Rio de Historias/River of Stories: Drawings, Prints, and Artists’ Books by Gustavo Ramos Rivera

The ICA proudly presents an exhibition of works on paper and books by Gustavo Ramos Rivera, This show surveys his work from the past 25 years and is in Conjunction with San Jose Museum of Art Exhibition, Gustavo Ramos Rivera Paintings: Eternidades del instante, opening April 22. There will be a joint reception and celebration at both venues on Friday, April 21 – ICA hours 6 – 9 pm. SJMA hours 7:30 – 9:30 pm.

Ramos Rivera has created a body of work notable for its emotional and visual intensity and highly individualized iconography. Through the use of brilliant color and a highly personal symbology, Ramos Rivera has created his own language that is written throughout his paintings, monotypes, and collages. All of the works in Ramos Rivera’s career represent a special confluence of his cultural past with his present day environment. His work follows the thread of 20th-century Mexican painting combined with that of Bay Area abstract painting. The resulting cross-cultural hybrid makes Ramos Rivera’s abstractions stand alone.

A master printmaker and collagist, Ramos Rivera’s works on paper equal the scope and intensity of his works on canvas. In his monotypes, his skill as a colorist is readily apparent as he builds up translucent layers of color that create an illusion of depth. The result is atmospheric sensual fields of color juxtaposed by his vocabulary of linear markings.

Gustavo Ramos Rivera was born in Coahuila, Mexico and immigrated to San Francisco in 1969. He has exhibited extensively since 1974 in the United States, Europe, and Latin America. In 1992 he received a Fleishacker Foundation Eureka Fellowship. His work is held in the collections of the San Jose Museum of Art, the Achenbach Foundation for the Graphic Arts, San Francisco, and the Phoenix Art Museum, Arizona, among others. Hackett-Freedman Gallery began representing Ramos Rivera and his work in January 2004.