Gallery
Susan Rodriguez:GALLERY
My work is devoted to the universe we call the figure. I am hopelessly in love with the male and female body, and its miraculous affinity to be expressive of all that is human and divine. Memory and longing, disappointment, joy, anticipation, fleeting thoughts... everything is registered in muscle, fiber, tissue and bone. It is my charge as an artist to render tangible the narratives that bodies contain, principally through figural pastels. I employ decorative and organic materials in my compositions, particularly papers and textiles. By this measure, my art is best described as collage and/or mixed media. All are works-on-paper, and are infused by a spectrum of diversity that embraces Asian and African art. To make sense of the imagery I strive to convey, I defer to the artistic powers my work honors. Picture the scenic vignettes and surface techniques of Romare Bearden, apply the textures found in Edgar Degas’ pastel chalks. To this fusion, add the rasa sentiments experienced in Indian manuscript art, and garnish with the play of pattern that delights us in Japanese art. While all artists are nourished by other art and artists, in the words of Frida Kahlo, “I paint my own reality”. My search is always for new means to reveal the silent dialogue that exists inside and between figures - singular, coupled, and grouped - in the intimate worlds my own art presents. It is my experience as a woman with strong cultural ties that profoundly inspires my personal cultural vision.
My work is devoted to the universe we call the figure. I am hopelessly in love with the male and female body, and its miraculous affinity to be expressive of all that is human and divine. Memory and longing, disappointment, joy, anticipation, fleeting thoughts... everything is registered in muscle, fiber, tissue and bone. It is my charge as an artist to render tangible the narratives that bodies contain, principally through figural pastels. I employ decorative and organic materials in my compositions, particularly papers and textiles. By this measure, my art is best described as collage and/or mixed media. All are works-on-paper, and are infused by a spectrum of diversity that embraces Asian and African art. To make sense of the imagery I strive to convey, I defer to the artistic powers my work honors. Picture the scenic vignettes and surface techniques of Romare Bearden, apply the textures found in Edgar Degas’ pastel chalks. To this fusion, add the rasa sentiments experienced in Indian manuscript art, and garnish with the play of pattern that delights us in Japanese art. While all artists are nourished by other art and artists, in the words of Frida Kahlo, “I paint my own reality”. My search is always for new means to reveal the silent dialogue that exists inside and between figures - singular, coupled, and grouped - in the intimate worlds my own art presents. It is my experience as a woman with strong cultural ties that profoundly inspires my personal cultural vision.