Rubén Ortiz Torres

My work describes the confrontation and contradiction of the aesthetics of two opposite cultures. One is a religious, magical world rich in myths and traditions, belonging to an isolated culture. The other, driven by the concept of progress, is based on the ideals of reason and the universal truth professed by Western world.

Issues of identity have been to varying degrees both rejected and re-invented; from formalist schools which disowned "non-artistic values," to political art which promoted visions of historical truth. However, modern, industrialized Mexico forces us to consider both these perspectives. We cannot return to an "unpolluted" notion of a national history as valid content for art, but neither can we, like the internationalists, pretend that art should be reduced to a content-free exploration of purely formal elements.

It is my belief that a purified, "art for art's sake" formal exercise must ultimately prove irrelevant; and secondly, that we must accept formal explorations related to content and meaning in a much wider and freer sense than those accepted, for example, by the historically-oriented muralists. It seems to me that little scope remains today for the artist interested in a purely formal, aesthetic production. What remains is the possibility of codifying and recodifying reiterable formal elements with given social or aesthetic values within a new semantic system which violates their original contexts.

In my work, these concerns express themselves through the use of representation both historic and contemporary. The dislocation of elements from structured hierarchies of their original systems does not reduce or eliminate their significance. This results in the creation of a personal language that transforms formal and historical perspectives, through a contemporary critical expression.

Los Angeles - December, 1989


Rubén Ortíz can be reached at: RubenOT@aol.com