DESSERT AND COFFEE
Rick Hidalgo and Richard Remenick

December 6 - 29, 2019

Opening Reception: Friday, December 6, 2019
5 - 9 PM during Art Loop

“When I was a kid, I always wanted to eat dessert first.  What little kid doesn’t? The healthy stuff that my parents served didn’t interest me at all.  Somehow, in the course of growing up, we get past the desire for that kind of indulgence. We sober up, we limit our craving, we develop a taste for the astringent, we become mature and virtuous.

“But, as the restaurant industry well knows, that self-indulgent craving is never entirely eradicated. And so, dessert menus and dessert counters beckon to us with their promise of sensuous paradise. 

“Are we cranky puritans to resist this? Is it OK if we have ‘just a little piece this time, just this once?’ Maybe if we have a diet coke with that cheesecake we will appease the healthy nutrition gods! And what about art itself? If it’s pleasurable does that mean it’s vulgar or kitsch? To help you decide, Rick Hidalgo and I present you with Dessert and Coffee. Hopefully there is something to please everyone. Low calorie and healthy options are available. We know, of course, that you’ve already eaten your vegetables.”

Rick Hidalgo is a self-taught artist and gallery owner in Hockessin, Delaware. His work can be found in private collections across the United States as well as in Canada. His work has been featured at The Chris White Gallery where he serves on The Chris White Gallery Committee, a six-person panel that curates its exhibitions. Most recently, Hidalgo's works have been displayed at The Mill Space and Wilmington's annual Brandywine Festival of the Arts. He has also curated exhibitions in partnerships with CreateInWilm, ART WRX, and Moving Parts Collective, and has also worked as the lead mural artist for the Creative Vision Factory at the Chris Sturmfels Youth Center. This summer he will be featured in the international art magazine Create!.

Hidalgo opened his own gallery, RH Gallery & Studios, in 2017 and presents bi-monthly art exhibitions showcasing local and international artists. The studio space is rented out to local artists. He teaches art at Wilmington's Nativity Preparatory School, and he was presented with Capital One Bank's Wilmington Art Program Honorarium award. He is the recipient of The Delaware Contemporary’s 2019 Gretchen Cummins Hupfel Award.

Richard Remenick is the son of painter Seymour Remenick. Richard took up painting after his father’s death using equipment found in his closet and studied with his former students from at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts. Born to Yiddish speaking Jewish immigrants from what is now the Ukraine, Richard’s father chose to disconnect from tradition. Richard began the journey of returning to the Jewish tradition. “I find myself wondering if these two traditions can support each other, whether Jewish tradition can enliven painting and the process of painting enliven the understanding of the Jewish tradition.”

Elizabeth Denison Hatch Gallery