Ricky Armendariz’s “Dale dale dale gas con la novia en el pasado,” an acrylic and polycrylic on carved Birch plywood.
South Texas College’s Pecan Campus Library Art Gallery is proud to present “Investigating Transcendence” featuring paintings by Ricky Armendariz and Wendy Hauschildt. The exhibit opens Thursday, Nov. 5 and will be on view through Dec. 11, 2009. On Thursday, Nov. 5 art talks will be held at 11:30 a.m. and 2:30 p.m. at STC’s Pecan Campus Library Rainbow Room, Bldg F. A reception will take place that evening from 6 to 8 p.m. at STC’s Pecan Campus Library Art Gallery, Bldg. F. located at 3201 W. Pecan Blvd. in McAllen. Admission is free and open to the public.
Ricky Armendariz is a professor of art at The University of Texas at San Antonio. He was born and raised in El Paso, TX and the romantic Southwest landscape of the region is revealed through many of his paintings. Armendariz’s works are mainly created using oil and acrylic and polycrylic paint with carved birch plywood.
In regards to his art, Armendariz says, “my work utilizes imagery referencing the nostalgia of the American Southwest, cultural maxims, and iconography influenced by and specific to my cultural heritage. I am influenced by the mystique of the border region, including mesas and big skies reaching as far as the eye can see. The aesthetic combination of Western imagery coupled with contemporary and art historical influences are a foundation for my work. My goal is to elevate the perception of landscape-genre painting, and contribute to its long standing history in art.”
Wendy Hauschildt’s “Late Thoughts,” oil on canvas.
Wendy Hauschildt, originally from Wisconsin, is a graphic designer and owner of Blue Starfish Designs in Port Isabel, TX, where she works on graphic arts and Web development. She holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts from The University of Texas at San Antonio. For Hauschildt, painting is a very therapeutic and meditative experience driven by her need to understand life’s lessons through the process of creation.
Her work is inspired by the human relationship with natural elements and everyday objects. Hauschildt’s latest paintings examine life’s continuous cycle of beginnings and endings through a perspective that is both personal and yet ubiquitous.
In regards to her artwork Hauschildt says, “the work is a contemplation of mortality and an attempt to embrace continuing change as a healthy and necessary process.”
“Ricky Armendariz uses both the written word and symbolism as a specialized design element in his works,” said David Freeman, curator for STC’s Library Art Gallery Program. “His hard edged visual components -these two distinct yet integral parts of his paintings – images and symbols reflect the cultural contemporary and traditional dichotomies and aesthetics of his present and past heritage. Armendariz provides his audience with a view of a social mechanism operating in our cultural landscape today. He depicts cultural proverbs, prosaic blends of consumerism, romanticism and magnificent cinema graphic big screen sky scapes. All of these elements are significant proponents of a life that he grew up with in the border region of West Texas and still subsist in our social/cultural lives today.”
“Wendy Hauschildt also utilizes text in her paintings,” said Freeman. “For Hauschildt, the literariness of words gives her painting a greater power. The text within her paintings also help her to continually be intrigued and discover more of herself, they are part of her stimulus of invention. This series of Hauschildt’s new work deals with death and renewal, ending and beginning, the cycle of life, change is life.”
“Words on paintings, the irregular shape of text on a figurative background, hard edged against organic, literal against iconoclastic and subjective, two distinct and separate realities brought into one focus. Come and investigate these painters and transcend your aesthetic,” added Freeman.
South Texas College’s Library Art Gallery Program exhibits regional, national and international artwork, explores new visions and theories of creativity, and introduces innovative artistic expressions to the South Texas region.
For more information call 956-872-3488.
