Written by I am excited to announce my upcoming show “Borderlands” at Meyer Gallery in Santa Fe, August 26th thru September 8, 2022. Paintings will be available for pre-sale in the weeks leading up to the opening. To be notified of releases, please contact Meyer Gallery.
Fatima Ronquillo Explores Sense of Place and Personal Landscapes for “Borderlands” at Meyer Gallery
written by Kelly Carper for Meyer Gallery, Santa Fe
For her 2022 solo exhibition, Borderlands, Santa Fe artist Fatima Ronquillo presents a new body of work inspired by liminal landscapes, dueling emotions, and other representations of the “in between.” The artist’s own sense of place and personal identity inform her new paintings, giving the show an intimate feel. Borderlands opens on Friday, August 26th with an Artist Reception from 5-7pm.
41×32 inches, oil on aluminum panel
©2022 Fatima Ronquillo
To inquire please email: meyersfnm@gmail.com or call 505-983-1434
The exhibition’s namesake piece, Borderlands, is a 41” x 32” oil painting depicting a classical figure in an elaborate floral coat, flanked by a pronghorn and red tail hawk. The embroidered flowers on the figure’s garment are native to the Trans-Pecos region of West Texas, which borders New Mexico. The figure also wears a Philippine “barong tagalog” shirt. The symbolism references Ronquillo’s past and present homes; born in the Philippines, she emigrated as a child to the United States in 1987 where her family settled in San Antonio, Texas. Now, Santa Fe has been her chosen home for over a decade. Ronquillo recently returned to Texas on an influential trip to Marfa, which was pivotal to her inspiration for the exhibition. Her work continues to draw connections between myth, art history, literature and folklore, but is layered with references to more local or personal environments, particularly Texas and New Mexico. “They represent that liminal space between myth and reality,” she says of the paintings.
Ronquillo also presents a rare self-portrait for this exhibition, titled, The Artist’s Eye and Hand with Jasmines and Sweet Peas. The intimate painting blends Ronquillo’s roots in the Philippines, where the “sampaguita” jasmine is the national flower, with her Santa Fe home as she associates wild sweet peas with her walks along the Santa Fe River banks. In the painting, the sweet peas and the jasmines intertwine gracefully around Ronquillo’s hand, which wears a “lover’s eye” ring containing the artist’s own gaze.
The Artist’s Eye and Hand with Jasmines and Sweet Peas
7×5 inches, oil on linen on aluminum panel
©2022 Fatima Ronquillo
To inquire please email: meyersfnm@gmail.com or call 505-983-1434
Borderlands also represents transitions in time, such as the elusive light between night and morning or the cycle of the seasons – in life and in nature. Floral with Red Squirrel symbolizes a hopeful shift from winter to spring, with an Elizabethan figure dressed in white emerging from a dark landscape. “It’s so much of what I’ve been feeling lately,” says Ronquillo. “Emerging from a cold dark winter to spring – a new beginning.”
20×16 inches, oil on aluminum panel
©2022 Fatima Ronquillo
To inquire please email: meyersfnm@gmail.com or call 505-983-1434
Meyer Gallery, founded in 1965 by Darrel and Jeri Meyer and currently directed by John Manzari, represents over 60 emerging and established artists whose influences stem from master painters and sculptors from the past. With a fresh commitment, these artists continue to explore timeless genres including landscape, figurative and still life painting, as well as bronze sculpture. Within these realms, exhibiting artists offer a broad range of styles from realism to abstraction. Meyer Gallery’s annual exhibition series showcases new work by gallery artists, kicking off each spring and continuing through the end of the year. View a full exhibition schedule and available work at meyergalleries.com
FATIMA RONQUILLO 
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