Franco Mondini-Ruiz

El Papito, 2009
ceramics, modelling clay, 6 x 4 x 6 inches
private donation
value: $500

Franco Mondini-Ruiz (born 1961) is an American artist who lives and works in New York and San Antonio, Texas. His work questions notions of preciousness and art-market exclusivity within a camp sensibility. Mondini-Ruiz takes a variety of approaches to creating art, working in installation, performance, painting, sculpture, and short stories. El Papito is from Mondini-Ruiz's ongoing project Infinito Botánica, a series of installations and interventions that references Mexican botánicas - general stores that sell folk medicine, religious items and magical products - common in Hispanic America. Mondini-Ruiz has presented different versions of Infinito Botánica including those at ARCO in Madrid (2002), and the UCLA Fowler Museum, LA (2004). His solo exhibitions include the New Museum, New York (2001), and the Newark Museum of Art (2007); group exhibitions include the Walker Art Center, Minneapolis (2003), the Prague Biennial (2005), and the Smithsonian Museum of the American Indian (2008).