Cruz Ortiz

Otra vez I fall in love, careful not to bruise mi corazon even further than the threshold. I paint, with the tierra and the oils, playing the same song, begging the mariachis to play it again, one more time.

This group of works includes another trip to the studio, the river trail, and to the cantina, in the tradition of retablo painting, the paintings presented are small, featuring portraits and stories of chicanx tejanx joy and of course the tristeza.

Also featured are a new group of works using clay sourced from the rivers my people have shared lives with for centuries — con la tierra de el Rio Bravo, de Terlingua, el Yanaguana, y el Salado.

I am starting to paint onto canvas, and it’s like another love story unfolding.

The harvested barro now dilutes down to Neirika-based clay paintings on unstretched and unprimered canvas, the rich colors seep into the canvas in a way that I have never seen before. The images share stories of dignified ambiguous cosmic happenings. These become offerings to heal pain — to engage love, happiness, joy, sadness, desperation, and abandonment.