Art Opening Juan Ezcurdia & Gerardo Ruiz Sat, Feb 28, 6-8pm Galería Izamal Mesones 80

Archetypal people, abstracted figures
By Henry Vermillion 

In the fourth of its winter series of gala openings, Galería Izamal honors Juan Ezcurdia and Gerardo Ruiz with a joint showing of new and recent work. 

Juan Ezcurdia is one of the best-known painters in San Miguel. His work is immediately recognizable and is widely collected internationally. His whimsical, sly figures of animals and humans have almost become icons here.  Ezcurdia began his painting career in 1997, with a guest show at the gallery, and soon after became a member of its co-op. In the beginning, his pieces were all smaller format watercolors on paper, but today he works almost exclusively in acrylic on canvas.

He paints archetypal people, dress-suited or with long skirts, in glowing oranges or cerulean blues, often outlined in soft-edged but decisive black. Sometimes the men have the head of a wolf, dog, or steer. The women usually carry a dainty handbag; their hair may be flying in strange directions, blown by some invisible wind. Both men and women may be flying astride an airplane, pedaling a bicycle, or playing miniscule musical instruments. No matter what their pursuit, their expressions are as inscrutable as those of painted Egyptian tomb figures. They’re obviously up to something more than meets the eye, but we can only guess what it may be. 

Gerardo Ruiz is perhaps best known as an excellent teacher of graphics and printmaking. He has taught at the Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) and other prestigious institutions, and holds art classes in painting, drawing and printmaking at his studio adjacent to Fábrica La Aurora. He will show a wide selection of subtle and graceful oil paintings as well as many framed and unframed etchings and other prints.

He likes to abstract the figure and simplify it, or focus on an interesting line or curve. He is not a colorist. His paintings and prints are often done in pleasing tones of gray or subtle blue. 

Other Galería Izamal artists Maria Bracho, Christian Calvillo, Steven Cary, David Nobbe, Marion Perlet, Henry Vermillion and Britt Zaist also will show work. As with other recent Izamal openings, Arturo Pareja provides live guitar music. The gallery is next door to Teatro Ángela Peralta, at the end of Mesones.