CIRIA - RORSCHACH HEADS

Ciria - Rorschach Heads

The Amarillo Museum of Art is pleased to present the recent work of the extraordinary Spanish painter José Manuel Ciria in a profoundly stirring, provocative, and consciousness-expanding exhibition, titled Ciria-Rorschach Heads. Following a tradition in contemporary Spanish painting that includes Antoni Tàpies or Antonio Saura; the young Ciria came to attention in the early 1990s with a series of fiercely lyrical abstract paintings that surprised artists and critics alike. Over the pas two decades, Ciria's mammoth painterly inventiveness has propelled him into the echelons as a leading painter among others in his generation.

This is Ciria's first exhibition of work in a museum in the United States in which the artist has vigorously turned his attention toward the Rorschach Heads, a merging and blending of abstraction and figuration. The Heads are powerful and complex, strong in color and size. Ciria in the manner of a conductor in an orchestra uses his brushes like a baton conducting and orchestrating the surface with fierce brushstrokes filling the canvas with the colors of red, black, grey, orange and white and finally his signature spattering of paint.

Ciria invites us to create a narrative about his emotionally charged paintings. The inner meaning we bring away as viewers is often dictated by our own emotional associations that the paintings trigger. Powerful and stirring, they make us uncomfortable and yet we return again and again to confront the visual story Ciria brings to us. Ciria bares his soul to us if we are brave enough to take the time to look, to see and therefore to comprehend.

Born in Manchester in 1960, Spanish painter José Manuel Ciria has exhibited extensively in Europe, Latin America and North America. Some of his recent solo exhibitions include: the Círculo de Bellas Artes, (Madrid), Christopher Cutts Gallery, (Toronto), Herzliya Museum of Contemporary Art, (Tel Aviv), National Museum of Fine Arts (Buenos Aires), Museum of Contemporary Art, (Santiago de Chile), Couteron Gallery, (Paris), Museum of Modern Art, (Santo Domingo), and the Pasquart Art Center, (Biel, Switzerland). Ciria recently had a major exhibition in New York in the Stefan Stux Gallery, February-April 2011. He has an up-coming exhibition in Valencia Spain at IVAM Instituto Valenciano de Arte Moderno, September 13, 2011.

He is the recipient of numerous international prizes and scholarships such as the Extraordinary Prize Queen Sofía, Madrid, 1999, grants from the Ministry of Culture and Science of Israel, Tel Aviv, 2001, and the Gonzalo Parrado Foundation Scholarship, Madrid, 2008 and 2009.

SPONSORSHIP: TEXAS COMMISSION ON THE ARTS

HOSPITALITY: AMoA ALLIANCE

APPRECIATION: BUDWISER DISTRIBUTING CO.; GLAZER’S DISTRIBUTING CO.; REPUBLIC NATIONAL DISTRIBUTING; THE AMBASSADOR HOTEL & ARTS COMMITTEE CHAMBER OF COMMERCE

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Ciria - "What's In Your Head?" Contest

The Amarillo Museum of Art (AMoA) and Hastings Entertainment have partnered together to create an art contest for children in conjunction with the “Ciria Rorschach Heads” exhibit running at the Amarillo Museum of Art through July 31, 2011. After viewing the exhibition at the Museum, children between the ages of 3 and 14 will be able to create a piece of art by drawing their own interpretation of Ciria’s work. The drawings, which can be submitted at the AMoA between July 1st and July 31st, will be judged by a panel including curator Carole Newhouse and artist Jose Manuel Ciria. Winners will be chosen for the following three age groups: 3 years to 6 years, 7 years to 9 years, and 10 years to 14 years. The winner in each category will receive a one year membership to the Amarillo Museum of Art, a $50 Hastings Entertainment giftcard, and have their artwork displayed in the catalogue of Jose Manuel Ciria. After the conclusion of the contest, all entries will be on display at the Corner [Artspace] inside the Hastings Hardback Coffee Café at 2020 S. Georgia in Amarillo from August 5 to August 31, 2011.

How To Enter:

Visit the Amarillo Museum of Art & Submit Your Work Here between July 1st and July 31st.

2200 S. Van Buren Street, Amarillo, TX, 79109

Hours: Tuesday – Friday: 10am to 5pm + Saturday & Sunday: 1pm to 5pm

Show off your work! Bring your friends and family to the Hastings Hardback Coffee Café to see your work hanging in the Corner [Artspace] gallery from August 5 to August 31, 2011.