In his earliest works, Ramírez Jonas viewed historical references from a strategic vantage as he adapted early scientific experiments as “scores” inflected with his voice. Ramírez Jonas’s faithful reproductions of kites designed by inventors such as Alexander Graham Bell and Joseph Lecornu carried cameras into the air where re-engineered alarm clocks triggered their shutters, capturing images of the artist on the ground holding the kite’s string. In these works, Ramírez Jonas typically activated the scores himself; his later works extend this invitation to viewers. For His Truth is Marching On (1993) the public is invited to take up a mallet and tap a suspended circular arrangement of water-filled wine bottles; their successive musical notes offer a rendition of The Battle Hymn of The Republic.

In 2005, Ramírez Jonas shifted his focus toward decidedly public forms: the equestrian statue, the bronze plaque, the key to the city, and the like. The Commons (2011) is a riderless equestrian monument made from cork, and viewers are invited to affix their own messages to its base. With this action, properties often attributed to commemorative sculpture—the singular voice of the state, the singular identity of the memorialized hero, and the immutability of inscriptions set in bronze and stone—are all upended. Ramírez Jonas’s work democratizes time-honored civic forms. Manifested in a range of compelling forms, Ramírez Jonas’s work invigorates our cultural commons.

Sponsors

Atlas, Plural, Monumental is generously supported by Mary and Marcel Barone, Business Solutions International, and Cullen K. Geiselman. The exhibition is also made possible in part by a grant from the Union Pacific Foundation.

This exhibition is made possible by the patrons, benefactors, and donors to the Museum’s Friends of Steel Exhibitions:

Director’s Circle
Chinhui Juhn and Eddie Allen
Fayez Sarofim
Ms. Louisa Stude Sarofim

Curator’s Circle
Mr. and Mrs. I.H. Kempner III

Major Exhibition Circle
A Fare Extraordinaire
Bergner and Johnson Design
Jereann Chaney
Barbara and Michael Gamson
George and Mary Josephine Hamman Foundation
Blakely and Trey Griggs
Leslie and Mark Hull
Jackson and Company
KPMG, LLP
Beverly and Howard Robinson
Michael Zilkha

The catalogue accompanying the exhibition is made possible by a grant from The Brown Foundation, Inc. of Houston.

Funding for the Museum’s operations is generously supported by Melissa Kepke Grobmyer, Louise Jamail, Dillon A. Kyle, Catherine and George Masterson, Elisabeth McCabe, Fayez Sarofim, and Robin and Andrew C. Schirrmeister III. The Museum receives partial operating support from The Brown Foundation Inc. of Houston, the Houston Endowment, the City of Houston through the Houston Museum District Association, the Texas Commission on the Arts, The Wortham Foundation, Inc., and Art Market Productions.

CAMH also thanks its artist benefactors for their support, including Chris Beckman, Michael Bise, Bruce High Quality Foundation, Mel Chin, Julia Dault, Jules de Balincourt, James Drake, Keltie Ferris, Mark Flood, Barnaby Furnas, Theaster Gates, Jeffrey Gibson, Trenton Doyle Hancock, Camille Henrot, Jim Hodges, Joan Jonas, Jennie C. Jones, Maya Lin, Julian Lorber, Robert Mangold, Beatriz Milhazes, Melissa Miller, Marilyn Minter, Nic Nicosia, Angel Otero, McKay Otto, Joyce Pensato, Enoc Perez, Gavin Perry, Rob Pruitt, Matthew Ritchie, Dario Robleto, Ed Ruscha, Jacolby Satterwhite, Cindy Sherman, Shinique Smith, Al Souza, John Sparagana, James Surls, Sam Taylor-Johnson, Carrie Mae Weems, William Wegman, Haegue Yang, and Brenna Youngblood.

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