The latest show opening at San Antonio's Ruiz-Healy Art brings together two distinct artists whose creations are united by their exquisite and experimental nature.
Opening Wednesday, May 18, the exhibition "Gaby Collins-Fernandez & Carlos Rosales-Silva: Applied Pressure" intersects with both artists' bold use of color, abstraction and exploration of varied materials to create layered landscapes.
Rosales-Silva's work consists of intricately textured paintings created with sand, crushed stone and glass beads.
An avid traveler, Rosales-Silva creates work heavily influenced by the American Southwest and Mexico, where he grew up. The artist often returns to the places where he learned to see relationships between color, space and shape.
"I believe the architecture, landscapes and vernacular cultures of these places are not only beautiful but unique, because they reveal the complex visual histories of colonization that are severely under-recognized in Western art history," he said.
In large-scale, abstract works such as Cobija (Blanket) and Biblioteca No. 3 (Library No. 3), Rosales-Silva explores ideas of tradition and assimilation.
In Cobija, he places abstract shapes painted in warm tones against a dark purple backdrop. Here, sand and crushed stones mixed in acrylic paint resemble the polyester fabric from which many Mexican blankets are made.
For many Mexicans and Mexican Americans, blankets such as the San Marcos cobija with designs ranging from tigers to Aztec warriors have become highly prized items after their production ceased in 2004. The Los Angeles Times once referred to the blankets as "an object of affection among Latinos."
With Biblioteca No. 3, Rosales-Silva reminds us that such a word even exists since many Mexican Americans use the term libreria (meaning "bookstore") interchangeably.
In her work, Gaby Collins-Fernandez masterfully explores the possible combinations of fabric, paint and paper. Creations such as A Bouquet Is Not a Garden overlay or "stack" various media to create a visual landscape where its formal elements each hold equal weight.
"As a strategy, [stacking] allows me to equalize categories: color, surface, text, gesture, materials — all function as a kind of language within the work," she explained.
Both a writer and artist, Collins-Fernandez often incorporates text in her pieces, such as "lay all your love on me," as seen in her mixed-media photo collage Sunset.
Her work can be described as playful explorations where text, photographic images and abstract gestures all collide.
Gaby Collins-Fernandez & Carlos Rosales-Silva: Applied Pressure," Free, Opening Reception 6-8 p.m. Wednesday, May 18, On view through August 20, Ruiz-Healy Art, 201A E. Olmos Dr., (210) 804-2219, ruizhealyart.com.
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