Ruben C. Cordova

Texas

Curator and Writer at Freelance

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Articles

Branded by Tattoo: From Salvadoran Gulag to Trump’s Cabinet

1 week ago | glasstire.com | Ruben C. Cordova

This is the story of three tattooed men, and in particular, how tattooed men of color are regarded in the U.S. We begin with Vincent Valdez’s So Long, Mary Ann (2019), which hung at the entrance to his recent exhibition in Houston (click here for my Glasstire review). The museum label connected the painting to Leonard Cohen’s 1967 song “So Long, Marianne,” with the following lyrics:For now, I need your hidden love.
Ángel Rodríguez-Díaz and Sandra Cisneros: A Friendship in Art

1 month ago | glasstire.com | Ruben C. Cordova

This article is about the friendship between two highly distinguished cultural workers, both of whom relocated to San Antonio. When the Puerto Rican-born painter Ángel Rodríguez-Diaz (1955-2023) encountered the writer Sandra Cisneros at a party in San Antonio, he was struck by her look, and he invited her to pose for him in New York, where Rodríguez-Diaz lived and worked. Cisneros, originally from Chicago, had moved to San Antonio in 1984.
Vincent Valdez Dazzles at Contemporary Arts Museum Houston

1 month ago | glasstire.com | Ruben C. Cordova

In a mid-career survey exhibition that fills both floors of the Contemporary Arts Museum, Houston (CAMH), Vincent Valdez’s (b. 1977) “Just a Dream…” demonstrates a dazzling mastery of the human form, keen sensitivity to social and political injustices, and – with his finger always on the pulse of American culture – a remarkable handling of allegorical narratives and political reportage.
“Gauguin in the World” at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston

2 months ago | glasstire.com | Ruben C. Cordova

Gauguin in the World, a revisionist survey exhibition of the Post-Impressionist artist Paul Gauguin (1848–1903), features 150 of the influential, talented, and controversial artist’s works, drawn from 65 collections. It was curated by Henri Loyrette, a nineteenth-century specialist who is a former director of both the Louvre and Musée d’Orsay. Loyrette is currently an independent curator.
Now More Metropolitan: The Met’s Beautiful, Flawed Painting Galleries

Nov 15, 2024 | glasstire.com | Ruben C. Cordova

IntroductionAs a byproduct of a five-year, $150 million and the HVAC system in the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s European Paintings galleries (#600-644), the department’s staff has reconceptualized and reorganized its presentation of around 700 paintings from around 1300-1800.
Catrina Mania VI: Catrina Takes San Antonio

Nov 2, 2024 | glasstire.com | Ruben C. Cordova

IntroductionThe character known as Catrina has been the face of Day of the Dead (Día de los Muertos) for a good part of the last century. As Day of the Dead has grown in worldwide popularity, she has become a pre-eminent symbol of Mexico. Moreover, Catrina personages, images, effigies, etc. have made increasingly bigger incursions – both in Mexico and the United States – into new areas of experience. Catrina, which began as a print of a skull in a large hat, is now present in all artistic mediums.
En el foco: “Goddess Triptych” de Ángel Rodríguez-Díaz

Sep 14, 2024 | glasstire.com | Ruben C. Cordova

Editor’s note: This article is also published in English on Glasstire. Find that here. Nota del editor: Este artículo se publicó originalmente en inglés en Glasstire el 17 de junio del 2024. Traducción de Yolanda Fauvet y Paulina H. Marroquín.
“Xicanx” Exhibition Surveys Chicana/o/x Art in San Antonio

Jul 20, 2024 | glasstire.com | Ruben C. Cordova

Xicanx: Dreamers + Changemakers | Soñadores + creadores del cambio, a sweeping exhibition at the Contemporary at Blue Star in San Antonio, features works by 32 artists. Nearly two-thirds of these artists are from San Antonio, which endows the show with a very heavy local accent. Several artists are from California. The states of New Mexico, Colorado, Illinois, and Arizona are also represented, mostly by one artist each.
In Focus: Ángel Rodríguez-Díaz’s "Goddess Triptych"

Jun 17, 2024 | glasstire.com | Ruben C. Cordova

The exhibition Ángel Rodríguez-Díaz: The Goddess Triptych Reunited at the San Antonio Museum of Art through January 26, 2025, provides an opportunity to re-examine this important work. Born in Puerto Rico, Ángel Rodríguez-Díaz (December 6, 1955 – March 31, 2023) was a highly accomplished Latinx painter who worked in a realist tradition (he settled in San Antonio in 1995 with his partner Rolando Briseño). The artist drew on many artistic traditions, from the ancient to the modern eras.
The Higgins Armor Exhibition at the San Antonio Museum of Art

May 8, 2024 | glasstire.com | Ruben C. Cordova

John Woodman Higgins (1874-1961), president of the Worcester Pressed Steel Company in Worcester, Massachusetts, lived in a “‘house of the future’ filled with steel art and steel marvels…. His favorite color was ‘stainless steel’” (“Higgins Armory Museum (Gone),” RoadsideAmerica.com).