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Featured Artist  »  Ricardo Islas

Ricardo Islas, born in 1970, was raised in Calexico, California, which is 120 miles east of San Diego on the border with Mexico. He moved to San Diego in 1991 and has been painting for the last five years. His work, rich with historical and contemporary references, focuses on working class and social issues of the Mexican culture that spans the two countries.

Inspired by the expressionism of Jose Clemente Orozco, Frida Kahlo and Francisco Goya as well as the brooding politics and angst of the "punk" scene, his work is personal, emotionally raw and complex. Islas' stark depictions of rural and urban society reflect the dual realities in contemporary life, balancing indigenous ritual with the harsh and oppressive conditions of survival. His work which combines the painting styles of folk art and surrealism, is completely original in its vision and passion.

Islas has had two solo exhibitions: "Soledad" at Voz Alta Project and "Sufrimiento" at Chicano Park, both in San Diego. He has shown in over twenty-five exhibitions in Southern California including San Diego Mesa College Gallery, the First Annual Cesar E Chavez celebration at the Tubman/Chavez Family Resource Center, and three shows with the Triple Crown Conspiracy. He has also designed a cd cover for Solrak and the new Aztec Empire, and a book cover for Education in Urban America by William De La Torre. A series of five paintings were the conceptual base for a music-video co-produced by Miguel Angel Soria and Los Karma, a Tijuana Ska band.

Artist statement:

"I like to focus my art on the Mexican culture and the social issues that confront Mexican people every day. I also like to paint people that remind me of individuals in my life. I hope to show the viewer another side of Mexican culture that may be unfamiliar to them.

I think content is more important than technique in a painting. I do now want the viewer to look at a bowl of fruit and say, "That's a nice bowl of fruit". I want the viewer to ask "What happened to that bowl of fruit?" I think painting is like photography. I am trying to capture a moment in time and am hoping to reveal the struggle in the faces of the people I paint. I am trying to expose the harsh reality of life."