Rivera moved to the San Francisco Bay area in 1969 gradually establishing himself as a highly respected abstract painter and printmaker. In a Bruce Nixon essay featured in the recent comprehensive monograph on the artist, the writer succinctly defines Ramos Rivera’s position as a Mexican artist who lives between two cultures - “He belongs to a generation of Mexican artists who emerged between two distinctive eras: the first, a society still clearly marked by Mesoamerican traditions, the mestizo land whose heritage had been both simplified and compellingly codified by the Mexican muralists; and the second, a postwar culture in the process of becoming truly international, which was moving inexorably beyond the grasp of those traditions as well as their representations, and which came of age during the early 1960s. As an artist of this subsequent generation, Ramos Rivera has demonstrated an even greater willingness to look outside Mexico for ideas, and particularly to the contemporary art of Europe and the United States.”

This is not to say that Ramos Rivera’s paintings and prints do not refer to the memories of his childhood or are not imbued with the intensity of Mexican color – most surely they sing with the exuberance and passion of village life, of a site indigenous to the artist’s identity. This art of memory also draws upon the light and sound of now, the studio that has housed him for over twenty years – the steep flight of three stairs leading to a long rectangular space flooded with northeast light. There are books of poetry, the playfulness of toys, and music alongside the brushes, pigments and canvas – visual treasures and solid tools, everything at hand for the work of giving form and color to the richness of creative imagination. The visual ground is often large as colors find their home in new arrangements and lines find their direction on the canvas’ pathways. Evident too are references to moments of historical presence nuanced by the fluidity of a poet’s surprising insight and juxtapositions of opposites – there is lightness, the lucid moment of a bell’s ring falling on stillness. And yes, there is laughter and song, the antidote to the darkness of time closing in upon the days of childhood. Affirmations of color – red, blue, yellow, green, orange, purple, embracing the full promise of their place on the white canvas – everything is possible within the constructive unconscious of a Ramos Rivera.

The Fresno Art Museum solo exhibition, The Afternoon Invents Itself, will present a selection of paintings, constructions, monotypes, and fine artists’ books. The earliest paintings date from the 1980s and are distinguished by a rich darkness achieved through the adding of tar to the oil pigments. Many of the works selected from the 1990s act as a bridge to the most recent large and vibrant paintings of this year. This work is charged by intense color and is marked by a sense of abandoned gestural markings – the accumulated markings are a language unique to Ramos Rivera that have gathered increasing fluidity over the past fifty years. Nine recent monotypes are included – for over twenty years Ramos Rivera has worked with master printer Kathryn Kain at Smith Andersen Editions in Palo Alto where his experiments with various textures and types of paper, colors, and inks have produced prints of lyrical beauty. Another facet of Ramos Rivera’s imagination is given to making unique and limited-edition artists’ books. The exhibition includes a selection of accordion-fold books and reflect another aspect of the artist’s spontaneity and expressive gifts. A long and fruitful friendship with the poet Juvenal Acosta has resulted in a number of artfully composed works to complement his poetry – many of the titles given to Ramos Rivera’s paintings, constructions and monotypes were a flowering of the exchange between artist and poet.

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This Exhibition Season is dynamic! With over 20 exhibits, from paintings to drawing to installations, it is sure to provide every visitor with an exciting experience that will keep them coming back for more. Underwriting an exhibit is easy; easier than you think and can be done at various levels. Furthermore, it helps to bring aesthetic, relevant and thought-provoking art to your community.

For more information on exhibition underwriting please contact Eva Torres, Interim Executive Director at (559) 441-4221 ext. 115.