Sandy Rodriguez

Sandy Rodriguez was born in 1975 in National City, California. She currently lives in the Mar Vista suburb of Los Angeles. She grew up in different cities, including Tijuana, San Diego, and the most influential city to her work: Los Angeles. Her contribution to the art field has been apparent in museums including Los Angeles at Art+Practice, Self Help Graphics, and at The Museum of Contemporary Art. Her work focuses mainly on culture and history. Her artwork portrays the cultural, political, and social change that communities undergo through different periods of time, specifically in the Los Angeles areas. Rodriguez's inspiration was sparked when she took a family trip to Oaxaca, a southern Mexican Region. Whilst she was there, looking through stores she found a red pigment called cochineal, coming from the pre-Columbian era. Prior to this, Sandy Rodriguez had experience with making colors using natural resources such as plants, insects, and oxides. Rodriguez did not know how to use this newfound pigment that was similar to her handmade pigments. She had heard about the uprisings in Ayotzinapa Mexico, with thousands of people protesting and setting the presidential place on fire, where the president Enrique Pena Nieto resided. These uprisings and revolts happened because 43 students from Ayotzinapa were killed by police and gang members. She then decided to compare this historical moment along with the fires in California Hills in her artwork using her bottle of Cochineal. All of her artwork escalated from thereon, pinpointing Latin history, politics and culture. One of her many occupations as an artist include teaching in constituencies and programs to inspire a new generation of artist and to continue pushing the boundaries of art.

Education

With an intention of pursuing art, Sandy Rodriguez attended the California Institute of Arts,1993. She participated in a feminist art program where she became a performance artist. Later on, she went on to receive her Bachelor in Fine Arts from CalArts and has actively overlooked various art programs.

Artworks

• Codex Rodriguez-Mondragon: Her most recent doings are Codex Rodriguez-Mondragón, which are numerous maps and paintings dealing with the issues of politics, culture and location, all interconnecting with one another. This project is a reflection of her political stance and culture perspective in both Mexico and Southern California. The themes include resistance, culture and genocide. Sandy Rodriguez has intersected significant time periods in her Codex Rodriguez-Mandragon project, including the Spanish invasion and the current ICE and immigration deportations. More specifically she included a visual comparison of the invading Spanish vessels and the recent weaponry used by the U.S. border control enforcement. This work was inspired from Book 12 and the Florentine Codex and from her 2017 experiments with Mexican and Pre-Columbian resources. Through trial and error she made an attempt of early methods of creating indigenous paint and made amate paper made of bark from two distinct trees.
• De los Child Detention Centers, Family Separation and other Atrocities, 2018: This artwork was created with mediums such as amate paper, dyes from native plants, watercolors, and natural earth pigments. Its size is 94.5 inches wide and 47 inches long. Certain themes included within the artwork range from geography, politics and division among cultures. This is largely represented through a painting of a United States and Mexico map, with a fixed spotlight on California, Nevada, Utah, Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas. The borderline of Mexico and the United States is centered among the whole art work, with a view of the Pacific Ocean. Several drawings of people, animals, insects and plants are also scattered throughout the map. A butterfly is at the center of Mexico, wherein an animal and two people were placed among California.
• Nopalli Opuntia Basilaris from the Codex Rodriguez Mondragon, 2017: This artwork displays a type of native cactus, nopal. It is only a branch of green nopales with no roots or base. In some parts of this nopal branch there are pink flowers growing. In the background, at a far distance, there is a helicopter with a skull imprinted on its side. The branch of nopales are zoomed in the canvas which allow its details to come out. The background is a tan color with dark shades splattered around. The tools used for this piece of art was handmade dyes and watercolors from plants and earth pigments and amate paper. It is 15.33 inches wide and 22.75 inches long.
• Under the 405, 2017: The media used for this painting was oil on canvas and its size is 36 by 48 inches. This piece of art contains silhouettes of palm trees, street lights with there lights turned on, a street and a house. The setting appears to be after a sunset with a light blue sky which then blends into a darker blue sky towards the top of the canvas. There are trees covering a highway that is active with cars that are going towards the canvas. There is also a house with their lights dimly turned on.
• Echo Parque, 2014: The media for this painting was also oil on a canvas and its size is 24 by 36 inches. The setting is at echo park and is taking place in the afternoon with an orangy-yellow sky. There is a man-made lake with a fountain sprouting water several feet above the air. There also appears to be buildings at a far distance. The painting is at an angle from an area of the park that is filled with trees and bushes with makes the corners of the canvas darker in shade. Four palm trees are aligned and one of them is burning and producing smoke.
• Ayotzinapa- Ya me Canse, 2014: There is a car turned over, sideways, and it is on fire. The flames appear to be getting worse with the yellow, red, orange, and black colors that she uses. The background of this burning car is a gray building. The rest of the canvas, besides the car enshrouded in bright fire, is grey. The materials used for this painting was oil on a canvas and its size is 16 by 20 inches.
• Tear Gas No.1 Ferguson, 2014: The media is oil on canvas and its size is 16 by 20 inches. The canvas is black, and the artists added a smoky combination of colors including red, white and blue. The iconic symbol of Mc. Donalds appears hazily in the background. The setting is in an empty street with blurry street lights hidden behind the mist encompassing the air.
• Sentenced to 15 years, 2017: The medium for this painting is oil on canvas. and its size is 24 by 36 inches. This painting includes a black canvas where the silhouette of the Los Angeles skyline is present. The city is visible because of a large fire consuming the left side of the painting. The fire is enshrouding a building and it appears to be in a high elevation from the ground. The rest of the city is ignited by streetlights, houses, cars,...etc.
• Lecherona-Asclepius curassavica from the Codex Rodriguez Mondragon, 2017: Mediums used in this artwork contain natural earth pigments, dyes from native plants, watercolors, as well as amate paper. A plant is at the center of the paper with a clear view of the roots. Its size is 15 1/3 by 22 3/4 inches. Small pink flower buds spring from the top of the plant while butterflies encircle it. Atop the plant the words ‘Lecherona-Asclepius curassavica’ are inscribed in calligraphy.
• Cempoalxuchitl Tagetes erecta from the Codex Rodriguez Mondragon, 2017: Mediums used for this artwork are amate paper, natural earth pigments, dyes from native plants, and watercolors. Its size is 15 1/3 by 22 3/4 inches. A type of Mexican marigold is placed among the center. This type of marigold has vibrant yellow petals which blooms in a circular shape. While the flower flourishes, a helicopter can be seen encircling its petals. ‘Cempoalxuchitl Tagetas erecta’ is inscribed at the bottom of the page.
• Night Vision No.1, 2015: The media for this painting was oil paint and its size is 16 by 20 inches. Colors used on this painting contained cool undertones with a few bright colors such as pink and yellow. The painting depicts an array of street lights at night with a bokeh effect. The bokeh effect was produced by painting in an out of focused way with only dots of paint. It is more so since the colors are a stark contrast against the black oil paint.
• Puertas del Palacio Nacional - Ayotzinapa Protests, 2014: The media for this painting includes various oil paints. Colors strongly used are white, red, orange, black and yellow.The doors of the national palace are engulfed in flames as smoke disperses among the air. Fire burns bright as it lights the palace in angry red.

Exhibitions

Group:

• Calafia: Manifesting the Terrestrial Paradise/Calafia: manifestando el paraíso terrenal. Held at Fullerton Art Museum- 2019
• Incarnadine. Held at Mash Gallery, Los Angeles- 2018
• South of the Border. Held at The Getty,The Loft at Liz's, Los Angeles, CA- 2017
• the fabulous six, Feral Projects, Los Angeles, CA- 2017
• Tia Chucha’s Quinceañera.  Held at La Plaza de Cultura y Artes, Los Angeles, CA- 2016
• Artist in Residence Exhibition. Held at  Art+Practice, Leimert Park, CA- 2015
• Annual Print Fair & Exhibition. Held at Self Help Graphics, Los Angeles, CA- 2014
• Catrina Ball, Orange County Center for Contemporary Art, Santa Ana, CA- 2013
• Bloodlines: Three Generations. Held at Plaza de la Raza, Boathouse Gallery, Los Angeles, CA- 2012
• Navigating L.A. Held at The Studio for Southern California History, Los Angeles, CA- 2011
• 1000 Journals. Held at Skirball Cultural Center, Los Angeles, CA- 2010

Solo or Two-person exhibtion (including Sandy Rodriguez)

• La Retrospectiva held in Underground Gallery, Silverlake, CA, 2007
• Unearthed held in Pasadena City College, Pasadena, CA 2007
• Riverside Art Museum held in Riverside, CA, 2018
• East 26 Projects, held in Vernon, CA, 2018
• Awake in the Golden State, held in Sonce Alexander Gallery, Culver City, 2015
• Calle Sal Si Puedes and other Places She's Lived held in Lyceum, San Diego, CA, 2012
• L.A. Landscapes held in Two Roads Gallery, Los Angeles, CA, 2010
• La Retrospectiva held in Underground Gallery, Silverlake, CA, 2007

Awards/Honors

• City of Los Angeles (C.O.L.A.) Individual Artist Fellowship - 2019
• American for the Arts Public Art Network Year In Review 2017 award
• Department of Cultural Affairs Cultural Trailblazer Award - 2017
• Artist-in-Residence for Los Angeles County Arts Commission - 2016
• Artist-in-Residence at Art+Practice in Leimert Park - 2015

Publications

A Place We Call Home: East of La Cienega and South of Stocker

by Sandy Rodriguez and Isabelle Lutterodt