Cuentos y Encuentos: Paintings by Ray Martín Abeyta

Exhibited from February 4 2006- May 27, 2006

Abeyta utilizes traditional painting techniques such as baroque lighting effects and decorative rococo designs. As he works on a painting, he transfers his thoughts directly onto the canvas and does little modification. His brushstrokes create a smooth texture, and his modeling of light is sharp and forms strong contours. The combination of Abeyta’s techniques creates a stylized realism that is deliberately created to mimic the classic style of the Spanish Colonial period in Latin America that was popular in the sixteenth and eighteenth centuries.

Abeyta’s work is influenced by artists such as El Greco, Francisco Goya, Pablo Picasso, Frida Kahlo, and Diego Rivera; all of which embraced ideas that were often ostracized and contentious. Characteristics of provoking thoughts, insights, questions, and passionate reactions interweave throughout these artists’ work and compelled Abeyta to challenge his own creations.