Mythic/Poetic by Artist Ricardo Osmondo Francis Opens 01/19/18 Til 02/23/18 at MECA, Houston with Leonidesarts New York and Sponsor Mr. Duane Watson, N.Y.

Houston, TX, January 06, 2018 --(PR.com)-- Ricardo Osmondo Francis, returns to MECA in 2018 to present, Mythic/Poetic, an exhibition of new works created after same titled exhibition was shown in Portland, Maine in 2017. Through mesmerizing, contemplative mixed media paintings and drawings, the Artist questions aspects of human existence and our relationships with each other. His lush portraits, still life, and abstract compositions depict social constructs of racial identity, economics, and the complexity of humanity. Born and raised in Houston’s Third Ward, Francis attended the High School for the Performing and Visual Arts and graduated from the Visual Arts department in 1994, and the Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore, MD, where he received a BFA in painting in 1998. As a founding member of BLAFTCO, an alternative visual art collaborative in Houston, Francis first began conceptualizing and developing large-scale art projects and exhibits. Working with BLAFTCO and with MECA support, Francis developed a wide variety of community based, innovative multi-media projects and exhibitions such as The New Museum (1994), Public Opinion (1996), and All Sizes/Real People (1997). MECA audiences are familiar with some of his early work on permanent display in the hallways of Dow School, as well as in the basement level collaboration, The New Museum. In 2000, Francis opened his own visual arts company, Apanamae Productions. Starting in 2011, Francis developed the 32 Jones Gallery at the Hudson Pride Connections Center in Jersey City, NJ and served as Curator in Residence through 2017. Francis also premiered You Are Here (2012) at the Brooklyn Community Pride Center in Brooklyn, NY where he served as the Curator in Residence for their community outreach programming in the visual arts. Francis has also contributed as an associate curator for EVERYBOOTY, an annual multidisciplinary LGBT event at the Brooklyn Academy of Music since 2013. Francis has received awards and recognition including a Level 1 Scholarship in Painting from both Musicfest and the National Foundation for the Advancement of the Arts, as well as the coveted Presidential Scholarship in the Arts on behalf of the White House Commission on Presidential Scholars. His work is in various private and corporate art collections around the US, and has been featured in publications such as Vibe and SWERV magazines, Callaloo: A Journal of African Diaspora Arts and Letters, and Liberty, an expatriate magazine in Dubai, U.A.E. Francis currently lives and works in New York City, NY where he is Gallery Director of LeonidesArts NY, an artist run multi-media visual arts organization dedicated to presenting contemporary art outside of the conventional art gallery. MECA presents “Mythic/Poetic” by Ricardo Osmondo Francis; Dates: On view January 19 through February 23, 2018; Opening Reception, Friday, January 19, 2018 from Location: 1900 Kane Street, Houston, TX 77007 Admission: Free and open to the public Gallery Hours: 11:00 am – 7:00 pm, Monday - Friday.