Ryan Mendoza (born October 29, 1971, in
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
) is an American painter. He works and lives between
Naples
Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...
and
Berlin
Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...
. In his paintings, he counterbalances old master techniques with contemporary themes. In 2012, Ryan and his then 8-month-pregnant wife Fabia were briefly arrested in Naples after an art performance in solidarity with the Russian punk-rock band
Pussy Riot
Pussy Riot is a Russian feminist protest and performance art group based in Moscow that became popular for its provocative punk rock music which later turned into a more accessible style. Founded in August 2011, it has had a membership of appr ...
in front of their studio in
Rione Sanità
Rione Sanità (literally "Health Neighbourhood" in Italian) is a neighbourhood in Naples, part of the Stella quarter. It is located north of Naples' historical centre, adjacent to the Capodimonte hill.
History
What is now Rione Sanità was a bur ...
.
His intimate diary
''Everything is Mine''
(''Tutto è mio''
), curated by
Simona Vinci
Simona Vinci (born 6 March 1970) is an Italian writer.
Life
Vinci was born in Milan and studied modern literature at the University of Bologna. Vinci was a member of the editorial board for the online literary magazine ''Incubatoio 16''. In 2000 ...
, was released by the Italian publisher
Bompiani
Bompiani is an Italian publishing house based in Milan. It was founded in 1929 by Valentino Bompiani.
In 1990, Bompiani became part of the RCS MediaGroup. It was sold in 2015 to the Giunti Group. It is widely regarded as one of the leading literar ...
in 2015.
In 2016, Mendoza was ranked number 147 of the 500 most successful US artists born after 1966 by
Artnet
Artnet.com is an art market website. It is operated by Artnet Worldwide Corporation, which has headquarters in New York City, in the United States, and is owned by Artnet AG, a German publicly traded company based in Berlin that is listed on t ...
.
The White House
In 2016, he brought an entire house from
Detroit
Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at th ...
to Europe. It was first on display at Art Rotterdam 2016. ''The White House''
is on permanent exhibition at the Verbeke Foundation, Belgium. With ''The White House'', Mendoza wandered into a politically charged debate. He was initially only looking for a way of reconnecting with his identity as an American after living abroad for 24 years. However, ''The White House'' was described as a window into the Detroit's property problems.
The remnants of ''The White House'' project at 8 Mile and Livernois in Detroit were demolished in March 2016. Mendoza covered the costs of the demolition. A documentary on the
project entitled ''The White House''
was directed by Fabia Mendoza
.
The Invitation
In June 2016, Mendoza painted two abandoned houses in
Brightmoor
Brightmoor is a roughly neighborhood in Detroit, Michigan, near the northwest border of the city.[Hillary Clinton
Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton ( Rodham; born October 26, 1947) is an American politician, diplomat, and former lawyer who served as the 67th United States Secretary of State for President Barack Obama from 2009 to 2013, as a United States sen ...]
and
Donald Trump
Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021.
Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of Pe ...
to sleep a night in his installation, at what he called "the real White House," located in Detroit's troubled Brightmoor neighborhood. The presidential candidates both declined his invitation. Resident John O'Malley, a 60-year-old nurse battling cancer, was living between the two abandoned structures. He and urban activist Jonathan Pommerville reached out to Mendoza to help make his difficult situation public.
Rosa Parks' House
Summer 2016, Rosa Parks' niece Rhea McCauley donated the former house where her aunt
Rosa Parks
Rosa Louise McCauley Parks (February 4, 1913 – October 24, 2005) was an American activist in the civil rights movement best known for her pivotal role in the Montgomery bus boycott. The United States Congress has honored her as "the ...
lived from 1957 to 1959 in Detroit to Ryan Mendoza to help preserve the home of the American civil rights movement icon.
"All of my work deals with things and people who have been forgotten on some level," Mendoza stated to
CNN
CNN (Cable News Network) is a multinational cable news channel headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable news channel, and presently owned by the M ...
in November 2016.
Rhea McCauley paid $500 to pull the house off the city's demolition list.
Ryan Mendoza dismantled the house in 18 days with a group of friends, volunteers, musicians and those who made their tribute to Rosa Parks before the final demolition and shipped it to Europe where he rebuilt it in Berlin.
McCauley communicated to the press that as long as her aunt's legacy is not acknowledged in the US, she will bring the house to a place where it is acknowledged. "I know she has streets named after her and medals and awards, but I'm talking about truly understanding the significance of Auntie Rosa," said McCauley. "And I have talked to young people and they don't even know who my aunt is. And that's a shame. It's not their fault, but we as a country need to acknowledge, and if we can't, you know, I'll take her where she is acknowledged."
Both Mendoza and McCauley hoped that the house could eventually return one day to its rightful home, the US.
In October 2017, it was reported that the house would be shipped to and displayed in
Providence, Rhode Island
Providence is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Rhode Island. One of the oldest cities in New England, it was founded in 1636 by Roger Williams, a Reformed Baptist theologian and religious exile from the Massachusetts Bay ...
.
Brown University
Brown University is a private research university in Providence, Rhode Island. Brown is the seventh-oldest institution of higher education in the United States, founded in 1764 as the College in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providenc ...
was planning to exhibit the house, but the display was cancelled. The house was exhibited during part of 2018 in an arts centre Providence, Rhode Island.
Other Projects
Spring 2017, Mendoza painted the facade of a house in
Moscow
Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...
in the colors of the American flag. This street art project was followed by a series of about 50 photographs titled ''Putin, my Putin'' and shown by Berlin-based gallery Camera Work. American director and activist
Rose McGowan
Rósa Arianna "Rose" McGowan (born September 5, 1973) is an American actress. After her film debut in a brief role in the comedy ''Encino Man'' (1992), McGowan achieved wider recognition for her performance in the dark comedy ''The Doom Generati ...
was one of the models for the photographs.
Selected Exhibits
2013: ''Les Aventures de la Vérité '' Peinture et Philosophie,
Fondation Maeght
The Maeght Foundation or Fondation Maeght () is a museum of modern art on the ''Colline des Gardettes'', a hill overlooking Saint-Paul de Vence in the southeast of France about from Nice. It was established by Marguerite and Aimé Maeght in 19 ...
, curated by
Bernard-Henri Lévy
Bernard-Henri Lévy (; ; born 5 November 1948) is a French public intellectual. Often referred to in France simply as BHL, he was one of the leaders of the " Nouveaux Philosophes" (New Philosophers) movement in 1976. His opinions, political acti ...
2013: ''Ryan Mendoza,
Roger Ballen
Roger Ballen (born April 11, 1950) is an American artist living in Johannesburg, South Africa, and working in its surrounds since the 1970s. His oeuvre, which spans five decades, began with the documentary photography field but evolved into the ...
, Paul P.'', Gallerie Massimo Minini, Brescia
2011: ''Ryan Mendoza'' Selected works, Galerie Klueser2, Munich, Germany
2010: ''The Possessed''
Museo d’Arte Contemporanea Donna Regina, Naplel
2009: ''Chocolate Crocodile'' Galerie Lelong, Paris
2008: ''Ryan Mendoza'' Akira Ikeda Gallery, New York
2007: ''Don't look at me'' Galerie Lelong, Paris
2006: ''Happily ever'' Akira Ikeda Gallery, Berlin
2005: ''Ryan Mendoza'' Galerie Bernd Klueser, Munich
2004: ''Fear in a Time of Superheroes'', Galleria Massimo Minini
2003: ''Sleeping Beauty'' Akira Ikeda Gallery, Taura, Japan
2002: ''Join Now for Instant Access''
White Cube
White Cube is a contemporary art gallery founded by Jay Jopling in London in 1993. The gallery has two branches in London: White Cube Mason's Yard in central London and White Cube Bermondsey in South East London; White Cube Hong Kong, in Centra ...
, London
2002: ''Almost American'',
Museo di Castel Nuovo, Naples
2001: ''Ryan Mendoza'',
Overbeck Gesellschaft, Luebeck
2000: ''Ryan Mendoza''
Museo di arte moderna e contemporanea di Trento e Rovereto
The Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art of Trento and Rovereto (MART) (''Museo d'Arte Moderna e Contemporanea di Trento e Rovereto'', in Italian) is a museum centre in the Italian province of Trento. The main site is in Rovereto, and contains m ...
1997: "Cadaver dog", Galleria studio legale, Caserta, Italy
Literature
2016: Ryan Mendoza ''Welcome to America'', Van Spijk Rekafa,
2015: Ryan Mendoza ''Tutto è mio,''
Bompiani
2010: Ryan Mendoza ''The Possessed'', Electa, MAdRE, Text by
Tiziano Scarpa
Tiziano Scarpa (born 16 May 1963) is an Italian novelist, playwright and poet.
Born in Venice, he won the 2009 Strega Prize
The Strega Prize ( it, Premio Strega ) is the most prestigious Italian literary award. It has been awarded annually sin ...
, (2007): Ryan Mendoza ''The End'', Text by
Milan Kundera
Milan Kundera (, ; born 1 April 1929) is a Czech writer who went into exile in France in 1975, becoming a naturalised French citizen in 1981. Kundera's Czechoslovak citizenship was revoked in 1979, then conferred again in 2019. He "sees himself ...
, (2007): Ryan Mendoza ''Don't look at me'', Galerie Lelong
2003: Ryan Mendoza ''Sleeping Beauty'', Taura, Japan
2002: Ryan Mendoza ''Almost American, Museo Castel Nuovo''
2002: Ryan Mendoza ''Join Now for Instant Access'', Text by
Irvine Welsh
Irvine Welsh (born 27 September 1958) is a Scottish novelist, playwright and short story writer. His 1993 novel '' Trainspotting'' was made into a film of the same name. He has also written plays and screenplays, and directed several short fil ...
1998: Ryan Mendoza, Text by Alberto Fiz
References
External links
"Documentary about Ryan Mendoza"The White House documentary by Fabia Mendoza, 67min, 2017
"Ryan Mendoza"Ryan Mendoza Website
"Top 500 american artists since 1966"Artnet
''Join Now for Instant Access'', White Cube Ryan Mendoza Artnet
La Repubblica
Bompiani, `Tutto è mio` Ryan Mendoza
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mendoza, Ryan
1971 births
Living people
20th-century American painters
American male painters
21st-century American painters
21st-century American male artists
Artists from New York (state)
American emigrants to Italy
American expatriates in Italy
20th-century American male artists