The Estate of Freddy Rodríguez

“In 1972 I sold one of my geometric paintings to the Aldrich Museum in CT for their exhibition “Contemporary Reflections.” Eva Hesse was in the show as well as other well known artists. That painting belongs to the Bronx museum today (I have that catalogue somewhere in my house, but I can’t find it). In 1972 I showed several geometric paintings at NYU along with Carmen Herrera, Eduardo Ramírez, Arnold Belkin, and Tony Bechara.”

 

Rodríguez in conversation with Aranda-Alvarado (2015)

“It’s been a goal to be able to put content into art. Also, it was a response to the Abstract Expressionists or the New York School and their assertions ‘that what you see is what you get.’ The challenge for me is: behind what you see, there is something else. A good poem—it’s what’s behind that poem. It’s not just the words and the sound—you have to really get into it. And I think that good abstract art can do that too. It’s not easy.” 

 

Rodríguez with Richard Klin in Something to Say: Thoughts on Art and Politics in America (Leapfrog Press, 2011)

At the same time, the Dominican Republic, Caribbean culture, and transnational concerns have continuously inspired the subjects and ethos of his work. Rodríguez’s interest in Caribbean history and the African diaspora lead him to explore the plight of the cimarrón, or fugitive slave. Throughout this series of work, begun in 1985, the artist repeats certain symbols, including the human leg and the fish. By including gallery reviews taken from the New York Times and the MoMA calendar, in El Cimarrón Deja El Monte (1986), Rodríguez gestures towards the exclusion of artists of color from mainstream exhibitions in New York—combining both histories and present occurrences of racial inequity.

 

Researcher Susan Breyer on Freddy Rodríguez (2019)