Opening Saturday, December 1, Jessica Murray Projects is pleased to announce Shop by Franco Mondini-Ruiz. The artists first solo gallery exhibition in New York will include over fifty small Neo-Baroque displays created from an eclectic assortment of materials. Previous installations have included spaghetti squash, antique figurines, donuts and colored water. In each exquisitely arranged universe, Mondini-Ruiz transforms the ordinary and uplifts the discarded, creating visual relationships that explore cultural history, politics, sexual identity, and the cross-pollination between art and craft. The viewer is drawn into the artist’s miniature worlds by their elegant, concise curation, and then engaged by their sensitive and charged relationships.

Shop will include The Lavender Series, 2001. Ten lavender-lined jars presented on a shelf capture different icons of architecture and mythology. Sculpted in clay, one sees a pyramid, am amphitheater, Stonehenge, or The Parthenon; in another one finds a smooth orb, a rococo cave, or a gigantic octopus. Each diorama is brought to life by the inclusion of poised eighteenth century paper figures and an assortment of multicolored model trees. On each tiny stage a play is set for the viewer’s imagination.

Modini-Ruiz has been included in several museum exhibitions including El Museo del Barrio (Mexique), The Whitney Museum of American Art (2000 Biennial), Kiasma (ARS 01) and San Francisco MoMA (Ultra Baroque/Aspects of Post Latin American Art). He has also been featured in magazines including: Art in America, ArtForum, Frieze, Sculpture and Paper, and most recently included in Art in the 21st Century.

In the drawing room, Jessica Murray Projects is also pleased to announce Tantrums by Matt Bua. Bua’s zany pen and ink drawings on record sleeves portray a fantastical mix of past and present: supermarkets, fortresses, strange men and imaginary animals. This selection will also include a sound installation of improvised songs mixed with traditional rock jingles and the voice of a child talking in her sleep.

To celebrate Shop and Tantrums, don’t miss our South Texas Style Tamalada Christmas Party on December 7th, 6 – midnight. Mondini-Ruiz hosts this event with homemade tamales, beer, other treats from the region, and artworks available beginning at $10. Eat, drink and do all your holiday shopping!

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