Art + Artists

Franco Mondini-Ruiz is a self-taught artist who holds a Doctorate of Jurisprudence. Out of inner necessity, he began making art shortly after joining a law firm in San Antonio, Texas. In 1995, he purchased a botanica - a Mexican store that sells candles, medicinal herbs, religious and mystical products - and used the existing inventory as part of a social and figurative installation mixing traditional botanica fare with sculpture, installation, and contemporary work by others. This botanica became a hybrid space that redefined boundaries between art and commerce, performance and merchandising, spiritual healing and secular festivities.