Ines Rodriguez
Projects:
HOUSE ON THE LEFT, COME CLOSER, STATION 98327, BEWARE OF SHADOWY FIGURES ON AISLE 7
Statement: Anemoia - n. nostalgia for a time you’ve never known.
Growing up as a military child, I knew that being comfortable was temporary. Moving from place to place across the United States challenged my idea of home and belonging; inhabiting completely different cities, communities, and places of being. As a result, I had to evolve, eventually being comfortable with an unknown community.
However, one thing that has not changed is the liminal American suburbia. Copy and paste landscapes connected by cul-de-sacs, roundabouts, and white picket fences. Each space of travel connects to the strangely familiar yet somewhat unknowable ways of feeling. By repeatedly surrounding myself with these vague landscapes, my art explores and wonders at the idea of the strange and uncanny.
I have experienced the dual consciousness and connection of having multiple “homes,” not only in the United States but also my native and ancestral land that is Puerto Rico. Born in the U.S., I have always had the perspective of not fully belonging, due to the cultural disconnect. A territorial land but not a state. A space of inclusion, but not belonging with. It is the liminal spaces of ambiguity and familiarity. Due to this experience and discovery, I feel attached to the strangely familiar as well as the idea of belonging within my art.
Painted on canvas and wooden panels, my artwork tackles those themes, encapsulating the bizarre world of forgotten spaces and nostalgia. Like a portrait, each landscape has their own distinct characters, creating a space with shared emotion and experiences. With this, my process for creative work focuses on color, form, and perspective of which reflects the abject and the surreal nature of said spaces. Throughout my work, I want to challenge the viewer in ways of seeing, asking the question “Have I been there before?” within the unknowable and the strangely familiar landscapes we may inhabit. As we try to find a place of being, where do we belong?
Bio: Working in both painting and multi-media practices like collage and sculpture, artist Ines Rodriguez bonds different mediums creating transformative works of art. By balancing both painting as well as sculpture, Ines combines new and obsolete materials from her environment. Her work discusses the idea of home and belonging in the suburban military climate that is the U.S. With this, her paintings contain said materials in ways of abstraction and surrealism reflecting landscapes of nostalgia and memory. She experiments with saturated colors and unique forms, giving landscapes character whilst encapsulating the bizarre world of forgotten spaces. Born in Fort Hood, TX and now residing in DuPont, WA, Ines is working towards her BA at The Evergreen State College and is developing her own creative process as a visual artist.
Website: https://neonsalsa.carrd.co/
Social media handles:
Insta: @neon_salsa
Twitter: @ines_senia
Tumblr: neonchipz
Blurb for Media: Ines Rodriguez (@neon_salsa) is a multimedia artist working in painting, collage, and digital design. Her current painting series Dreamscape focuses on the bizarre world of liminal spaces, landscapes that are strangely familiar yet somewhat unknowable. She implements saturated and monochromatic tones to create bizarre compositions from memory. Her work is allowing the viewer to subconsciously confront the deep dark spaces within themselves and their memories. Ines works from her home in DuPont, WA.