From Beginning to End

Ron GarriguesA Retrospective of the Last Quarter Century

33 Clayboard Etchings: The Big Bang Series33 Sumi Ink on Silk Paintings: Next One Billion Humans 2025 AD Series33 Cast Bronze Sculptures: Man and Beast Series

From Beginning to End

Varnish Fine ArtFebruary 25 - March 31st, 2012

San Francisco California

50 years after his groundbreaking solo ex-hibit at the California Palace of the Legion of Honor, Ron Garrigues honors Varnish Fine Art with a retrospective spanning the last quarter century of creative endeavor.

Varnish Fine Art presents a retrospective solo exhibition of the past 33 years of art-work by Ron Garrigues. “From Beginning to End” features 33 bronze sculptures (Man and Beast Series), 33 etchings on clay-board (the Big Bang Series) and 33 sumi ink paintings mounted on silk (the Next One Billion Humans 2025 AD Series). Ron Gar-rigues resonates with the concerns of 21st Century Mankind, using his art as a vehicle to bear witness to the beginning (the Big Bang) and as a foretelling of a possible end for Man and Nature.

Ron Garrigues first gained critical acclaim in the art world with his 1961 solo exhibit of sculpture at the California Palace of the Legion of Honor. Referencing sculptural skills gained under the tutelage of Richard Whalen, Peter Voulkos and Harold Paris and influenced by the poetics of late 1950’s Beat culture in North Beach, Garrigues ex-plored what he describes as “the lyric purity of form and line.”

He trekked around the world, exploring rainforests, climbing the Andes, Himalayas, Alps and the Sierra Nevada, all the while recording the impact of “Man” on “Nature.” His observations on extinction, overpopula-tion and greed in the new millenium form

the basis of his art while retaining a com-mitment to the beauty of form. Sublime tension, particularly in Garrigues’ series of bronze skulls, engages the viewer on a visceral level, driving his message home.

Since 2007, Garrigues has turned his at-tention to the second dimension, using clayboard and traditional sumi ink materials to address concerns about the number of humans occupying the planet Earth and the sustainability, or lack thereof, of this unmiti-gated population explosion.

“Beauty works for Garrigues… It serves him, and serves his message, and he has got something very serious to say. We can only hope that he is heard.”

– Thomas Berry (1914-2009)

MAN AND THE EARTH THE PARASITE DEVOURING THE HOSTI know that this title would have won little credence when I began my series of cast-bronze abstract skulls nearly twenty years ago, depicting events that were becoming inevitable. The accelerating multiplicity of these human-caused world problems are, for the most part, irreversible and inevitable and the awareness of many of them is finally being recognized in the developed world. They remain virtually invisible to the bulk of humanity who lives in extreme poverty and desperation. It seems to me like a “Perfect Storm” which in the near future will engulf not just us but the entire world. There are some who believe that technol-ogy will ameliorate or at least lessen these events and buy us some time. They hope conser-vation will reverse it. The drastic measures needed are not politically palatable to govern-ments and special interests of enormous global corporations. Governments are incapable of changing this trajectory. World religions are likewise powerless or even worse, obstruction-ists. My series of sixty-three bronze skulls, in editions of five, is now completed. They visually depict each of the major and self-interested ingredients of this potential catastrophe. -RG

MAN VERSUS BEAST

MAN AND BEASTCast Bronze Sculptures

1990-2001

Having travelled on foot for the past quarter century in the great mountain rangers and rain forests of the world, I am an appalled witness to the rampant destruction wrought by man’s presence on our fragile planet. No one with eyes can miss it yet it continues unabated and accelerated. It is denied, dismissed or simply ex-cused by most of Earth’s six billion humans.

This has deeply affected my art which was once centred on the lyric purity of form and line.

Since 1990, I have turned to the stark metaphor of the skull, animal and human. The skull both attracts and repels. There is a beauty in the skull but it implies foreboding. The skull is a signpost on the road we travel.

Ronald GarriguesBolinas, California2000

Yab Yum, Thank You Mum 1999

19 x 7 x 9” $30,000.00

Scarlet Macaw: Cornfield Sacrifice 1992 13 x 5 x 5”

$20,000.00

Two Birds of Paradise Lost 1996

25 x 9 x 7” $24,000.00

California Condor 1998

Triple Gold Plated 9 x 6 x 14”

$30,000.00

American Crocodile: Fashion Sacrifice 1994

14 x 9 x 16” $30,000.00

Bear: Asian Medicine Sacrifice 1994

11 x 9 x 9” $22,000.00

Black Rhino: Aphrodisiac & Dagger Sacrifice

1993 13 x 22 x 9”$25,000.00

Transglobal Virus II 1997 16.25 x 8.25 x 9.5”$25,000.00

Transglobal Virus I 1997

14 x 11 x 6”$25,000.00

Automotive-Age Man: Self Sacrifice II

1995 15 x 6 x 10” $22,000.00

Fossil Fuel Man 1992

16 x 14 x 8”$20,000.00

Overpopulation: The Crux of the Matter III

1995 22.5 x 10.25 x 15.25”

$30,000.00

Overpopulation: The Crux of the Matter II

1995 21 x 8 x 19”$30,000.00

Overpopulation: The Crux of the Matter I

1995 23 x 9 x 18”$30,000.00

Rising Waters II 1998 10 x 7 x 11”$22,000.00

Rising Waters I 1997 7 x 10 x 12”$22,000.00

Dr. Frankenkloner 1997

19 x 13 x 15”$25,000.00

The Nature of the Beast II 1995 15 x 9 x 12” $25,000.00

Nuclear War Head 1995

14 x 10 x 13”$25,000.00

Onward Christian Soldiers 1995 26.5 x 11 x 12” $25,000.00

Famine: Malthus Was Right 1995 17 x 7 x 7”

$22,000.00

King Ludd 1996

8 x 12 x 18”$25,000.00

The Nature of the Beast I 1994 13 x 8 x 10” $22,000.00

Aeronautic-Age Man 1995

13 x 7 x 14” $22,000.00

Dick’s World 1999 11 x 9 x 9”$20,000.00

Yes Sir That’s My Baby 1998 12 x 7.75 x 6” $20,000.00

No Sir, I Don’t Mean Maybe 1999

25 x 11.5 x 13” $30,000.00

Lingham/Yoni I 2001 $10,000.00

Lingham/Yoni II2001 $10,000.00

Lingham/Yoni III2001

$10,000.00

Lingham/Yoni IV 2001

$10,000.00

Lingham/Yoni V 2001

$10,000.00

Lingham/Yoni VI 2001

$10,000.00

THE BIG BANG SERIESClayboard Etchings

2009

Somewhere East of Nowhere...

Big Bang 1 5 x 7“

$500.00

Big Bang 2 5 x 7“

$500.00

Big Bang 3 5 x 7“

$500.00

Big Bang 4 5 x 7“

$500.00

Big Bang 6 5 x 7“

$500.00

Big Bang 5 5 x 7“

$500.00

Big Bang 7 5 x 7“

$500.00

Big Bang 8 5 x 7”$500.00

Big Bang 9 5 x 7 $500.00

Big Bang 10 8 x 11 “$800.00

Big Bang 11 9 x 12“$800.00

Big Bang 12 8 x 10 “$800.00

Big Bang 13 8 x 10”$800.00

Big Bang 14 9 x 12“

$800.00

Big Bang 159 x 12”

$800.00

Big Bang 16 9 x 12“

$800.00

Big Bang 17 9 x 12“

$800.00

Big Bang 18 9 x 12“

$800.00

Big Bang 19 8 x 10“

$800.00

Big Bang 20 16 x 20“

$1,500.00 Big Bang 21 16 x 20“

$1,500.00

Big Bang 22 16 x 24“

$2,000.00

Big Bang 23 16 x 24“

$2,000.00

Big Bang 24 16 x 24“

$2,000.00Big Bang 25

9 x 12“$800.00

Big Bang 26 9 x 12“$800.00

Big Bang 27 20 x 16“

$1,500.00

Big Bang 29 24 x 36“

$3,000.00

Big Bang 30 24 x 36“

$3,000.00

Big Bang 28 20 x 16“$1,500.00

Big Bang 31 24 x 36“$3,000.00

Big Bang 33 24 x 36“

$3,000.00

Big Bang32 24 x 36“$3,000.00

NEXT ONE BILLION HUMANS, 2025 AD SERIESSumi Ink on Handmade Paper

Mounted on Chinese Silk2010

In The Developed World birth rates seem to be dropping - Not so for the rest of the world where birth rates are rising. The Planet gains over 100 Million People per year and life spans are longer. Population numbers are dramati-cally on the rise.

I don’t wish to be a doomsayer, which i am sometimes labeled. My wish is to bring atten-tion through my work to events, almost beyond control, to people who live their lifes with little awareness to the processes that are unfolding exponentially all around them or simply believe in a technology Savior who will miraculously save us at the tipping point if we have not reached it already.

My work is about caring not scaring.

The earth has nearly seven billion humans oc-cupying almost every exploitable niche on our fragile home, the planet earth. We cannot sup-port another billion because there is already:

A lack of clean water where it is needed most.

A lack of arable land almost everywhere.

Alack of clean energy for the present.

Global warming whatever the cause.

There are already billions of people living on two dollars a day and there will be food short-ages which will spike prices and virtually make food unaffordable to billions of people who can-not grow it.

The probable result will be catastrophic. For many people will have to migrate to where

there is food and water or perish.

There will be, to my mind, conflicts or even wars as many people move in vast numbers to survive. We will all be affected.

Just think of how and be astonished.

We are all connected and linked together in one way or another.

Ronald GarriguesBolinas, CaliforniaMarch 17th, 2011

Eight Billion 128.5 x 21“$1,800.00

Eight Billion 215 x 16.5“$1,800.00

Eight Billion 318 x 25”

$1,800.00

Eight Billion 413.5 x 17.75“$1,800.00

Eight Billion 616.25 x 23“

$1,800.00

Eight Billion 520 x 22“

$1,800.00

Eight Billion 717.75 x 18.25“$2,200.00

Eight Billion 815.75 x 22.5“$1,800.00

Eight Billion 915.75 x 24“

$1,800.00

Eight Billion 1016.5 x 25.5“$2,200.00

Eight Billion 1117.75 x 26.25“

$2,600.00

Eight Billion 1215.5 x 24.75“

$2,600.00

Eight Billion 1323.5 x 28“$2,600.00

Eight Billion 1420.75 x 24.5“

$1,800.00

Eight Billion 1815 x 37“

$1,800.00

Eight Billion 1717.75 x 20.75“

$1,800.00

Eight Billion 1518 x 43“

$1,800.00 Eight Billion 1621.75 x 41“$1,800.00

Eight Billion 1915 x 37“

$1,800.00

Eight Billion 2015.75 x 36.5“

$1,800.00

Eight Billion 2114 x 44“

$1,800.00

Eight Billion 2215.75 x 31“

$1,800.00

Eight Billion 314 x 44“

$1,800.00

Eight Billion 2415.75 x 48“$1,800.00

Eight Billion 2515.75 x 42“$1,800.00

Eight Billion 2615.5 x 42“$1,800.00

Eight Billion 2716.5 x 46“$1,800.00

Eight Billion 2314 x 44“

$1,800.00

Eight Billion 3015.5 x 41“$1,800.00

Eight Billion 2915 x 43.5“$1,800.00

Eight Billion 2816.75 x 54“$1,800.00

Eight Billion 3315.75 x 42“$1,800.00

Eight Billion 3215.5 x 42“$1,800.00

Eight Billion 3115.75 x 42“$1,800.00

Ron GarriguesCV

EDUCATION

University of San Francisco, 1956, B.A. University of California, bronze casting with Jacques Schnier, Harold Paris and Peter Voulkos, 1962Studied wood sculpture with Richard Whalen, 1956

SOLO EXHIBITIONS

2007 Bolinas Museum, Bolinas, CA2006 “Y” Fest, San Francisco, CA2005 Varnish Fine Arts, San Francisco, CA2004 Fetterly Gallery. Vallejo, CA2004 Commonweal Gallery, Bolinas, CA2003 Varnish Fine Arts, San Francisco, CA2003 Roshambo Gallery, Healdsburg, CA2001 111 Minna Gallery, San Francisco, CA2000 Bolinas Museum, Bolinas,CA2000 Mussi Artworks Gallery, Berkeley, CA1999 Sonoma Museum of Visual Arts, Santa Rosa, CA1999 Stewart-Kummer Gallery, Gualala, CA1999 111 Minna Gallery, San Francisco, CA1998 Michael Himovitz Gallery, Sacramento, CA1997 Gorbachev State of the World Forum, San Francisco, CA1996 Gorbachev State of the World Forum, San Francisco, CA1995 Gorbachev State of the World Forum, San Francisco, CA1965 Hollis Gallery, San Francisco, CA1963 Stable Gallery, New York, NY1963 Pasadena Art Museum, Pasadena, CA1963 Santa Barbara Museum of Art, Santa Barbara, CA1961 California Palace of the Legion of Honor, San Francisco, CA

GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2011 Scope Art Miami (Varnish Fine Arts), Miami, FL2011 Bolinas Museum, Bolinas, CA20 11 Varnish Fine Art Inaugural Opening, San Francisco, CA2010 Robert Berman Gallery, San Francisco, CA2009 Bolinas Museum, Bolinas, CA2008 Stewart-Kummer Gallery, Gualala, CA2008 Bolinas Museum, Bolinas, CA2007 Stewart-Kummer Gallery, Gualala, CA2006 Varnish Fine Arts, San Francisco, CA2006 Stewart-Kummer Gallery, Gualala, CA2006 Bolinas Museum, Bolinas, CA2005 Solomon-Dubnick Gallery, Sacramento, CA2005 Miniature Show, Annual, Bolinas, CA2005 Bolinas Museum Annual Exhibit, Bolinas, CA2005 Varnish Fine Arts, San Francisco, CA2005 Claudia Chaplin Gallery, Stinson Beach, CA2005 Robert Berman Gallery, Santa Monica, CA2005 Japanese American Historical Society“60th Commemoration Hiroshima”, San Francisco, CA2005 California Lawyers for the Arts, Sacramento, CA2004 Commonweal Gallery, CA2004 Robert Berman Gallery, Santa Monica, CA2004 Stewart -Kummer Gallery, Gualala, CA2004 Varnish Fine Arts, San Francisco, CA2004 Bolinas Museum, Bolinas, CA2003 111 Minna Street Gallery, San Francisco, CA2003 Varnish Fine Arts, San Francisco, CA2003 Dovetail Gallery, Chico, CA2003 S.F. Intn’l Art Expo, R. Berman Gallery, Ft. Mason, San Francisco, CA2002 Robert Berman Gallery, Santa Monica, CA2002 Claudia Chapeline Gallery, Stinson Beach, CA2002 ADIDA’S ART SHOE World Tour, USA, Asia, Europe2002 2002 EAMES ART CHAIR World Tour, USA, Asia, Europe

2002 Steward Kummer Gallery, Gualala, CA2002 SF Intn’l Art Expo, R. Berman Gallery,Ft. Mason, San Francisco, CA2001 Robert Berman Gallery, Santa Monica, CA2001 Stewart-Kummer Gallery, Gualala, CA2001 111 Minna Gallery,San Francisco, CA., 7-11 Group Show,2000 . Stewart-Kummer Gallery, Gualala, CA1999 Art in the Redwoods, Gualala,CA1998 Center for Art and Earth, New York1997 Center for Art and Earth, N ew York1961 San Francisco Museum of Art, Twenty Fourth Annual Drawing, Print and Sculpture Exhibition1960 Eric Locke Galleries, San Francisco, Third West Coast Sculpture Show1960 San Francisco, Fourteenth Art Festival1959 Oakland Art Museum, California Sculptors’ Annual Exhibition

WORKS IN THE COLLECTIONS OF:

Mr. Laurance S. Rockefeller, New York, NYMr. and Mrs. John Gilmore Ford, Baltimore, MDMrs. Jesse W. Lilienthal, Hillsborough, CAMs. Joan Halifax, Santa Fe, NMMr. and Mrs. Carter Thatcher, San Francisco, CAMr. and Mrs. Brayton Wilbur, Sr, Hillsborough, CAMr. Carol Summers, Santa Cruz, CAMr. and Mrs. Charles Feingarten, San Francisco, CAMr. and Mrs. John Bolles, San Francisco, CAMr. and Mrs. F. Brock Fuller, San Rafael, CAMr. and Mrs. Bruce Beasley, Oakland, CAMr. Eiming Jung, San Francisco, CAMr. and Mrs. Wayne Schaffer, Oakland, CAMr. Sam Keen, Sonoma, CADr. and Mrs. Stanislav Grof, Mill Valley, CAMs. Maude Oakes, Carmel, CAMr. John Batz, San Mateo, CAMr. Bill Jersey, Berkeley, CAPerini Associates, San Francisco, CAMs. Mary Williams, Seattle, WAMr. and Mrs. E.M. Fulmer, San Francisco, CAMr. and Mrs. Christopher Calkins, Novato, CAMr. Jud Bergeron, Berkeley, CAMr. Lex Lucius, Santa Fe, NM

Mr. and Mrs. Larry Colvin, Mill Valley, CADr. and Mrs. Irving Berlin, San Francisco, CAMr. and Mrs. Max Schardt, San Francisco, CADr. Richard Levine, Berkely, CAMs. Patricia Nealon, Mill Valley, CAMr. and Mrs. Paul Jacobs, San Francisco, CAMr. and Mrs. George Miller, San Francisco, CAMr. and Mrs. Richard Cronin, San Francisco, CADr. and Mrs. Daniel Langton, San Francisco, CAMr. and Mrs. Mark Garrigues, Ridgewood, NJMr. and Mrs. Maurice Culhane, Mill Valley, CAMs. Mildred Devlin, San Francisco, CAMr. and Mrs. Thaddeus Tidd, San Francisco, CAMr. Clifford Janoff, Mill Valley, CAMr. Rod Taylor, San Rafael, CAMr. Richard Galland, Muir Beach, CADr. Gordon Engle, Sausalito, CAMr. Robert Stewart, Lucas Valley, CAMr. Ronnie Rogers, Oakland, CAMr. and Mrs. David Bromwell, Bolinas, CAMr. and Mrs. Michael Steele, Far Hills, NJMr. Michael Hokenson, New York, NYMr. and Mrs. Al Farrow, San Rafael, CAMr. and Mrs James Danisch Petrolia, CAMr. Walter Cecil, San Francisco, CAMr. and Mrs. Tim Dam, Walnut Creek, CAFrances Connelly, Mill Valley, CADr. Michael Freeman, Mill Valley, CAAmy and John Gage. Mill Valley, CAStephen Tempest, Salt Lake City, UtahMs. Mimi Mindel, San Francisco, CAMr. and Mrs. Grant Irish, Berkeley,Mr. and Mrs. Arthur Okamura, Bolinas, CAMr. and Mrs. Michael Lerner, Bolinas, CAMs. Penny Righthand, Oakland, CADr. and Mrs. David Martin, Mill Valley, CAMr. Ken Ward, La Honda, CASandra and Christopher Osborne, San Francisco, CAGail Seneca, Inverness, CAJoseph Cho, Los Angeles, CADaniel Breaux, San Francisco, CA

©2012 Varnish Fine Art & Ronald Garrigues

Directors: Jen Rogers & Kerri Stephens

Photography: Dennis Anderson, Richard Challacombe, Piro Patton

Layout/Design:Kerri Stephens

Published in the USAVarnish Fine Art

16 Jessie St., #C120San Francisco CA 94105

(415) 433-4400www.varnishfineart.com