Art Lies, Volume 47, Summer 2005 Page: 110
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HOUSTON .VIEW
Franco Mondini-Ruiz: iQue Purdy!
New World MuseumCatherine D. Anspon
iQue Purdy!, Franco Mondini-Ruiz' one-person
debut in Houston, also marks this mid-career, New
York-based artist's first solo museum exhibition.
The location-the New World Museum-is an apt
venue for Mondini-Ruiz; the artist transformed its
neutral, pristine interior into an elaborate mise-en-
scine that is among his most successful installa-
tions to date. iQue Purdy! also concludes a series
of Texas shows: Giant opened at Ballroom Marfa
in July 2004 and 99 Dollar Show inaugurated the
Alameda Gallery in San Antonio that same month.
This series functioned as a protracted homecom-
ing for this Whitney Biennial alumnus, who was
also anointed by ARTnews as one of twenty-five
global "Trendsetters" in November 2004.
With iQue Purdy! Mondini-Ruiz continues a
distinctive synthesis of high and low culture,
transforming tchotchkes that signify mundane
moments from everyday life-mostly rituals involv-
ing dining or snacking-into an elaborate tableau
composed of several hundred components that can
also be read as individual artworl<ks. Their arrange-
ment-orderly rows of sculptures set upon a white
dais-suggested an altar to the God of Porcelain
and Sweets, dominated as it was by frosted donuts,
brownies, cookies, cakes and pie slices, juxtaposed
and combined with florid, rococo-inspired teacups,
saucers and/or porcelain ladies and gents garbed
in eighteenth-century finery.
Mondini-Ruiz has always excelled at con-
fronting issues of race and cultural identity via
the odd objects that drive his installations and
iQue Purdy! continues the artist's wryly humor-
ous observations of contemporary Tejano cul-
ture. Significantly, though, iQue Purdy! occurred
midway into Mondini-Ruiz' 2004-2005 Prix de
Rome residency, giving this San Antonio native
an opportunity to reflect upon the Italian aspects
of his roots. (Mondini-Ruiz' mother is Mexican-
American; his father's side, Italian aristocrats).
However, like most of the artist's oeuvre, kitsch
held sway in even the Italian-influenced scenes.
Mondini-Ruiz combines lowbrow elements,
such as miniature models of the Coliseum and
silver filigree music boxes, with a pastiche of pas-
tries. Tongue-in-cheek titles hint at hidden con-
tent; pieces that at first glance appear slight are
rendered as more than succulent parfaits of Pop
art. Fancy Mojada (the Tejano slang equivalent to
"wetback") references the issue of illegal immigra-Franco Mondini-Ruiz, Martini Swim, 2005
Porcelain figurine, resin, Martini glass
Approximately 6 x 3 inches
tion. It features a woman in an eighteenth-century
gown and bonnet, rising from a porcelain cup and
saucer filled with translucent resin resembling tea;
a silver spoon and fake cookies nestle nearby. The
viewer is drawn in by the piece's droll nature-an
unexpected combination of decorative art and pop
culture-only to be tipped off later to its layered
meaning.
Border crossings are also the subject of works,
such as Martini Swim and Juan Ton Soup. Precious
porcelain torsos of ladies and dandies bob above
resin-filled containers, ambiguously evoking the
immigrant experience. In contrast, Charro a la
Mode emits a hilarious take on Latino pride. A
porcelain horse is perched, somewhat precariously,
upon a mountainous scoop of plastic vanilla ice
cream that rests upon a slice of resin apple pie.
More enigmatic offerings, such as Conversation
with a Donut, edge into surrealism. The sculp-
ture depicts a rococo porcelain dandy seated on a
Louis XV-style china chair, gazing at a frosted pink
donut-an actual donut coated with a preserva-
tive-installed upon a gilded porcelain parlor table.Franco Mondini-Ruiz, Fancy Mojada, 2005
Porcelain cup and saucer, translucent resin, spoon,
fake cookies
Approximately 4 x 4 inches
Like all the works in this exhibition, the action
takes place at the scale of a doll's house, cast-
ing the viewer in the role of Gulliver or Alice look-
ing down upon a fantasy kingdom where a man's
head becomes a baked good (Donut Face, Brownie
Head) and scenes from the Nativity are reenacted
on a wheel of cheese (Cheeses of Nazareth).
With iQue Purdy! the artist also introduces
a performative element that melds art and daily
ritual: he installed his mother, Estella, in a vintage
yellow and white trailer in the gallery. Amidst
holy candles she greeted the audience one by one
(for a fee of $5) and dispensed donuts, cakes and
other sugary confections from a table laden with
an edible installation.
Just like the Tejano tunes blasting from an auto
repair garage across the street from this museum,
Mondini-Ruiz' art connects the Latino experience
to tangible elements of the everyday. He then
transports the onlooker to a surreal, Pop kingdom
of fantasy and surprise-one that is, however,
rooted in the authentic.110 ARTL!ES Summer 2005
It - - -
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Bryant, John & Gupta, Anjali. Art Lies, Volume 47, Summer 2005, periodical, 2005; Houston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth228012/m1/112/: accessed April 23, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; .