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Ruben Olguin Arts

Recent Work and Exhibitions

Recent Work

First slide image — Anthropogenic Frequency
2022
Various Sizes
3D Printed resonator vessel. Wood Filled plant based filament. Each vessel captures a frequency that encourages seed germination.

Second slide image — Anthropogenic Frequency
2022
Various Sizes
3D Printed resonator vessel. Wood Filled plant based filament. Each vessel captures a frequency that encourages seed germination.

First slide image — Retablos
2018 - present
Various Sizes
Found wood panel, metal lathe, adobe, clay, pigment, semi-precious stone, tin. They depicts water rights around pueblo villages and the influence of the Mission chruches on tribal access to water.

Second slide image — Retablos
2018 - present
Various Sizes
Found wood panel, metal lathe, adobe, clay, pigment, semi-precious stone, tin. They depicts water rights around pueblo villages and the influence of the Mission chruches on tribal access to water.

First slide image — Treeflow Mural
2021
10’ x 10'
Adobe, clay stenciled mural.
Using tree ring data to describe the history of drought in the Rio Grande Valley and a stencil cutout of the Rio Grande and its watershed.

Second slide image — Treeflow Mural
2021
10’ x 10'
Adobe, clay stenciled mural.
Using tree ring data to describe the history of drought in the Rio Grande Valley and a stencil cutout of the Rio Grande and its watershed.

First slide image — Implied Line
2019
3 Channel video projection
Tracing the line of the old acequia in Taos, NM. Video depicts the movement and flow of land and clay overlayed with historical maps of Taos and the acequia.

Second slide image — Implied Line
2019
3 Channel video projection
Tracing the line of the old acequia in Taos, NM. Video depicts the movement and flow of land and clay overlayed with historical maps of Taos and the acequia.

First slide image — Fractured: Broken Landscapes
2015 - Present
2’h x 4’diameter
Adobe, clay, sand, lathe, video projection.
A bowl constructed of adobe brick, video projection depicts transportation lines across the landscape revealing the fracturing of resources and their erasure over geologic time.

Second slide image — Fractured: Broken Landscapes
2015 - Present
2’h x 4’diameter
Adobe, clay, sand, lathe, video projection.
A bowl constructed of adobe brick, video projection depicts transportation lines across the landscape revealing the fracturing of resources and their erasure over geologic time.

First slide image — Evaporation Mural
2020
25' x 28'
Foraged micaceous clay Clay, pigment, turquoise
A clay paint stenciled mural displaying the entire Rio Grande and every species on the endangered and threatened list dependant on the river.

Second slide image — Evaporation Mural
2020
25' x 28'
Foraged micaceous clay Clay, pigment, turquoise
A clay paint stenciled mural displaying the entire Rio Grande and every species on the endangered and threatened list dependant on the river.

Past Work

First slide image — Angostura
2015
16” x 20”
Optical print mounted on aluminum, electronics, wire, foraged micaceous clay kiln fired vessel.
Sound pots playback recorded noise along transportation paths, revealing the mechanical noise impact on the environment.

Second slide image — Angostura
2015
16” x 20”
Optical print mounted on aluminum, electronics, wire, foraged micaceous clay kiln fired vessel.
Sound pots playback recorded noise along transportation paths, revealing the mechanical noise impact on the environment.

First slide image — Drum Migration 2
2015
10” x 42”
Foraged clay, piezzo disk transducer, amplifier, speakers, yucca drum sticks.
Ceramic drums with contact microphones show the interconnectedness of indigenous communities through music and ceramic traditions.

Second slide image — Drum Migration 2
2015
10” x 42”
Foraged clay, piezzo disk transducer, amplifier, speakers, yucca drum sticks.
Ceramic drums with contact microphones show the interconnectedness of indigenous communities through music and ceramic traditions.

First slide image — Fractured: Broken Landscapes
2015
3.6’ x 15” each bowl, 10'x10' install
Adobe, video projection
A bowl constructed of adobe brick, video projection depicts transportation lines across the landscape revealing the fracturing of resources and their erasure over geologic time.

Second slide image — Fractured: Broken Landscapes
2015
3.6’ x 15” each bowl, 10'x10' install
Adobe, video projection
A bowl constructed of adobe brick, video projection depicts transportation lines across the landscape revealing the fracturing of resources and their erasure over geologic time.

First slide image — Traces
2015
9” x 5.5”
Foraged micaceous bowl with video projection
Ceramic bowls with video projection that depict images taken from indigenous communities by 19th and 20th c. anthropoligists, the images are taken back and obscured to disrupt colonial interpretation.

Second slide image — Traces
2015
9” x 5.5”
Foraged micaceous bowl with video projection
Ceramic bowls with video projection that depict images taken from indigenous communities by 19th and 20th c. anthropoligists, the images are taken back and obscured to disrupt colonial interpretation.

First slide image — Sonic Decay
2015
4’h x 4’w x 4.5’ l
Salvaged adobe, salvaged wood, electronics, speakers.
A sound capsule of the community. Keytones are captured throughout the area and remixed and played back within the box, communal listening is encouraged.

Second slide image — Sonic Decay
2015
4’h x 4’w x 4.5’ l
Salvaged adobe, salvaged wood, electronics, speakers.
A sound capsule of the community. Keytones are captured throughout the area and remixed and played back within the box, communal listening is encouraged.

First slide image — Songs of Our Fathers
2014
9” x 14”
Foraged micaceous clay reduction pit fired resonators.
These "Sound Pots", are vessels that hold specific frequencies of sound. These hold the sound of mechanical noise revealing the prevelence of anthropogenic noise in our enviornment.

Second slide image — Songs of Our Fathers
2014
9” x 14”
Foraged micaceous clay reduction pit fired resonators.
These "Sound Pots", are vessels that hold specific frequencies of sound. These hold the sound of mechanical noise revealing the prevelence of anthropogenic noise in our enviornment.

Current and Upcoming Exhibitions

Arrivals 2022
February 25 - May 28, 2022
Opening reception - Februrary 25, 5-7pm
Form and Concept Gallery, Santa Fe, NM
Group exhibition
The show spotlights artists who challenge and shape the fields of contemporary craft, design and art.

Bigger Than This Room
April 29 - July 30, 2022
Opening Weekend - Friday, April 29, 5-7pm
Form and Concept Gallery, Santa Fe, NM
Group exhibition
An exhibition of art and ephemera that reframes the picture, embedding monuments within larger cultural vistas.

Currents New Media Festival
June 17 - June 26, 2022
The festival marks its 13th year as an international new media exhibition with a return to a full-scale, citywide festival. CURRENTS 2022 celebrates all the City Different has to offer with locations at the Santa Fe Fairgrounds, Center for Contemporary Art (CCA), Currents 826, form & concept, and SITE Santa Fe.

Recent Exhibitions

Form and Relation
January 26, 2021 - July 23, 2022
The Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH
Group exhibition
This exhibition showcases the versatility of ceramics and the many forms it takes through the hands of six Indigenous artists from various regions within what is now the United States.

Material Issues
November 1, 2020 - June 1, 2021
Utah MOCA, Salt Lake City, UT
Group exhibition
The objects in this exhibition address a broad spectrum of issues from the environment, to racism, to feminism, illustrating the versatility of the materials and processes employed to question, confront, and spark dialogue.

Species in Peril
September 28, 2019 - December 28, 2019
516 Arts, Albuquerque, NM
Group Exhibition
Species in Peril Along the Rio Grande explored how the river connects us across borders and disciplines, and is designed to provide education and spur dialogue around pressing ecological issues of our time.

The Ecozoic Era: Plant|Seed|Soil
April 29 - August 5, 2016
Opening reception - April 29, 4-6pm
The State Capital Building, Santa Fe, NM
Group exhibition
A curated group exhibition of contemporary art that illuminates our connection to the earth as living beings - through what nurtures us: plants, seeds, soil

Currents New Media Festival
June 10 - June 26, 2016
Opening Weekend - June 10, 6pm
El Museo Cultural de Santa Fe, Santa Fe, NM
Group exhibition
A curated group exhibition of contemporary art that illuminates our connection to the earth as living beings - through what nurtures us: plants, seeds, soil

Ball Snake Ball
July 27 - September 8, 2018
Art Space, New Haven, CT
Group exhibition
Ball Snake Ball presents objects and installations by a group of emerging and mid-career artists, based in cities and small towns across the U.S., who use clay to confront issues of environmental justice specific to their communities.

Past Exhibitions

image of artwork — Interference
CFA Downtown Studio, Albuquerque, NM
Group exhibition

placeholder — Dis/Continuity
El Museo Cultural de Santa Fe, Santa Fe, NM
Solo exhibition

placeholder — The Paseo, Taos Fall Arts Festival
Our lady of Guadalupe Church, Taos, NM
Group exhibition