SCULPTING DREAMS

Showcasing Artistic Talent

Performance El Museo Cultural 2018 1.jpg

'El Fin del Mundo Y Otras Cosas', (The End of The World & Other Things)

Welcome to my portfolio. Here you’ll find a selection of my work. Explore my projects to learn more about what I do.
“Si-N-N Networks Presents- 'El Fin del Mundo Y Otras Cosas'
(The End of the World & Other Things)
Artist: Ramon F. Barela, MFA, multi-media artist, author, performance artist, & educator
The installation is a commentary on the many issues facing our live time now, from climate crisis to, Critical Race Theory, Wokeness, Extremism, Women’s Rights and the demise of Democracy in our world.
The installation represents the fictitious networks homebase. Inside, the artist as a pseudo-shaman, will act as a journalist expounding the violate news of the day, with its implications for us all. The structure, enclosed with tarp paintings and ceremonial poles with fake antennas, includes a screen with a chaotic video of the artist with his face painted, discussing the various news issues concerning information and disinformation relevant to man. To quote an interna-tionally recognized performance artist; “It is as if the performance stage has become, by de-fault, a demilitarized zone,’ ‘a sanctuary for critical culture and progressive behavior, a space where people can rally talk about important issues’, (Gomez-Pena 2005:280). Because we live in such a critical time, hence the reference in the title, the artist feels that we need to discuss what is LIFE? What is DEATH? This he also addresses in the video projected & in his performance.
As a background for the installation; ‘Si-N-N Network Presents, the artist has created a chalk drawing that also addresses these issues. In the area below the large drawing, the artist has cre-ated a metaphorical road with white rocks. This is a reference to Sacbe a Mayan term that liter-ally translates to “White Road “and was used to describe the roads of rock they would erect and cover with White Limestone to mimic the Milky Way. These were considered sacred paths. There will be a collection of flat rocks available, that have been coated with Limestone, to mimic the Maya roads of Sacbe. The viewer will be asked to write on the stones, what is news, true, important, climate change, disinformation, etc.? This form of engagement is of importance be-cause it is evident that we are all being bombarded by false and true information daily. These inscribed stones will be laid out in the form of a path. Metaphorically like a ‘Sacbe Camino de Verdad’, (Sacbe Road of Truth).
The artist feels, that we are living in a time of inflection, a time of transition. The future seems very stark and detrimental. We are very close to losing our PLANET. WE MUST ACT NOW!!
As an artist/activist, I feel it is important to reflet this outrage and speak loudly about our society and its indifference toward women and the marginalized in general. We are living in critical times of indifferences, division, and the Earth seems to be letting us know.
Contributed by the artist.

Title: ‘Manopla el Sonido de Violencia’ (The Sound of Violence) Mixed media, acrylics on wood panel, & video, 4’x 6’ The ti

Title: 'Consciousness Continues', Day of the Dead Exhibit at El Museo Cultural de Santa Fe, Santa Fe, NM 2024

Title: “Sarcedote de los Cielos”, (Priest of the Skies)
Mixed media, wood, leather, found objects and video monitor, variable size.

The central abstract figurative form suggests a Mayan high priest, his arms painted with an image referring to the Mayan Maw Underworld entrance, are outstretched. He grins down as if inviting the viewer to see the content of the video on his torso.
The role of the shaman was of utmost importance to the Maya, as in other cultures throughout the world. This piece suggests a high priest that has entered a transition between life and death, in which he is now elevated from a high priest/shaman into a God. According to the author, Terrance Mckenna, ‘the immediacy of death led the Maya to dedicate much of their ritual and art to the defeat of deaths’ final grip on their lives”. This was central to the Maya belief system as a passage to the Underworld.
This sculptural form is inscribed with depictions of modern constellations, that were apparently observed and monitored by the Maya astronomers. They were keen observers of the Orion constellation and scholars have suggested that they new about the Galactic Center, found close to the Sagittarius and Scorpio constellations.
The high priest is flanked by a Dish satellite, containing on one side a rendering in charcoal of the Mayan Moon Goddess, Ixchel, considered one of the most relevant Mayan deities. Here she is repre-sented as an on old woman pouring water, with symbols related to the earth and a twisted snake on her head. She is also considered the wife of the Mayan, God, Itzmana, the God of the sky. Here he is drawn on the back side of the Dish satellite, as an old man, the god of wisdom, of the sky, night and day. By integrating modern tools of in-formation, such as a Dish antenna, the artist implies, that they re-ceived information from space.
The Mayan ‘Sarcedote’ or high priest, has on his torso a video moni-tor in which we see images of chaos, death, war, presented in a fast stark manner. The artist feels that perhaps the Maya had a connection to a living universe unabridged by modern technology. now we live in a world of vast extremes, concerning our current human condition, our environment, the climate and true values of life. As this montage of images scrolls through the video the artist questions, what is life and what is death?

The proposal for the exhibit titled; “Si-N-N Networks Presents –‘El Fin Del Mundo y Otras Cosas’ (the End of the World and Ot

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Ramon F. Barela, MFA, Mixed media artist, author and activist

Ramon F. Barela was born and raised in New Mexico, receiving his MFA in Texas.

He has presented panel discussions in Latino conferences and colleges concerning his thematic approach of integrated worldviews. He was a featured speaker in a Mesoamerican Conference at Houston Community College, Houston, Texas. He has been published in Art Voices, You Tube, and other newspaper editorials. The book; Sacbe El Camino Blanco Entre El Arte Y La Vision was published in 2013 featuring a series called “Mind Screen Series” which was informed by his research and travels in Mexico, the hypothesis that the Maya were time travelers and their apparent connection to other cultures.

He has shown his work internationally; MACT, Museo De Arte Contemporanero De Tamualipas, and Matamoros, Mexico among other museums and galleries. He was invited to be part of HAA, Houston Arts Alliance, in which he created an outside performance with his video projected against 20ft. silos, as part of their Art In Public Spaces Program.

Ramon has worked with large wall hanging assemblages and installations in which he incorporates various styles, scientific concepts, and cultural references, mixed media in painting and sculpture, and video as one of the main components.

Currently his work involves installations and multimedia projections as a reflection of his continuing investigation into the complexity of Indigenous cultures, specifically those of Native Americans and Latino/Latina community. He feels that the artist is implicated if he doesn’t respond to the collective transformations of consciousness in our current world culture. To Barela, the artists need to be not only an artist but more of a visual journalist, reporting on current issues and events. He is now working on video installations and performance interventions that comment on historical monuments, how they implicate the dominant society, as being insensitive, callous and what detrimental effects they have on Native American culture and the Indio-Hispanic communities. This he documents in the video format, integrating the use of other artist with different genres, such as music and poetry.

Sincerely, Mr. Ramon F. Barela, MFA

Artist and Educator

SCULPTING DREAMS

'El Fin del Mundo Y Otras Cosas', (The End of The World & Other Things)

Ramon F. Barela, MFA, Mixed media artist, author and activist

BARELA CONTEMPORARY ART STUDIO