“2020” Exhibit at the Community Arts Collective

“2020” is a solo art exhibition of new original paintings and drawings by Houston native, New York City based artist and curator Ricardo Osmondo Francis. 

Join the reception on ZOOM.

This exhibit is an allegorical reflection of mankind’s response and reality to the unprecedented COVID-19 /Coronavirus worldwide pandemic and the Black Lives Matter movement of 2020. Technically, this show will feature mostly large-scale mixed media paintings. This series is deeply inspired by the Roman writer Ovid and his collection of myths called “The Metamorpheses.” In this exhibition, Francis reimagines our current year through a series of dreamy yet provocative images that in essence is a spiritually aspirational reflection of our collective reality. Francis’ often illustrative fairy tale like imagery takes on a more bold socially conscious tone in this new body of work--all while representing the possibility of human involvement, progression and continuation despite the many obstacles and uncertainty that this virus has evoked worldwide. 

Inspired by Classical art, multi-ethnic antiquity and present-day advertisement imagery, Francis' vivid pictorial works present a torrent of imagery culled from every possible corner of the visual culture. His lush, elaborately graphic surrealistic paintings and drawings often depict the social constructs of humanity and the complexity of our existence through striking introspective, portraiture, still life and abstract.

The gallery is open Jan. 28 through March 27, and the hours are Thursdays-Saturdays noon to 5pm and by appointment.