George Rodriguez, born El Paso, TX 1982 Search this
Medium:
stoneware with glaze and underglaze
Dimensions:
dimensions variable
Type:
Decorative Arts-Ceramic
Crafts
Date:
2019
Exhibition Label:
Mexican American Gothic reimagines Grant Wood’s famous painting American Gothic (1930), which features a pair of unsmiling farmers standing in front of their Gothic-style house in Iowa. In this ceramic variation, the man is a field worker and the woman is a domestic worker. Like their 1930 predecessors, their poses are stoic and their gazes are inscrutable—stirring curiosity about their stories.
Artist George Rodriguez was born and raised in the border city of El Paso, Texas. With bold colors and abundant ornamentation, he celebrates the contributions of Mexican American workers to everyday life. The artist also rewards close looking. The flowers are his gift to you.
“From a distance the ornamentation is texture and pattern, upon closer inspection, the individual flowers reveal themselves. Flowers have a life cycle that is in some ways analogous to the process of looking at, seeing, and getting to know a work of art more intimately over time—the work can blossom and expand with more attention and curiosity.” —George Rodriguez
