Ruben Garcia Benavides

He studied at the José Clemente Orozco School of the Institute of Sciences and Arts of the State in Mexicali, B.C. He has participated in both group and solo exhibitions since the 1950s. Since 1972, he has been a professor of graphic expression media at the Faculty of Architecture of UABC. He has been awarded first place in the Baja California visual arts biennials on four occasions out of five participations.

Regarding his work, writer Gabriel Trujillo Muñoz says: "To take possession of a place, to make it one's own, to unlock the eye and scrutinize the labyrinth of images that the world is and represents. To give form to the unnamable, to break down light to make it perceptible to the common mortal, to locate distance in its various perspectives, to shatter our archaic ways of seeing, to prop up details with tremendous symmetry. To make the horizon advance along the edge of the gaze, to impose woman as an outcropping on the flank of life, as a rib at God's side. These are some of the tasks Rubén García Benavides has accomplished."

His work has been published in magazines such as Yubai (UABC) and Voces y Reflejos (ICBC). His work has also received significant commentary from Armando Torres Michua in issue no. 3 of Artes Plástica...

Awards and Recognitions

First place in painting at the Baja California Visual Arts Biennials in 1977, 1979, 1981, and 1993; in watercolor in 1980. That same year, he was invited to participate in the Annual Salon of Visual Arts held at the Palace of Fine Arts in Mexico City.

He was invited by the INBA (National Institute of Fine Arts) to participate in the exhibition Confrontación 86 at the Palace of Fine Arts, Mexico City.

1992 – Awarded the Academic Merit Recognition by the Autonomous University of Baja California for his work as a professor at the Faculty of Architecture, UABC.

2000 – Received the title of Emeritus Creator from the National Fund for Culture and the Arts (FONCA), through the Baja California Institute of Culture.

2000 – Invited by the National Council for Culture and the Arts to serve as a jury member for the Pintura Norte exhibition held in Monterrey, Nuevo León.

2008 – Named “Distinguished Citizen” by the Government of Baja California during the 57th anniversary of the founding of the state.

2009 – Honored with the title of “Professor Emeritus,” promoted before the University Council by the Faculty of Architecture and Design of the same university.

2011 – “By unanimous agreement of the Honorable Universi...

Major Exhibitions
Among the artist’s more than 30 exhibitions, the most important are:

2016
Exhibition at the State Center for the Arts (CEART), Mexicali.

2011
Horizontes mi pretexto, II. At the Rubén García Benavides Art Hall of the Autonomous University of Baja California, Mexicali.

2011
De aquí somos. La Rumorosa entre nubes, State Center for the Arts, Mexicali.

2010
UABC Community Center, Mexicali (now the “Rubén García Benavides Art Hall”), on the occasion of his recognition as “Professor Emeritus” by the Autonomous University of Baja California.

2008
Estos desiertos fértiles. Major retrospective of 50 years. State Centers for the Arts in Mexicali, Ensenada, Rosarito, and Tecate, B.C.

2005
Horizontes mi pretexto. Central Gallery of the UABC Community Center, Mexicali campus (now the Rubén García Benavides Art Hall).

2002
Lobby of Mexicali City Hall, Tribute to Pizarro. Impressionist-style landscapes of California Freeways (“Central Coast”) and the Imperial and Mexicali valleys.

1998
“Galería Eclipse,” Encinitas, California.

1990, 1994, and 1996
Tijuana Cultural Center (CECUT).

1989
The Art Connection Gallery, Palm Springs, California.

1989
Yuma Art Center, Yuma, Arizona.

1980
Palacio de Minería, Mexico City.