Oral history interview with Franco Mondini-Ruiz
odd: label: General
content: Originally recorded on 5 sound discs. Reformatted in 2010 as 9 digital wav files. Duration is 5 hrs., 12 min.
name: label: Interviewee
content: Mondini-Ruiz, Franco, 1961-
label: Interviewer
content: Cordova, Cary
label: Creator
content: Recuerdos Orales: Interviews of the Latino Art Community in Texas
label: Names
content: Recuerdos Orales: Interviews of the Latino Art Community in Texas
label: Names
content: Amado, Jesse, 1951-
label: Names
content: Briseño, Rolando, 1952-
label: Names
content: Casey, Mike
label: Names
content: Cisneros, Sandra
label: Names
content: Diaz, Alejandro
label: Names
content: Herzberg, Julia P.
label: Names
content: Jaukkuri, Maaretta
label: Names
content: Judd, Donald, 1928-1994
label: Names
content: Lozano, Danny
label: Names
content: Moffatt, Tracey
label: Names
content: Romo, Ito, 1961-
label: Names
content: Taylor, Frederieke
label: Names
content: Tracy, Michael, 1943-
topic: label: Occupation
content: Lawyers -- Texas -- Interviews
label: Topic
content: Art -- Technique
label: Topic
content: Hispanic American artists
label: Topic
content: Gay artists
label: Topic
content: Artists (LGBTQ)
acqinfo: label: Provenance
content: 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.
creator: label: Interviewee
content: Mondini-Ruiz, Franco, 1961-
label: Interviewer
content: Cordova, Cary
label: Creator
content: Recuerdos Orales: Interviews of the Latino Art Community in Texas
bioghist: label: Biographical / Historical
content: Franco Mondini-Ruiz (1961- ) is an artist in New York.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.
physdesc: label: Extent
content: 93 Pages (Transcript)
unitdate: label: Date
content: 2004 July 7-8
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Archives of American Art
identifier: label: Identifier
content: AAA.mondin04
objectType: label: Type
content: Collection descriptions
label: Type
content: Archival materials
label: Type
content: Pages
label: Type
content: Sound recordings
label: Type
content: Interviews
genre_format: label: Genre/Form
content: Sound recordings
label: Genre/Form
content: Interviews
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents
content: 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.
label: Scope and Contents
content: 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.