María de los Angeles Rodríguez Jiménez

May 2-31, 2021

BIO

María de los Angeles Rodríguez Jiménez was born in Holguín Cuba in 1992. She received her BFA from The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art in 2015 and MFA in Painting and Printmaking from Yale University in 2020. Rodríguez Jiménez participated in residencies such as the Skowhegan School for Painting and Sculpture in 2016 and SOMA Summer in 2019. She is represented by David Castillo Gallery. María de los Àngeles Rodríguez Jiménez is currently a 2020-2022 Fulbright Fellow for Brazil.

ARTIST STATEMENT

“My work is focused on questions pertaining to the body as a temporal vessel, the spirituality of objects, and material symbolism. Inspired by the Lukumí and Yorùbá traditions in Cuba, Brazil and Nigeria, I make “offerings” out of organic and industrial materials. I combine objects that have an intimate relationship with the human body, such as indigo, textiles, and beads, alongside materials that provoke visceral responses (razor wire, broken glass, and wax). I believe my works to be akin to wombs—vessels full of potential, able to incubate internal forces as they are simultaneously pushed to their physical limits. Over time, my pieces have become sculptural objects in space, all while maintaining the language of painting. Personal rituals of mine have been integrated into my practice through the medium of performance. The residue of these performances then find their way into the objects I create in the studio. The use of language in my work creates a creolized poetry of various tongues for the offerings to speak. All of the works share a symbiotic energy, and create a crossroad between individual and collective experience for our diasporic bodies and spirits. They mirror the unfixed border of an identity that cannot be easily contained within established categories and in doing so, they continue to blur the separation between art and the spiritual.” 

ARTIST LINKS

Website: www.mariadlarj.com

Instagram: @delosarte