Freddy Rodríguez (1945 – October 10, 2022) was an American artist born in the
Dominican Republic, who lived and worked in New York since 1963. Much of his work takes the form of large hard-edge geometric abstractions. His paintings have been widely exhibited and are held in several important collections.
In the 1980s, he joined several other visual artists including
Bismark Victoria,
Eligio Reynoso,
Magno Laracuente and
Tito Canepa to form "Dominican Visual Artists of New York." This group was successful in obtaining sponsorship for exhibitions of Dominican Art in popular locations.[5] In 1991, the
New York Foundation for the Arts named him "Gregory Millard Fellow in Painting." In 1992, he was an NYSCA Artist in Residence at
El Museo del Barrio.[6] Rodríguez was a contributing artist to the Flight 587 Memorial located at Belle Harbor, Queens and dedicated in 2006.[7][8]
Rodríguez's artistic practice was influenced by
Rembrandt,
Paul Cézanne and
Piet Mondrian. His style incorporates elements of Abstract Expressionism, Pop and Minimalism. In 2011 the
Smithsonian American Art Museum acquired three of his early works, painted in the early 1970s. Tall and narrow, the abstract paintings named Danza Africana, Amor Africano, and Danza de Carnaval represent the energy of Dominican music through vibrant colors and zigzagging lines.[9] A reviewer has discussed the political messages in his work, mourning the impact of colonialism and subsequent dictatorships on the original Caribbean paradise, saying, "The political messages are subsumed by the artist's desire to create beautiful paintings fusing Renaissance and modern traditions. Integrating illusionistic space with flattened surfaces, and contrasting loose and tight brushstrokes, the artist enters a dialogue with centuries of art concerned with these same pictorial issues."[10] His 1974 painting Y me quedé sin nombre is the first work by a Dominican-born New York artist to be acquired by the
Whitney Museum of American Art.[11]
Rodríguez died on October 10, 2022 in Queens, New York[12]
Exhibitions
Rodríguez has exhibited widely in museums, galleries, biennials, and art fairs. In 1994, Rodríguez's work was shown as part of the American contingent at the IV Bienal Internacional de Pintura en
Cuenca, Ecuador. Other American artists exhibiting at this show were
Donald Locke,
Philemona Williamson,
Whitfield Lovell and
Emilio Cruz.[13]
^Anreus, Alejandro (1999). Freddy Rodríguez: In This House, Trujillo is Chief! En Esta Casa Trujillo es el Jefe (in English and Spanish). Jersey City, NJ: Jersey City Museum. p. 10.
^Anreus, Alejandro (1999). Freddy Rodriguez: In This House Trujillo is Chief! En Esta Casa Trujillo es Jefe (in English and Spanish). Jersey City, New Jersey: Jersey City Museum. p. 10.
Ramos, E. Carmen and Tomas Ybarra-Frausto. Our America: The Latino Presence in American Art. Exh. cat. Washington DC: Smithsonian American Art Museum, 2013, pp. 170–173.