:artist profile george rodriguez
The transition from living as part
of an ethnic majority in El Paso,
Texas, to becoming part of a
Hispanic minority in the
Pacific Northwest has offered
both a challenge and an inspira-
tion for ceramic sculptor George
Rodriguez. With a new body of
work on view at Foster/White
Gallery in Seattle this spring, and
a lecture demonstration later in
mid-March at the annual NCECA
(National Council on Education
for the Ceramic Arts) conference
in Kansas City, Missouri, the 33-
year-old graduate of University
of Texas, El Paso and the Univer-
sity of Washington (MFA, 2009)
is clearly on a roll.Rodriguez’s early work was
characterized by large-scale, multi-figure sculptural installations,
such as Instrumental Divide(2009); in subsequent years, these
pieces have been joined by individual life-size figures and self-portraits
like Wanderer(2011), along with various forays into table-top floral
assemblages and functional tableware. Far from his West Texas
roots, Rodriguez has adapted them by focusing on subjects drawn
from his Chicano heritage, such as ceremonies, rituals and presenta-
tions, filtering in other inspirations gained as a result of a 10-month
global travel fellowship from the UW in 2010. During that span, he
visited 26 countries on three continents.“Some of my original inspirations will continue because I’m talking
about personal experiences,” the former Bonderman Travel Fellow
observes, speaking from his home in the White Center neighborhood
of Seattle. “For example, my mother was a seamstress, so I make
dress sculptures. But now, after my trips to Bali, Taiwan and Thailand,
I want to acknowledge cultures I am not a part of. I would love to
show how I bring in those sensibilities to trace the difference
between conquering them and honoring them.”Although Rodriguez is still processing the Bonderman trip, there
are already signs of his neo-multicultural approach. For example,
in a series of tableware objects shown at Kobo Gallery in Seattle
in 2011, Japanese lotus blossoms ornamented a gravy boat. Else-
where, a Buddhist monastic top-knot became the artist’s hair-do in
another self-portrait, Guardian(2014). Calavera(2014) applies skele-
ton “make-up” to the artist’s face, recalling Mexican Day of the
Dead skulls, while also suggesting tribal face painting from New
Guinea and parts of Africa. Considering his own artistic influences,
Rodriguez acknowledges in particular the late Robert Arneson,
godfather of West Coast figurative ceramics. “Arneson used the
mold of his own head for his self-portraits, and then altered them
for many other figures, like Jackson Pollock. I did a similar thing
with my ‘George’ series,” he explains. “Instead of just me, I
created many other Georges: George Washington, George Sand,
and a Curious George.”72 art ltd - March / April 2016