Artwork
Legally Separated
Artist
Franco Mondini-Ruiz
(American, born 1961)
DepartmentContemporary Art
Date2008
Dimensionsh. 9 in. (22.9 cm)
w. 10 in. (25.4 cm)
d. 11 in. (27.9 cm)
w. 10 in. (25.4 cm)
d. 11 in. (27.9 cm)
Credit LineSan Antonio Museum of Art, gift of Lori and Joel Dunlap
Object number2008.17.a-b
Copyright©Franco Mondini-Ruiz
GeographyPlace madeUnited States
DescriptionA chocolate cake split into two equal pieces. A ceramic figurine of a man wearing a large-brimmed hat and of a woman with a small child on her back are cake toppers placed facing inward on separate pieces of the cake.Label Text"I see cakes as metaphors for San Antonio working class culture vernacular. In a Tex-Mex working class home, such as my grand-mother's, you wouldn't have found a Frida Kahlo altar, but there would likely be a 'sacred' cake or Mexican pastries in the kitchen under a beautiful glass dome. This fixation and affection for Baroque splendor infuses my art and the way I live my life."
-Franco Mondini-Ruiz
Originally trained as a lawyer, Mondini-Ruiz turned to art making in the 1990s, a decade when artists across the United States were dealing with issues of identity. The son of an upper-class Italian father and a Mexican-American mother, Mondini-Ruiz grew up in San Antonio's white suburbs in a household filled with dialogue and conflict based on class, ethnicity, and cultural perspectives. This complex family dynamic echoed the cultural milieu of San Antonio during the artist's coming of age. For Mondini-Ruiz and others of his generation, there was a constant tug-of-war between the need to identify with one's heritage and the desire to pursue typical American ideals. In this assemblage sculpture made from everyday objects, the artist takes a whimsical look at such cultural conflicts as they are currently manifested in what he considers to be a legally sanctioned separation between the United States and Mexico.
Like many of Mondini-Ruiz's sculptural objects, this example was first exhibited within a large installation based on Mexican botánicas, stores that sell candles, incense, religious statuettes, medicinal herbs, magic potions, and other sorts of goods related to spirituaity and healing. In the late 1990s, Mondini-Ruiz operated Infinito Botánica on San Antonio's Southside. The Botanica offered fine art objects along with neighborhood spiritual commodities, all the while serving as a kind of drop-in community center and artists' salon.
(David Rubin, 2009)
Not on view
Collections
The San Antonio Museum of Art is in the process of digitizing its permanent collection. This electronic record was created from historic documentation that does not necessarily reflect SAMA's complete or current knowledge about the object. Review and updating of such records is ongoing.
This resource has been made possible in part by the National Endowment for the Humanities: Exploring the Human Endeavor.
