JOE RAMIRO GARCIA
Keep Off the Grass

November 20 through December 23, 2021

Opening Reception: Tuesday, November 23 from 4:00 to 7:00 PM

Second Floor


David Richard Gallery, LLC
211 East 121 ST | New York, NY 10035
P: (212) 882-1705
www.davidrichardgallery.com


NOTE: The number of people in the gallery at any one time will be limited for safety purposes due to the pandemic and face coverings are required for entry and at all times

Private viewings are available by appointment, please call or email the gallery to schedule.


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.

Joe Ramiro Garcia’s exhibition, Keep Off the Grass, will be on view from November 20 through December 23, 2021, on the Second Floor at David Richard Gallery located at 211 East 121 Street, New York, NY 10035, Phone: 212-882-1705, email: info@DavidRichardGallery.com and website: DavidRichardGallery.com. Images of the artworks, installation views and videos as they become available will be available for viewing at the following link https://davidrichardgallery.com/exhibit/558-joe-ramiro-garcia.

About 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.

About David Richard Gallery:

Since its inception in 2010, David Richard Gallery has produced museum quality exhibitions that feature Post War abstraction in the US. The presentations have addressed specific decades and geographies as well as certain movements and tendencies. While the gallery has long been recognized as an important proponent of post-1960s abstraction—including both the influential pioneers as well as a younger generation of practitioners in this field—in keeping with this spirit of nurture and development the gallery also presents established artists who embrace more gestural and representational approaches to the making of art as well as young emerging artists.

In 2015 David Richard Gallery launched DR Art Projects to provide a platform for artists of all stripes—international, national, local, emerging and established—to present special solo projects or to participate in unique collaborations or thematic exhibitions. The goal is to offer a fresh look at contemporary art practice from a broad spectrum of artists and presentations. The Gallery opened its current location in New York in 2017.

All Artwork Copyright © Joe Ramiro Garcia, Courtesy David Richard Gallery.

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Associated Artist

• Joe Ramiro Garcia

Associated Exhibitions

• Joe Ramiro Garcia Keep Off The Grass
  November 20, 2021 - December 23, 2021
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Associated News

• November 22, 2021
  Joe Ramiro Garcia Keep Off The Grass
  GalleriesNow
  


• November 14, 2021
  Press Release - Joe Ramiro Garcia Keep Off The Grass