JOE RAMIRO GARCIA Keep Off The Grass
DAVID RICHARD GALLERY
ISBN: 978-1-955260-79-4
Front Cover: Installation Joe Ramiro Garcia Keep Off The Grass at David Richard Gallery Title Page: Installation Joe Ramiro Garcia Keep Off The Grass at David Richard Gallery Back Cover: Installation Joe Ramiro Garcia Keep Off The Grass at David Richard Gallery
Joe Ramiro Garcia Keep Off The Grass at David Richard Gallery November 23- December 23, 2021 Published by: David Richard Gallery, LLC, 211 East 121st Street, New York, NY 10035 www.DavidRichardGallery.com 212-882-1705 | 505-983-9555 DavidRichardGalleries1 DavidRichardGallery Gallery Staff: David Eichholtz and Richard Barger, Managers All rights reserved by David Richard Gallery, LLC. No part of this catalogue may be reproduced in whole or part in digital or printed form of any kind whatsoever without the express written permission of David Richard Gallery, LLC. Artwork: © 2021 - Joe Ramiro Garcia Catalogue: © 2021 David Richard Gallery, LLC, New York, NY Catalogue Design: David Eichholtz and Richard Barger, David Richard Gallery, LLC, New York, NY Artwork Image © Joe Ramiro Garcia Installation Images © Yao Zu Lu
DAVID RICHARD GALLERY
JOE RAMIRO GARCIA Keep Off The Grass
Joe Ramiro Garcia Keep Off The Grass
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David Richard Gallery is pleased to present Joe Ramiro Garcia, Keep Off the Grass, his first solo exhibition in New York and debut with the gallery. Garcia’s paintings are narrative, derived from current events and inspired by art historical figures, while the imagery and palettes reference personal memories and emotions. Initially, the paintings appear Pop-inspired and a collaging of everyday, somewhat banal and often appropriated images. However, the paintings are highly technical in that they also incorporate a complex printing process to introduce certain imagery that provides not only layers of color and detail, but also content as a referent and/or memory trigger. The medium for the image transfer process is paint, not ink, so that every layer and detail in the composition is painted. As noted, the imagery and color palettes are mostly personal, referencing Garcia’s childhood growing up in Houston with certain rooms, colors and kitchen appliances in the family home as well as the exposure to cartoon characters, television shows, household products and brands, and contemporary culture at the time. Other characters such as Louie the cat, stuffed teddy bears, furniture, paint brushes and coffee cups are the artist’s possessions. Much of the referenced artworks, news clippings and photographs incorporated in the paintings are from art books, newspapers, memorabilia and ephemera. The presentation includes 12 new artworks from 2021 and a selection of works from 2010, 2014 and 2019 to ground some of the characters and references in Garcia’s repertoire for the uninitiated. While 13 of the artworks are oil and alkyd on canvas or linen, mostly mounted on panel and incorporating the novel printing technique noted above, there are several monotype works on paper included in the presentation. The layering of pigment in Garcia’s paintings not only makes them tactile, but the appearance of clippings and ephemera folded and haphazardly taped to the surface, casual doodles and objects scattered about alongside the nearly photoreal imagery brings a literalness and immediacy to the work that starkly contrasts with the cartooning, retro colors and historic images. Garcia’s painterly and less than perfect approach to painting
is the norm, while the move to greater use of realism is relatively recent. This mashup of binaries: cartoons and hyperreality; contemporary and retro culture; today’s news and historical references; the artist’s memories as signifiers and the viewer’s reactions all create an internal tension that make the compositions engaging and energetic. Ultimately, the viewer’s own memory and experiences are what create the narrative. The titles can be leading, but the array of images, references and colors are really decoded and reconstructed by the viewer. Garcia just lures the viewer with eye-grabbing colors, surreal compositions, bold contrasts and a lot of ambiguity. David Eichholtz, New York November, 2021
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Joe Ramiro Garcia Window Seat, 2010 Oil and alkyd on canvas over panel 60 x 60 x 2.25”
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Joe Ramiro Garcia Show Me How, 2021 Oil and alkyd on line 12 x 9”
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Joe Ramiro Garcia Barely Coping, 2021 Oil and alkyd on canvas over panel 40 x 36 x 1.75”
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Joe Ramiro Garcia Dinosaur and Dollar Store, 2021 Chine colle and monotype on paper 11 x 14”
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Joe Ramiro Garcia Invaders, 2021 Oil and alkyd on canvas over panel 42 x 42 x 2.25”
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Joe Ramiro Garcia Studio View, 2021 Chine colle and monotype on paper 19 x 20.75”
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Joe Ramiro Garcia Kong, 2014 Oil and alkyd on canvas over panel 60 x 60 x 2.25”
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Joe Ramiro Garcia Beautiful Loser, 2021 Oil and alkyd on canvas over panel 32 x 28 x 2“
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Joe Ramiro Garcia Off the Hook, 2021 Oil and alkyd on canvas over panel 36 x 42 x 2.5”
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Joe Ramiro Garcia Bear in Mind, 2021 Oil and alkyd on canvas 42 x 42”
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Joe Ramiro Garcia Memorial, 2021 Oil and alkyd on canvas over panel 24 x 28”
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Joe Ramiro Garcia Canoncito, 2021 Oil and alkyd on panel 14 x 11”
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Joe Ramiro Garcia What’s Wrong with the World, 2021 Oil, alkyd, and cold wax on panel 11.75 x 11.75” Framed Size - 13.25 x 13.25 x 1.5”
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Joe Ramiro Garcia Louie’s Place, 2019 Oil and alkyd on canvas over panel 72 x 60 x 2”
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Joe Ramiro Garcia What in the World II, 2021 Oil and alkyd on canvas over panel 19 x 22“
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Joe Ramiro Garcia Caretaker, 2021 Oil and alkyd on canvas over panel 66 x 72 x 2.5“
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Joe Ramiro Garcia Bear in Mind (study), 2021 Chine colle and monotype on paper 13 x 13”
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2021
Joe Ramiro Garcia Dark Beer, 2021 Chine colle and monotype on paper 14 x 11”
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Joe Ramiro Garcia Flower Field, 2021 Oil, alkyd, and cold wax on panel 12 x 12”
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Joe Ramiro Garcia Love Bomb, 2021 Chine colle and monotype on paper 11 x 14“
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Joe Ramiro Garcia Overhead Plumbing, 2021 Chine colle and monotype on paper 18 x 20“
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Joe Ramiro Garcia That’s Life, 2021 Oil and alkyd on canvas 27 x 21“
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Joe Ramiro Garcia What in the World, 2019 Oil and alkyd on canvas over panel 36 x 40“
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Joe Ramiro Garcia Joe Garcia was born in Houston, Texas and studied at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. His artworks have been exhibited in numerous museum and gallery exhibitions, including 16 solo exhibitions across the US and one in Havana, Cuba. He has been the recipient of a grant from the Joan Mitchell Foundation, New York; a scholarship to the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and Honorable Merit of the National Foundation for the Advancement of the Arts, Washington, D.C. His exhibitions and artworks have been reviewed and feature in numerous local and national publications and in numerous private collections. Garcia lives and works in Santa Fe, New Mexico.
DAVID RICHARD GALLERY