Heart of Miami
AFRO-CARIBBEAN SERIES The "Afro-Caribbean Series" is an exploration of Rodez’s Hispanic culture and roots. He claims that what he Rodez is quoted as saying: "My art is a reflection of my intimate experience living with my mother's chronic mental illness, which taught me that within diverse personalities lie unique strengths. This lesson has driven me to create various bodies of work, each distinct from the other. Through these creations, I explore the complex interplay of emotions and the power of embracing our multifaceted selves." ARTIST STATEMENT
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accomplishes in creating these paintings is a sense of voyaging back to Cuba, transforming it, and making it fresh and new, as if never touched by its over half-century of stagnation. The colors used throughout the series are representative of our Hispanic culture and Cuba's colorful stained-glass, as well as it's magnificent architecture from a time long ago. But they are not just beautiful paintings; they serve to acknowledge and bring awareness of the more serious conditions in his parents’ homeland and those of others throughout the Caribbean and the Americas.
ELEMENTS & VALUES SERIES
In the "Elements and Values Series" Rodez approaches the canvas without any notion of what he is about to create. Both the canvas and mind are blank at the very moment of conception. However, as the paint permeates the canvas, it will begin to speak and tell him what it wants to be. There is total abandonment of any preconceived subject matter, color, image, dimension, or proportion. He describes it as looking for images in clouds. He works in that same manner discovering what wants to manifest and come to him through the vortex that is the canvas. A prism of colors then begins to appear in a magical state of hypnotism as he works in this series. He also describes it as being in Zen and one with the canvas.
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"In all my work, my advocacy is for mental health in honor of my mother. My Beautiful Little Sparrow."
DREAM SERIES
The source for the “Dream Series” is nightmares. As surrealists in the past, Rodez believes that nightmares contain the secret compartments of our subconscious. This is where fears, struggles, and desires come to hide or, shall we say, manifest. Information that can be hidden from our subconscious mind. But once captured on canvas, it is open to be discovered and brought forth to the conscious mind, and therefore allowing us to understand the puzzle presented before us, and to unravel the code and figure out what the significance of the dream is. Many of these pieces are mounted on a sort of dreamcatcher with ropes attached to both the canvas and the surrounding wooden frame made up of railroad ties. Note that many of the pieces in this series have been iterating across Spain in exhibits titled "Síntomas del Sueño" (Dream Symptoms).
3 "The Flight Of The Red Cigüeña," 18" h x 18" w, Original - Acrylic on Canvas, Elements and Values Series 4 "Deuces Runs Wild," 48" h x 36" w, Original - Acrylic on Canvas, Elements and Values Series 5 "Puente Sobre Agua" / "Bridge Over Water," 40" h x 30" w, Original - Acrylic on Canvas, Dream Series
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