Chris Rubin de la Borbolla: there was a silent tinfoil rapping against the front door

CHRIS RUBIN DE LA BORBOLLA there was a silent tinfoil rapping against the front door

bruno david gallery

CHRIS RUBIN DE LA BORBOLLA there was a silent tinfoil rapping against the front door April 10 - May 9, 2009 Bruno David Gallery 3721 Washington Boulevard Saint Louis, 63108 Missouri, U.S.A. info@brunodavidgallery.com www.brunodavidgallery.com Director: Bruno L. David This catalogue was published in conjunction with the exhibition “there was a silent tinfoil rapping against the front door” Editor: Bruno L. David Catalog Designer: Yoko Kiyoi Printed in USA All works courtesy of Bruno David Gallery and Chris Rubin De La Borbolla Cover Image: Chris Rubin De La Borbolla. true love waits (detail), 2008-09 56 x 72 inches (142.24 x 182.88 cm), Oil and mixed media on canvas

Copyright © 2009 Bruno David Gallery, Inc. All Rights Reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the written permission of Bruno David Gallery, Inc.

Contents

Essay by Sun Smith-F么ret and Jen Rieger Afterword by Bruno L. David Checklist of the Exhibition Biography

1

Essay by Sun Smith-F么ret and Jen Rieger 2

Chris Rubin de la Borbolla works in an ever-changing environment where the lines of traditional and commercial forms of expression are often (and necessarily) blurred. He uses technology as a means to appropriate and reassemble materials on all sensory fronts; then later distributes them across numerous available media. Much like his childhood, the work involves an equal employment of scientific reason and artistic intuition.

Chris’s new paintings explore the superficially blurred conversations between relationship and conflict in both cultural and personal life. The work mirrors this dynamic conflict through an amalgamation of contemporary culture and events with a distinct edge influenced by graffiti, pop imagery, cutout magazine text, books, street culture, and personal poetry, dialogue, and musings. His paintings can be seen as “images with a cerebral pulse” that push the medium of painting yet find a common ground in their conversation with the social, the political, and the real.

Ideas are layered upon the canvas and become fully integrated through technically mature play and thought. There are applications of oil, enamel, spray paint, stains, sharpie marker, charcoal, smoked cigarette butts, tiny plastic babies in neoprene packages, stenciled numbers and alphabets, blow-ups of digitized photos, phrases from instruction manuals, intermittent blips of poetry, city names and city maps, silhouettes, solids and see-through figures that drift across the canvases.

Sometimes the surfaces reveal a man in a love/hate relationship with his materials. Sometimes they reveal the innocent portrait of a child wanting to offer hope to the world. Sometimes they reveal the barren landscape of war and aggression. But as a unifying thread, the paintings always reveal the vast sea of information and disparate material that we as a digital culture are left to sort, understand, and interpret...and in so doing somehow fit into our lives, our philosophies, and our relationships with the world and one another.

His works are mysterious, romantic, curious, observing.

In this masterly mélange of media, the paintings declare a kinship to printmaking, photography, and textile surface design techniques, as well as to the assertive abstractions of de Kooning and Pollock and the raw expressive narrative of Basquiat.

3

In his flagrantly political your distant means of making war, Chris presents a skillfully corner-mounted diptych painting with accompanied floor installation that seems to reference and pay homage to current and continuing Middle Eastern conflicts.

Viewed from a distance, the gesso and stained surfaces of the paired paintings convey a meditative aura, slightly pallid and sorrowful, a desert out of bloom, and the aftermath of a bygone conflict. Up close in a grit-abraded surface, figures emerge that could suggest brothers in arms in Iraq, Arab hostages, human targets, Che Guevara martyrdom, collateral or personal damage.

In another painting entitled touch, Rubin de la Borbolla offers a much simpler message. Here, the canvas is nearly blank – the story taking place in two colors. A striking contrast to its neighbor - no gesso, no additional accoutrements - nothing at all save the exception of a simple portrait of a young boy and girl holding hands... and the simple scrawled-out words - “touch” and “come as you are”. Within a sea of information and more aggressive work, the artist offers a vision where a small voice can still be heard from within - a callback from our past. An offer of promise, of hope, of optimism.

The other paintings continue to offer a visually engaging, cohesive, and intelligent game…should the viewer want to engage.

One amongst information, (mis)information, the internal and the external, and the idea of personal triumph, failure, and possible salvation.

Chris Rubin de la Borbolla plays his elements like a carefully crafted score that in the end sounds effortless, counterpointing the painfully personal against art historical and popular culture notions where the layering becomes a virtual environment.

The work scores on cerebral and textural planes...but there is nothing plain about it.

— Sun Smith-Fôret and Jen Rieger Sun Smith-Fôret is an artist and writer. Jen Rieger is a writer. This essay is one in a series of the gallery’s exhibitions written by fellow gallery artists and friends.

4

Afterwords by Bruno L. David I am pleased to exhibit a new series of paintings by Chris Rubin de la Borbolla at the Bruno David Gallery. Support for the creation of significant new works of art has been the core to the mission and program of the Bruno David Gallery since its founding. Chris Rubin de la Borbolla’s remarkable and compelling paintings make him one the most impressive artist of the gallery.

Chris Rubin de la Borbolla latest work, “there was a silent tinfoil rapping against the front door”, is his second solo exhibition with the Bruno David Gallery. As both an artist and a professional digital designer, Chris believes a majority of art arises from the collusion of critical, reflective reason and the freeplay common to dreams, derangement, and the suspension of unquestioned structure. “Coming of age, I found my general creative process commensurate with that of Lynch, Burroughs and Baudrillard. All compositions begin with a chance meeting of archived images, words or design aesthetics, which eventually filter into a residual center. These progresses from that origin with no notion of its end / completion oftentimes with the origin itself being rewritten.” Though Chris may express his ideas using a variety of forms, techniques and media, numerous critiques have maintained that the works find a common ground in their conversation of the social, the political, the real and its simulacra (ontology), and other epistemology.

Chris Rubin de la Borbolla was trained in Fine Arts and Theory at Northwestern University (BFA), where he also received a BA in Applied Mathematics. He took special interest in printmaking, painting, philosophy and quantum physics. Chris also holds a B.A .in Philosophy from Belmont University, Nashville, TN. He also studied at Washington University in St. Louis, Vanderbilt University in Nashville, TN and, Ohio State University in Columbus, OH. He lives and works in St. Louis, Missouri. As a child he drew, played with Lincoln Logs, wandered about with his brothers in the deep Mississippi foliage, and was fascinated with erector sets. His grandmother was a Ph.D. in Philology and imparted an indelible love and respect for words that would last a lifetime and play an important role in his future painting career.

— Bruno L. David

5

6

Checklist of the Exhibition and Images

7

true love waits, 2009

Mixed media on canvas 56 x 72 inches (142.24 x 182.88 cm) 8

9

the differential effect of sensory deprivation, 2009 Mixed media on canvas 42 x 64 inches (106.68 x 162.56 cm) 10

11

Me(n)ta(l)physical Motility, 2009

mixed media on canvas 64 x 96 inches (Diptych) (162.56 x 243.84 cm) 12

13

touch, 2004

graphite/charcoal, oils, acrylics on canvas 70 x 42 inches (177.80 x 106.68 cm) 14

15

your greatness measured in grams (from something to leave behind series), 2006 Oils, oilstick, charcoal and tape on canvas 64 x 126 1/2 inches (162.56 x 321.31 cm) (triptych) 16

17

cindy my love (from something to leave behind series), 2005-06 Oils, charcoal, numbers and tape on panel 48 x 33 1/2 inches (121.92 x 85.09 cm) 18

19

i remember when i thought, 2005

charcoal, oil, acrylics, oilstick, sharpee on canvas 70 x 42 inches (177.80 x 106.68 cm) 20

21

do you find them attractive, 2005

oils, oilstick, charcoal, graffiti marker, spray paint, tape, paper on canvas 64 x 126 inches (162.56 x 320.04 cm) (triptych) 22

23

saturated saint - your body on autopilot, 2006

Oils, oilstick, graffiti marker, spray paint and charcoal on canvas 84 x 70 inches (213.36 x 177.80) (diptych) 24

25

Blue Type, 2009 Monotype and mixed media on paper 30 x 22 inches (76.20 x 55.88) (sheet size) 26

27

she remained an unsung beauty queen in her own right, 2009 Mixed media on canvas 64 x 36 inches (162.56 x 91.44 cm) 28

29

big + lil, 2009

Mixed media on canvas 64 x 42 inches (162.56 x 91.44 cm) 30

31

i plausibly fill the outlines of your spraypaint mouth, 2009 Mixed media on canvas 64 x 42 inches (162.56 x 106.68 cm) 32

33

your distant means of making war, 2009

mixed media on canvas, wood crates and cigarette boxes Overall size variable 34

35

your distant means of making war (detail), 2009 mixed media on canvas 64 x 96 inches (162.56 x 243.84 cm) (diptych) 36

37

your distant means of making war (detail), 2009 mixed media Overall size variable 38

39

Chris Rubin de la Borbolla: there was a silent tinfoil rapping against the front door at Bruno David Gallery, 2009 (installation view - detail) 40

41

Chris Rubin de la Borbolla: there was a silent tinfoil rapping against the front door at Bruno David Gallery, 2009 (installation view - detail) 42

43

Chris Rubin de la Borbolla: there was a silent tinfoil rapping against the front door at Bruno David Gallery, 2009 (installation view - detail) 44

45

Chris Rubin de la Borbolla: there was a silent tinfoil rapping against the front door at Bruno David Gallery, 2009 (installation view - detail) 46

47

48

CHRIS RUBIN DE LA BORBOLLA Lives and works in St. Louis, Missouri EDUCATION 1999 1997 1997 1995 1994 1994

Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN B.A. Philosophy, Belmont University, Nashville, TN Ohio State University, Columbus, OH B.A. Applied Mathematics, Northwestern University, Chicago, IL B.A. Art Theory and Practice, Northwestern University, Chicago, IL

SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS 2009 2007 2000

1997 1996

Bruno David Gallery, there was a silent tinfoil rapping against the front door, St. Louis, Missouri Bruno David Gallery, Chris Rubin de la Borbolla: entrada, St. Louis, Missouri.

St. Louis Design Center, Ex Aedes, Chris Rubin de la Borbolla, St. Louis, Missouri Tribeca, Chris Rubin de la Borbolla : Artworks, St. Louis, Missouri.

Bongo Java Cafe, Untitled, Traveling Exhibition, Nashville, Tennessee.

Bongo Java Cafe, Untitled, Traveling Exhibition, Nashville, Tennessee.

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS 2009 2008 2007 2003 2002 2001

2000 1999

OVERVIEW_09, St. Louis, Missouri.

OVERVIEW_08, St. Louis, Missouri.

OVERVIEW_07, St. Louis, Missouri.

Consumed, Art St. Louis, St. Louis, Missouri.

Nine One One + One, Art St. Louis, St. Louis, Missouri.

Not Your Ordinary Self-Portrait, Art St. Louis, St. Louis, Missouri.

In Your Face: Portraits, St. Louis’ Artists’ Guild, St. Louis, Missouri.

Eros - Erotica, Robert Lloyd Butler Gallery, St. Louis, Missouri.

XV, The Exhibition, Art St. Louis, St. Louis, Missouri.

49

1999

1998

1997

1995 1991-4

About Face, St. Louis’ Artists’ Guild, St. Louis, Missouri.

One Night Stand, Critical Mass, St. Louis, Missouri.

5th Annual Regional Fine Art Exhibition, St. Charles Community College, St. Charles, Missouri.

Exhibition, Jeff Johnson Photography Studios.

Group Show, World Trade Center, New York, New York.

Retrospective, Art and Soul ’98, Nashville Tennessee.

Group Exhibition, Carousel Gallery, Chesterfield Arts, Chesterfield, Missouri.

Altered States, Art St. Louis, St. Louis, Missouri.

Outer Scapes / Inner Scapes, Art. St. Louis, St. Louis, Missouri.

Glowshow, NEA, Nashville, Tennessee.

Two exhibitions, RyCo & MPL Events.

Group Exhibition, Wexner Center, Ohio State University Gallery, Columbus, Ohio.

Group Show, Dittmar Gallery, Evanston, Illinois.

PUBLICATIONS Rubin de la Borbolla, Chris, Belmont Literary Journal, 1997, Book review and art, TART Magazine, 1995.

Rubin de la Borbolla, Chris, Northwestern Art and Literature Journal, Helicon.

50

ARTISTS Margaret Adams Dickson Beall Laura Beard Elaine Blatt Martin Brief Lisa K. Blatt Shawn Burkard Bunny Burson Carmon Colangelo Alex Couwenberg Jill Downen Yvette Drury Dubinsky Corey Escoto

Beverly Fishman Damon Freed William Griffin Joan Hall Takashi Horisaki Kim Humphries Kelley Johnson Howard Jones (Estate) Chris Kahler Bill Kohn (Estate) Leslie Laskey Sandra Marchewa Peter Marcus

Patricia Olynyk Robert Pettus Daniel Raedeke Chris Rubin de la Borbolla Frank Schwaiger Charles Schwall Christina Shmigel Thomas Sleet Buzz Spector Lindsey Stouffer Cindy Tower Mario Trejo Ken Worley

brunodavidgallery.com