Ruth Leonela Buentello (b.1984) is an American/Chicana artist. She was born and lives in San Antonio, Texas. She said, “The biggest influence [in my work] has been experiences with my family from around the house; some about joy, some about health, coping with family issues and just the things that we do together.” Always interested in art, she helped make street murals in San Antonio beginning in 2001. She was awarded a residency with the non-profit Serie Project in Austin, Texas, to teach screen printing to Latinx and Chicano participants. She completed her BFA at the Art Institute of Chicago (2008) and received her teacher’s certificate in K-12 art at Alamo College. Buentello serves on the faculty of an elementary school in San Antonio. One of her projects is teaching her students to make paper quilts about their families. The students use crayons, pencils, and watercolors to connect with and preserve memories of their Xicano/a communities.
Hiding en Mis Colhas #1 (2017)Hiding en Mes Colchas #1 (2017) (40”x30”) describes her fears as she grew from child to adult. Colchas, the Spanish word for quilts, were a major part of her homelife as a child and play a role in her work. Here, she hides in a green and black quilt, only a small portion of her face peering out. The green pattern of the quilt is designed to tell the viewer that she is in the fetal position. The white sheet under the quilt has a number of childlike scribbles of flowers, animals, and lines. Her pink pillow provides a flowery lightness against the darkness of the quilt and dark blue sky. The flatness of the headboard is a counter to the three-dimensionality of the lower half of the painting. The constellations in the night sky are depictions of a child with a bottle, underpants, a grown-up female without a quilt, and her parents. Two images slowly come into focus: a crucifix made of green stones and a dayglow pink and black lace bra hanging on the bed post. The inevitability of becoming an adult woman will have to be dealt with.
The Last Supper (2017)Buentello portrays members of her family in The Last Supper (2017) (42”x64”) (acrylic on wall paper, unstretched canvas, and lace). The scene is the interior of a working-class Chicano house. Five members of the family are seated on a floral-patterned sofa made of cloth and paper. All are heavy, and they are eating pizza. Buentello painted this work two years after members of her family were diagnosed with both physical and mental deterioration. Despite these health issues, their diet continued to include primarily sodas, alcohol, and pizza. They were couch potatoes, and they passed their bad habits on to their children.
Pink wall paper hangs on the wall behind them. The leaf pattern is enhanced with paint and two yellow fans that are subtle references to the slices of pizza. A blue scalloped border is at the top. Pushpins at the four corners hold the whole thing in place. The orange and black striped tiger painting on the wall repeats the orange of the pizza slices. The dark green mat with the leaf pattern and the brown frame picks up the green and brown of the leaves on the wallpaper. The text “Bless this House” is placed at the top. Groups of family portraits hang on the wall; the one of the whole family is crooked. Above all that is a small cross. The title The Last Supper is a reference to da Vinci’s famous work.
Everyone in the scene looks with contempt or suspicion to the right. Perhaps they resent the artist’s interference in their lives. Buentello found this painting hard to make, because it is a depiction of the vulnerability of her family, and also the vulnerability of her community where access to health care is not assured.
Desaparecidos (2018)Buentello’s paintings generally are titled in Spanish. Desaparecidos (2018) (60”x60”) in English is Disappeared into the Rio Bravo. She commented that she “was moved to create a memorial to the families who made the choice to take the dangerous immigration journey and disappear while attempting to cross.” Buentello has used family photographs and the press images of a family that was detained. The matriarch, holding the crying baby, is placed at the center. Four children surround her, and behind her, a young woman carries a toddler. They are tired. Buentello portrays them knee-deep in the green, swirling water of the Rio Bravo. Their expressions are of fear, doubt, confusion, defiance, and desperation. On either side of them are decorative patterns of cactus in beige, and behind them the hot sand of the dessert
A border of green ribbon frames the scene, something she frequently uses in her work. When asked about this, she explained, “In San Antonio, and in Texas, and Mexico, they use a ribbon to decorate funerary objects and put them on the grave. It’s these very colorful and beautiful decorative, ornate objects, but they represent death, or the giving of something or offering to your loved one.”
Buentello was awarded in 2017 a Joan Mitchell Foundation Painters & Sculptors grant. Grantees are nominated by a diverse group of artists, curators, and other art professionals. They are judged on the significance of their contributions to the diverse cultures of America. Her exhibition “Domestic Narratives” was held at the Guadalupe Cultural Arts Center in San Antonio in 2017. Her exhibition “Deep Roots: An Intersection of Borders” was held at the University of Texas at San Antonio in 2018.
Yo Tengo Nombre (2019)Buentello began her Zero Tolerance paintings in response to US immigration policies at the U.S.-Mexican border. She was the recipient in 2019 of the Efroymson Emerging Artist in Residence award at The University of Michigan. The resulting exhibition Yo Tengo Nombre was installed at The University of Michigan Humanities Gallery in Ann Arbor. Desaparecidos, Juanita Arrested for Selling Flowers, and Illegal Entry are among the paintings.
Yo Tengo Nombre (I Have a Name) (2019) was the title of the exhibition and one of the paintings. Buentello asked family members to pose for the paintings and asked them to imagine they were the migrants. The inspiration for the painting was the death of nine migrants after they were smuggled over the border in San Antonio. They were locked in an unairconditioned Walmart van, and forgotten. Three figures lie dead on the bed of the truck. A heart is centered in the midst of the figures. In the distance, centered over the heart, is the truck, their tomb. It drives away into the desert. Buentello adds a ruffled pink ribbon border, a contrast to the black, green, and gray of the figures. Included in the exhibition were about 100 photographs of migrant children in a Texas holding center. Buentello took the pictures when she worked for the intake agency in 2014.
Buentello said, “The reason why I get really emotional with this work is because I feel like I identify with undocumented asylum seekers. When I see them, or when I see images of them in the media, it reminds me of my family. So, I keep thinking, what if these things were happening to my family. It makes me think about their humanity. I don’t create a distance and say, ‘Those are those people over there. That doesn’t affect me.’ It really affects how I go about in the world. I can’t describe how it felt to have them pose that way.”
Nopalera (2020)Nopalera (2020) (acrylic and latex) (40”x36”) is Buentello’s self-portrait. She explores her struggles with her identity. She stands with her hands on her head as she tries to make sense of her life. She is surrounded by nopal cactus plants, frequently called prickly pears. They are part of the story of the founding of Mexico City and are pictured on the flag. Nopals have been a major food source for centuries. Since they thrive in the desert, they represent the resilience of the people. The word nopalera can be used in a friendly manner to say you look Mexican, or it can be used in a racist and pejorative manner. Buentello said that she is dealing with “the messiness, the parts that are raw, my failures, and my resilience.” The color red on the nopal gives the impression that the plant is bleeding. The Cochineal insects that live on the nopal are the source of cochineal red dye.
Pink, also a dominant color in this work, represents her femininity. Pink is a combination of white, representing innocence, and red, representing passion. It is the color of tenderness. Buentello covers her breasts and her mouth with solid pink bands. She stands in a pink space. The pink bands represent her struggle as a Chicana woman to be recognized and heard. She says, “My work attempts to interpret the silences we experience with one another, those moments that feel too difficult to discuss.”
Eight Buentello paintings were included in the exhibition “Kinship” (2023) at the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, DC. They were installed in a room described as having a strong pink presence. The pieces contained floral wall paper and bright green ribbon borders. Her Artist’s Statement was, “Families are forever—in the good, the bad, and the spaces in between.”
Buentello’s paintings continue to show the reality of her South Texas home: the families, the people, their surroundings, their struggles. She gives them a place in art and in the conscience of the viewer. She strives to create bridges.
