FREDDY RODRIGUEZ LLC
SUNRISE, FLORIDA

I see art as the ultimate form of freedom. From the beginning, my artistic and intellectual curiosity has pushed me to explore different subjects, techniques, styles and materials. I’ve been working as an artist for over 40 years, and I still need to explore new territories and possibilities with my art. After I finished my commission for NYC’s Flight 587 Memorial in 2006, I started doing a series of work on birch plywood that took me in a new direction. Breaking with my own tradition, I made no sketches and I did no research beforehand. I just wanted to paint. I called these new works “De la nada a la nada: Painting about nothing.” These works both created a different set of painting problems, and opened a new door of artistic possibilities. That’s what I find exciting about art. I made openings in the plywood, made straight cuts into it, painted on both sides of the panels and used two different abstract styles. I also made folding screens that I can make into labyrinths of colors. I used a hairdryer to push the paint around and create texture. After the hairdryer broke in 2009, I started using an air compressor to push the paint around. This created another new set of technical problems, which I finally mastered after many trials. The way the colors mix when using the air compressor is very different from how they mix using other tools such as brushes, spatula, hairdryer, sticks, and my hands . I’m very excited about the results, and I invite you to take a tour of this work and all my other past work. Welcome to my art world. Born in Santiago, Dominican Republic in 1945 and moved to New York City in 1963. Studied painting at the Art Student League, and the New School for Social Research, and textile design at the Fashion Institute of Technology. Has served as a panelist for the New York State Council on the Special Arts Program, and Percent for the Arts. One of seven artists in “Current Identities” Recent Painting in the United States. The official U.S.A. representation in the IV Cuenca Biennial of Painting, Cuenca, Ecuador. Exhibition travels to 13 cities and eleven countries in Latin America. Will be profiled in the upcoming UCLA Chicano Studies Research Center’s Monograph “ A Ver: Revisioning Art History,” a project devoted to “cultural, aesthetic, and historical contributions of Chicano, Puerto Rican, Cuban, and other U.S. Latino artists whose work expands traditional notions of American history through a lifelong commitment to cultural diversity, formal experimentation, and community-based exhibition. Commissioned by New York City to design the Flight 587 Memorial. In 2011 The Smithsonian American Art Museum purchased three paintings from 1974. Served on the boards of the Artist Community Credit Union and the Museum of Contemporary Hispanic Art (MOCHA) Annual Art Commission Awards for Excellent in Design for Flight 587 Memorial. America’s Pastime. Portrait of the Dominican Dream. Works by Freddy Rodriguez. Exhibition catalogue “Queens Culture, Making the Best of a Bad Situation.” New York Newsday, Oct. 27.