Ray Abeyta

Ray Abeyta (1956-2014) was an American painter of Basque descent. He was born Raymond Martìn Abeyta, on November 13, 1956, in the small village of Santa Cruz in the Española Valley, New Mexico. Abeyta's paintings are a hybrid of ancient and contemporary Latino subject matter in the Cuzco School style of Madonna painting, lowrider culture, New Mexican traditional retablo painting, and representations of the colonialist encounters between Europeans and Mesoamericans.[1][2]

Ray Martìn Abeyta
Ray Abeyta in Brooklyn, NY
Born(1956-11-13)November 13, 1956
Santa Cruz, New Mexico, US
DiedDecember 1, 2014(2014-12-01) (aged 58)
Brooklyn, New York, US
EducationBFA, University of New Mexico
Known forPainting
Spouse(s)Alyssa Jill (Glantz) Abeyta
Children2
Ray Abeyta, Indios (2002) collection: New Mexico Museum of Art

Early life

Abeyta grew up in the small village of Santa Cruz (population 423) near the town of Española, New Mexico. As a child, his family lived in several trailers.[1] He was raised in the lowrider culture of Northern New Mexico.[3]

Education

Abeyta received a bachelor's degree in fine arts from the University of New Mexico in 1982.[3]

Personal life
Work in progress in Ray Abeyta's studio, December 4, 2014

Abeyta moved from New Mexico to New York in 1986, and settled into a warehouse studio in the North Williamsburg section of Brooklyn. In 1989 he met his future wife, Alyssa Jill Glantz (d. 2017), a business woman and community organizer, whom he married in 1992. They had two children, Elija and Izzy. They established the bar and entertainment venue Union Pool, Hotel Delmano and other venues in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.[4] He was affectionately known as the honorary Mayor of Williamsburg.[5][3]

Abeyta was a vintage automobile and motorcycle enthusiast, and owned and restored a 1956 Ford F100 pickup truck and a 1968 Triumph motorcycle.[6] He was the co-owner of Works Engineering, a motorcycle repair shop in Brooklyn.[7]

Professional career
Work in progress in Ray Abeyta's studio, December 4, 2014

The iconography of Abeyta's paintings has been described as a mixture of "colonial, baroque, indigenous and pop culture" references.[8] Abeyta's work was the subject of numerous one person exhibitions, including major exhibitions at the Museum of New Mexico, and the National Hispanic Cultural Center Art Museum.[9] His work is held in the permanent collections of these institutions.[10]

His work is a significant contribution to the Southwest, and was included in the exhibition, Painting the Divine: Images of Mary in the New World at the New Mexico History Museum.[11][3] He was influenced by Spanish Baroque painting, Mexican retablo and ex voto paintings as well as other vernacular visual sources such as codexes, maps and nautical charts.[12][3] His work has been included in numerous exhibitions, including the San Francisco Mexican Museum, the Rotunda Gallery (Brooklyn) among others.[13][14] Abeyta's paintings are represented by the Owings Gallery in Santa Fe, New Mexico.[15]

Monograph
Ray Abeyta, Hold Fast (2004), oil on canvas

A monograph on his work, Cuentos y Encuentros: Paintings by Ray Martín Abeyta, was published in 2003 by the Museum of New Mexico Press.[3][16]

Collections

Abeyta's work is held in numerous private and public collections including those at the Albuquerque Museum, [6] New Mexico Museum of Art[17], the National Hispanic Cultural Center Art Museum[18], the New Mexico History Museum, the Mexican Museum (San Francisco)[19] among others.

Awards

In 1995 and again in 1996, Abeyta received grants from the Art Matters Foundation.[20] In 2005, Abeyta was awarded a grant from the Joan Mitchell Foundation.[21]

Death

Abeyta died in a motorcycle accident at age 58, when he was struck by a truck in Brooklyn, New York.[22][23][5]

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References
  1. Williams, Stephen P. (August 5, 2007). "The Art Is Striking, and So Are the Cars". The New York Times. Retrieved 9 April 2019.
  2. Perez, Domino Renee (2008). There Was a Woman: La Llorona from Folklore to Popular Culture. Austin: University of Texas Press. pp. 205–207. ISBN 9780292718111. Retrieved 30 July 2020.
  3. Abatemarco, Michael. "Ray Martín Abeyta, 1956-2014: Artist's work reflects New Mexico roots". Santa Fe New Mexican. Retrieved 9 April 2019.
  4. Fischer, Joshua (2016). Meet the Regulars: People of Brooklyn and the Places They Love. Simon & Schuster. ISBN 9781510703865. Retrieved 30 July 2020.
  5. Tucker, Reed (December 5, 2014). "'Mayor' of Williamsburg dies in motorcycle accident". New York Post. Retrieved 9 April 2019.
  6. "Ray Abeyta". Albuquerque Museum Collections Search. Retrieved 1 March 2020.
  7. Warerkar, Tanay. "Williamsburg's "Mayor" Abeyta Passes Away in Tragic Motorcycle Accident". Greenpointnews. Greenpoint Gazette. Retrieved 11 June 2019.
  8. Lewthwaite, Stephanie (2013). "Reworking the Spanish Colonial Paradigm: Mestizaje and Spirituality in Contemporary New Mexican Art". Journal of American Studies. 47 (2): 339–362. doi:10.1017/S002187581300011X. Retrieved 9 April 2019.
  9. Herrera-Sobek, Maria (2006). Chicano Folklore: A Handbook. Greenwood Publishing Group. ISBN 9780313333255.
  10. "¡Aquí Estamos: The Heart of Arte!". Hispanic Cultural Center Art Museum. Retrieved 9 April 2019.
  11. Roberts, Kathaleen (June 29, 2014). "NM History Museum unveils rare colonial paintings of Mary". Albuquerque Journal. Retrieved 9 April 2019.
  12. Perea, Kristina; Lucero, Helen (2003). Cuentos y Encuentros: Paintings by Ray Martin Abeyta. Santa Fe, NM: Museum of New Mexico. ISBN 978-0974144405.
  13. Straus, Tamara (September 29, 2011). "S.F.'s Mexican Museum uncorks Don Julio Collection". SFGate. Retrieved 9 April 2019.
  14. "Provocative images at Mexican Museum". San Francisco Examiner. July 12, 2012. Retrieved 9 April 2019.
  15. "Ray Abeyta". The Owings Gallery. Retrieved 9 April 2019.
  16. Cuentos Y Encuentros: Paintings. Albuquerque, New Mexico: National Hispanic Cultural Center. 2003. ISBN 9780974144405. Retrieved 1 March 2020.
  17. "Ray Martin Abeyta, (American, 1956 - 2014)". New Mexico Museum of Art: Collections Search. Retrieved 1 March 2020.
  18. "Tinta y Sangre, Ray Martín Abeyta". National Hispanic Cultural Center Art Museum: Permanent Collection. Retrieved 1 March 2020.
  19. "Bomba Barrococo, Ray Abeyta, 2004". Retrieved 1 March 2020.
  20. "Grant Program". Art Matters Foundation. Retrieved 2 August 2020.
  21. "Painters and Sculptors Grants". Joan Mitchell Foundation. Retrieved 2 August 2020.
  22. Love, Shayla. "Williamsburg Mourns Ray Abeyta, Who Opened Union Pool & Other Neighborhood Hotspots". Gothamist. Retrieved 9 April 2019.
  23. https://project.wnyc.org/memorial/245-ray-abeyta.htmlWNYC. "Mean Streets 2014: Who We Lost, How They Lived". He was known as the "Mayor of Williamsburg."
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