Anonymous - 10-18-2004 at 02:08 AM
http://www.sanluisobispo.com/mld/sanluisobispo/business/9926...
Oct. 15, 2004
For the past 30 years, Baja California, Mexico, has captured the attention and imagination of local artist John Ramos. Now, it has captured Ramos
himself.
On Dec. 31, the painter will close his San Luis Obispo gallery and bid goodbye to a decade in the county. He and his wife, Donna, will open a new
gallery -- Galeria Ramos -- three blocks from the beach in Loreto, Mexico.
Ramos is perhaps best known for his scenes of tropical Mexico, splashed with bright colors and evoking thoughts of vacations, nostalgic fantasy and
time away, often with unexpected twists in the details such as classic cars. The Los Osos resident also has captured local scenes around San Luis
Obispo County, such as Los Osos flower fields and San Luis Obispo's Fremont theater.
According to Donna Ramos, who is her husband's business manager, the move will give John Ramos a more international base. Currently, 75 percent of
Ramos' collectors are American. The couple hopes to broaden his base by tapping into Loreto tourist traffic from Italy, Canada and Japan.
On a more personal side, the relocation will bring Ramos "full circle," his wife said.
"It's also John going back to Mexico and showing people his art and showing what he's done with his life."
Ramos was born in Chihuahua, Mexico, but moved to the United States when he was 6 years old. Already, he is being welcomed back with open arms.
"What's amazing to me is the pride people already have -- that he's a Mexican coming and opening a gallery," Donna Ramos explained.
The painter has been considering the move for a while, his wife said, but earthquake damage to the gallery building at 385 Higuera St. and the end of
the lease there hurried it along.
The move likely will shift Ramos' artistic focus almost entirely to Baja, where he'll document the peninsula in the way he documented the Central
Coast, she said.
Ramos is currently painting his last local landscape -- a commissioned work of the Edna Valley. That piece will be among those showcased at Ramos' bon
voyage show, Dec. 4-5.
When doors to the John Ramos Gallery close at the end of the year, the artist's work will remain available locally at Hands Gallery at 777 Higuera in
San Luis Obispo or online at www.johnramos.com.
The Ramoses hope to have their new gallery operational in Loreto by next summer.