Conrad Ruiz

The Gods Must Be Crazy

BOZOMAG is excited to announce Conrad Ruiz's "The Gods Must be Crazy", an exhibition of new paintings at BOZO Cresthaven. An opening reception will be held on Sunday, February 12th, from 12-5PM. The exhibition will be on view thru March 26th. Open Hours will be on Saturdays & Sundays, from 12-5PM.

Incorporating the fluctuating elements of fire through representation, and water through medium, the paintings appear like phantasms frozen in time and space. In the exhibition, the artist grapples with his father’s death, and how experiencing that prompts further reflections on parts of his father that will always remain with him: his heritage, immediate family, and tribe.

The explorations of life, death, and loss in the exhibition crystallize In the diptych "The Gods Must Be Crazy". Ruíz inserts himself into the composition of this painting – a rare occurrence in his practice. Originally inspired by an image of Aaron Joel Mitchell, who died while running into the fire of Burning Man’s burning ceremony in 2017, "The Gods Must Be Crazy" harnesses the image’s representation of the threshold between life and death. The work reimagines the artist, his father, and his brother chasing each other in the “afterworld,” or “nightworld,” of Cherokee mythology. “I think of this present life and afterworld as a journey [for which] my dad continues to be the same guide,” writes Ruiz. The transience of life, of a digital photograph, of a burning structure: these are simultaneously honored and distilled by Ruíz’s paintings.

"Golden Slumbers" depicts the head of a tiger, wrapped in a garland of orange and yellow marigolds, and buried in a thicket of branches and twigs set ablaze. The painting is titled after both the flower and the Beatles song; the tranquility of the source photograph called to mind the peaceful memory of his father singing the song to him as a lullaby. The placid beauty of the animal’s shut eyes counteracts the grandeur of the flames surrounding it. Here, death hews closely to life, as the color palette and brushstrokes comprising the vibrant flowers mirror those of the flames. Based on a photograph of a tiger cremation funeral in India, the painting evokes the emotional tenor of Ruíz’s experience of his father’s death: “I thought there was a similarity of watching my dad, a six-foot-tall Native American man that seemed at once indestructible change so rapidly during his declining health,” says the artist.

Three works, "Just Another Lonely Night", "I Only Have Eyes for You", and "What Becomes of the Broken Hearted" – all titled after motown songs Ruíz’s parents listened to on their first dates – comprise a suite of three small-scale paintings depicting Ford Pintos mid-explosion. “I thought of this visual conversation as a type of origin story,” explains Ruíz. “My mom and dad met at Cal State Los Angeles in Chicano clubs called Acción and Feria. My dad instantly was attracted to my mom and asked her out, but she declined and said she couldn’t date anyone in Los Angeles that didn’t have a car. The next week, my dad showed up with a Ford Pinto and asked her out again. My mom said okay, despite noticing he purchased the cheapest car available, a vehicle that was notorious for exploding when involved with slow speed rear-end collisions.”

A recurring subject in the artist’s oeuvre, the exploding car imparts visual drama to his compositions. The vehicle referenced in these works, the Ford Pinto, also functions as a microcosm of greater socio-economic trends: the decline of American automotive manufacturing, and of American industry at large.

"Just Another Lonely Night", "I Only Have Eyes for You", and "What Becomes of the Broken Hearted" – and the story that inspired the series – distill the core tensions that animate Ruíz’s practice. Jubilance and violence, wonder and horror, transience and permanence, humor and solemnity do not joust against each other, but rather find harmony in Ruíz’s watercolors, as in life and death.

Isabella Miller

Photos by Ruben Diaz

KCRW ART INSIDER