photograph by Andrea Rampone http://www.andrearampone.com
Raul’s work in this show is about Work. It is about attentive nurturing as much as it is endurance and physical labor. There is the smell of fresh paint on the walls in the gallery itself. It is all part of a necessary cycle, how we work to present ourselves with respect, to protect and sustain. Identities are being built. Work had recently been finished here and it was still going on. Olfactory and memory, directing the eyes into the brain. I am in an art gallery right now. I have carried my identity and my efforts this far. It’s this work, like what I am doing right now, considering Raul’s sculptural paintings, that wishes to respect Raul’s life – and his perspective.
My thoughts go to Raul’s father mentioned in the artist statement. I’d read about how old he is and how hard he still works. The sacrifices we make so that our children can move the conversation forward, helping establish a sense of self in a place. A seat at the table with people we are comfortable with, people we can share traditions and means of showing compassion and caring for another’s path. All while keeping a hold of our past dearly. Raul’s images are tendrils from this world of awareness, climbing everyone’s constructions quietly. They rock color with a dry heat and delicate renderings. The intense burning color of a sky over road workers, as much a color of warning or caution as a feeling of alienation. The time you spend by yourself in your routine of life.
Raul Gonzalez – Blue Collar
Acrylic, graphite, house paint, ballpoint pen, concrete, 7″ x 6″ x 2″, 2016
photograph by Andrea Rampone www.andrearampone.com
We all participate. Child with Parent. Value with Work. Identity with Artist. Identity with Thought. Competition is like the mother giving the baby bird a boot out of the nest. I see her baby bird feeding it and have to laugh a bit. I’m reminded of the simplicity of seeing things from the surface. I’m reminded of that place I operate from when I am not thinking too much. But then I stop and layer a supposed zen/oneness state with an awareness of my influences. Another thought occurs; trapped in language. And identity. Is it racist? Do I have a grasp of color theory? Raul’s paintings are intense. They rip moments from our lives that blur past us, part of our lives every day. Everyday reasons for being and what duty surfaces when we realize our commonalities. Expectations drive us. In one painting by Raul, a father doing dishes notices his highchair secure child has dropped a doll to the floor. The doll’s rendering is intensified with rich color. Both humans in this scene are drawn to the object for different reasons. But whatever. I have to stop myself and shrug myself to a happier simplified place and test myself. This is a day in the life. I know what this scene means and a part of my lightens up and laughs inside.
We can all relate to the scenes in many of the pieces in this show. It is a dance we all know. Some of us identify because we also have calloused hands and small injuries from a day at work. Sitting at a red light: There’s judgment of who could do the job better or analysis of the situation because of experience. Others don’t even notice, in another world of competition and needs to fulfill. But who am I to judge? Part of me sees Raul Gonzalez’s art and feels its message would be better continued if found in public somewhere, not as graffiti on walls, but positioned entirely incidentally. But I am in a gallery. The pieces themselves are raw and demand authenticity with their vehicle of communication: Broken slabs of concrete and remnants from highway grade reflective sheeting, cardboard, and lots of love and elbow grease. They are too beautifully rendered to be stumbled upon in the street, as if taken for granted reality had ripped a chunk of itself out of itself, wanting to point at itself in a way that will catch your eye – with its beauty.
There are practicalities to retaining the raw soil, keeping the dirt in a completed and represented creation. Human involvement and the sometimes not so beautiful. Having structure seems to ride around beneath Raul’s work. Keeping yourself in a healthy place to be able to better yourself and care for others. 
Raul Gonzales – Truck Lights (That Way)
Acrylic, graphite, ballpoint pen, concrete, 6.25″ x 5″ x 2″, 2016
photograph by Andrea Rampone http://www.andrearampone.com
AUTHENTICity & Content 