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Catalog Data

Interviewee:
Mondini-Ruiz, Franco, 1961-  Search this
Interviewer:
Cordova, Cary  Search this
Creator:
Recuerdos Orales: Interviews of the Latino Art Community in Texas  Search this
Names:
Recuerdos Orales: Interviews of the Latino Art Community in Texas  Search this
Amado, Jesse, 1951-  Search this
Briseño, Rolando, 1952-  Search this
Casey, Mike  Search this
Cisneros, Sandra  Search this
Diaz, Alejandro  Search this
Herzberg, Julia P.  Search this
Jaukkuri, Maaretta  Search this
Judd, Donald, 1928-1994  Search this
Lozano, Danny  Search this
Moffatt, Tracey  Search this
Romo, Ito, 1961-  Search this
Taylor, Frederieke  Search this
Tracy, Michael, 1943-  Search this
Extent:
93 Pages (Transcript)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Pages
Sound recordings
Interviews
Date:
2004 July 7-8
Scope and Contents:
An interview of Franco Mondini-Ruiz conducted 2004 July 7-8, by Cary Cordova, for the Archives of American Art, in Alameda and San Antonio, Tex.
Mondini speaks of his parents' disparate backgrounds; his repressed childhood in Boerne, Tex.; his family's electronics store; discovering that his brother was actually his half-brother; attending undergrad and law school at St. Mary's in San Antonio, Tex.; his Catholic rearing; raising his Latino consciousness during and after law school; his life as a successful lawyer; his ingratiation into both rich white and Latino cultures; his partying and coming-out as a gay man; his making of art as a counterpoint to his office work; advice for young Latino artists; the importance of cheap art; exoticizing of Mexican culture by Anglos; quitting law and his experience living in Mexico City; and being diagnosed with HIV. Mondini-Ruiz also speaks of opening his Infinito Botanica and how he operated it; American drug culture; San Antonio's cityscape and his "utopic" hope for it; his "Blue Star on Houston" exhibition; drug use; his show at Bard College as his big break; living with Alejandro Diaz; homosexual and Mexican rococo aesthetics; his exhibit at the 2000 Whitney Biennial and moving to New York City; the importance of found art; the universality of class and race struggles; the problems with over-materialization of artwork; his "Ballroom" show in Marfa, Tex. and the issues confronting that city's arts patronage; his making of the "Spurs Installation"; his new anti-materialistic mindset; and the patterns within his career. Mondini-Ruiz also recalls Michael Tracy, Ito Romo, Rolando Briseno, Sandra Cisneros, Jesse Amado, Donald Judd, Frederieke Taylor, Julia Herzberg, Danny Lozano, Maaretta Jaukkuri, Tracey Moffat, Mike Casey, and others.
Biographical / Historical:
Franco Mondini-Ruiz (1961- ) is an artist in New York. Legal name is Gino Francisco Mondini. Interviewer Cary Cordova (1970-) is an art historian from Austin, Tex.
General:
Originally recorded on 5 sound discs. Reformatted in 2010 as 9 digital wav files. Duration is 5 hrs., 12 min.
Provenance:
This interview is part of the Archives of American Art Oral History Program, started in 1958 to document the history of the visual arts in the United States, primarily through interviews with artists, historians, dealers, critics and administrators.
Restrictions:
Transcript available on the Archives of American Art website.
Occupation:
Lawyers -- Texas -- Interviews  Search this
Topic:
Art -- Technique  Search this
Hispanic American artists  Search this
Gay artists  Search this
Artists (LGBTQ)  Search this
Genre/Form:
Sound recordings
Interviews
Identifier:
AAA.mondin04
Archival Repository:
Archives of American Art
GUID:
https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/mw962984fb6-cb64-424b-ad5f-ab2402835ff4
EDAN-URL:
ead_collection:sova-aaa-mondin04