With the arrival of the new year, Raul Rene Gonzalez has stepped away from his position as resident artist and director of San Antonio’s Clamp Light Artist Studios and Gallery.
After four years curating group shows for resident artists at Clamp Light, 1704 Blanco Road, Gonzalez celebrated the end of his run in December by exhibiting his first solo show at the gallery. Despite his departure, Gonzalez said holds great regard for both his time spent there and the gallery’s position in the community.
“I think Clamp Light is a staple in the art community, and it has given many artists a chance to experiment and exhibit their work,” Gonzalez said.
“We were able to collaborate and work with several art spaces such as Casa Lu in Mexico City, ICOSA Art Collective in Austin and Box13 Artspace in Houston. Working with these spaces gave us opportunities to exhibit outside of San Antonio and bring artists from other cities to the space.”
Gonzalez also is proud of working with neighboring businesses on the gallery’s block to create a Midtown “art walk” for exhibition openings.
“I spoke with business owners and encouraged them to stay open later,” he said. “Now several businesses have art markets outside coinciding with the exhibition openings.”
‘Somewhere Between Work and Play’
Gonzalez’s solo show, dubbed “Somewhere Between Work and Play,” closes this Saturday. The exhibition features both work Gonzalez has become known for and newer pieces showcasing his stylistic evolution.
Also featured in the show is a painting commissioned for the romantic comedy Say a Little Prayer starring Luis Fonsi, which recently in theaters. Gonzalez began working with the film’s creators in 2022 when they were scouting locations for the film in San Antonio.
“In the film, my artwork is used as Luis Fonsi’s character’s artwork, which is wild to me!” Gonzalez said. “I didn’t exactly have ‘get artwork in a movie’ on my career checklist, but here it is!”
I first encountered Gonzalez’s work more than a decade ago, when he was a grad student at UTSA working on his MFA. At the time, he was doing a lot of performance art centering on hip-hop culture and dance. He was also creating text-based art emphasizing the words “work” and “werk.”
As a backdrop to his installations and performances, Gonzalez often used repurposed cardboard and brightly colored duct tape.
“I can make hundreds of paintings a year, but if I don’t work my way to the top, then it’s all for nothing,” Gonzalez said at the time. “Work ethic is about implementing today’s culture of multitasking into something that will actually benefit you.”
Gonzalez’ artwork at the time was hip, fresh and exciting. It remains so, but it’s evolved since then, taking on a more personal slant. He’s been careful to not have his creations easily pigeonholed into any one style or subject matter.
Work in progress
After proving he could work a dance floor, Gonzalez’ art moved toward a more literal sense of “work,” taking on the subject of labor — a subject matter often favored by socially conscious artists.
Inspired by his father who worked construction most of his life, Gonzalez introduced a series of paintings consisting of images of workers at construction sites created on concrete pieces.
From WPA-era artists who painted scenes of daily life to African American creatives such as Elizabeth Catlett and Charles White who brought a sense of dignity and heroism to their images of sharecroppers, images of labor have had no shortage in the canon of art history.
Like the work of those artists, Gonzalez sought both to humanize his subjects and offer a form of social critique.
Years later, Gonzalez also began examining his own role as a father through a series of paintings depicting the intimate moments spent as a stay-at-home dad. That series revealed tender moments shared between a father and two young daughters, challenging commonly held perceptions about fatherhood and masculinity. Many of those works were featured in the group exhibition inspired by the intricacies of parenthood, “This is How We Do it: Art and Family,” held at Clamp Light in 2023.
Hitting home runs
Most recently, Gonzalez has turned to baseball for inspiration. A Houston native, Gonzalez is lifelong Astros fan, but a 10-day road trip across much of the country ignited a broader interest in the sport.
At the Negro League Baseball Museum in Kansas City, he learned about the hardships African American players faced during much of the 20th century. As a Mexican American, Gonzalez found common ground with players of Afro Latin descent.
Included in “Somewhere between work and Play” is a life-size portrait of baseball player Jose Altuve and another of Framber Valdez, both on the Astros’ roster. Gonzalez isn’t quite done with this subject matter, though. For an upcoming group exhibition at the McNay Museum this spring, he plans to unveil a 10-by-20-foot, text-based work inspired by his trip to the Negro League Museum.
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This article appears in Dec 26, 2024 – Jan 1, 2025.