Sandy Rodriguez

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Sandy Rodriguez was born in 1975 in National City, California. She is a Los Angeles based artist who grew up on the US-Mexico border, in Tijuana, San Diego, and Los Angeles. She has exhibited her works with numerous museums and galleries, including the Denver Art Museum, The Huntington Library, Art Museum and Botanical Garden, the Amon Carter Museum of American Art, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego, MOCA Busan Busan Bienniale, Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, The Cheech Marin Center for Chicano Art, Art+Practice, and Self Help Graphics. Her work focuses on the ongoing cycles of violence on communities of color by blending historical and recent events in the Los Angeles area and along south-west US-Mexico border.^[1] A transitional moment for Rodriguez happened in 2014 on a visit to Oaxaca, a southern Mexican Region, where she first procured a red pigment called cochineal, coming from the pre-Columbian era. Prior to this, Rodriguez had painted exclusively in modern paint. The encounter with cochineal happened at the same time she was painting fire paintings and the protests began in Ayotzinapa Mexico in response to forty-three missing college students, which included setting fire to palacio nacional and an Enrique Peña Nieto effigy pinata. The alignment of content, form, and the materials magnified how material can signal cultural identity, history, and politics.^[2] A goal of her work is to disrupt dominant narratives and interrogate systems that are ongoing expressions of colonial violence witnessed regularly, including Customs Border Enforcement, Police, and Climate Change.

Rodriguez earned her Bachelor in Fine Arts from the California Institute of Arts.^[3]

The artist explains:

"The Codex Rodríguez–Mondragón (2017- ) is a collection of maps and specimen paintings about the ongoing cycles of violence on communities of color by blending historical and recent events. It incorporates hand-processed earth, plant, and insect based watercolor onto the sacred (and once outlawed) amate paper, reclaiming and reaffirming the Indigenous artistic traditions of the Americas. The use of plant materials is significant not only for situating the work within specific floristic provinces but also for their medicinal and healing properties. This makes my maps not simply a representation of the place but objects that serve as an active embodiment of their constituent parts. In my work, a multitude of records, documents, maps and natural materials serve to inform my interpretation of space where various histories are combined, juxtaposed, recovered, and re-envisioned, painted as a codex, a macro and micro view of humanity in relationship with land, time, and power. One of my personal goals is to disrupt western European dominant narratives and challenge audiences with paintings that interrogate legacies of colonial aggression in our daily lives.

My investigation into Indigenous color use in the Americas led me to research the 16th-century Florentine Codex and the history of image- and color-making in colonial Mexico. The Florentine Codex is a twelve-volume encyclopedia compiled by Fray Bernadino de Sahagun and several Indigenous writers and artists, known in Nahuatl as tlacuilos. Working during the middle of the 16th century, they created a compendium of “the things of New Spain,” with parallel Spanish and Nahuatl texts describing deities, plants, animals, and the history of the Spanish invasion in 1519-21. Over 2,000 images accompany these texts, providing a third layer of information.

It is important to mention that the Florentine Codex was created under a colonial regime at a time when their world was changing radically and, in part, under quarantine during the time of a pandemic that wiped out 90 percent of the population."^[4]

In April 2022, Rodriguez participated in a three-week residency at Cornell University as part of the interdisciplinary project "From Invasive Others toward Embracing Each Other: Migration, Dispossession, and Place-Based Knowledge in the Arts of the Americas." Organized by professors Ella Maria Diaz, Ananda Cohen-Aponte, and Jolene K. Rickard, this project aimed to examine Latinx, Indigenous, and Chicanx histories through visual and performance arts^[5].

During her residency, Rodriguez led workshops, focusing on themes of nature, activism, and traditional bioregional art practices^[5][6]. These workshops allowed participants to engage with indigenous pigments and their historical significance^[6]. Rodriguez demonstrated techniques for creating paints from natural materials, emphasizing sustainable practices and the importance of cultural heritage in artistic expression^[6]. This approach not only educated participants about the ecological impact of their art but also about the intersection between community and environment^[6].

On April 28, 2022, Rodriguez delivered a keynote presentation at Cornell, discussing her artistic practice and the research underpinning her work with indigenous pigments^[5]. In this presentation, available on YouTube, she elaborated on her residency experience, highlighting her collaborations with students and the reciprocal learning that took place^[6]. Rodriguez emphasized the power of art as a tool for social change and cultural dialogue, underscoring the relationships among art, culture, and activism.^[6]

2023

Sandy Rodriguez - Unfolding Histories: 200 Years of Resistance [solo exhibition], AD&A Museum, UC-Santa Barbara, CA

Visualizing Place — Maps from The Bancroft Library, The Bancroft Library Gallery, University of California-Berkeley, CA

Day Jobs, Blanton Museum of Art, University of Texas-Austin, TX

To Translate the Unfathomable [solo exhibition], Rutgers Center for Women in the Arts and Humanities, NJ

Borderlands, pt. 2, The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens, San Marino, CA

2022

Traitor, Survivor, Icon: The Legacy of La Malinche and the Conquest of Mexico, San Antonio Museum of Art, San Antonio, TX

Contemporary Ex-Voto: Devotion Beyond Medium, New Mexico State University, Art Museum, NM

Past/Present/Future: Expanding Indigenous American, Latinx, Hispanic American, Asian American, and Pacific Islander Perspectives in Thomas J. Watson Library, The Met Fifth Avenue, New York, NY

Busan Biennale: We, on the Rising Wave, Museum of Contemporary Art Busan, Republic of Korea

Traitor, Survivor, Icon: The Legacy of La Malinche and the Conquest of Mexico, Albuquerque Museum, Albuquerque, NM

Traitor, Survivor, Icon: The Legacy of La Malinche and the  Conquest of Mexico, Denver Art Museum, Denver, CO

2021

Sandy Rodriguez - In Isolation [solo exhibition], Amon Carter Museum of American Art, Fort Worth, TX

Mixpantli: Contemporary Echoes, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA

Borderlands, The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens, San Marino, CA

Estamos Bien - La Trienal 20/21, El Museo, New York, NY

Re:Visión Art in the Americas, Denver Art Museum, Denver, CO

Joshua Tree Highlands Artist Residency 15th Anniversary Exhibition, San Bernardino County Museum, CA

2019

Mexicali Biennial: Calafia — Manifesting the Terrestrial Paradise, Armory Center for the Arts, Pasadena, CA

2018

Sandy Rodriguez: Codex Rodríguez-Mondragón [solo exhibition], Riverside Art Museum, Riverside, CA

You Will Not Be Forgotten is an exhibition by rodriguez, held at the Charlie James Gallery from January 25 to March 7, 2020^[7]. This exhibition marks Rodriguez's first solo presentation at the gallery and features an installation of works from her ongoing Codex Rodriguez-Mondragón project^[7].

Dedicated to the memory of seven Central American child migrants who died in U.S. Customs and Border Protection custody during 2018 and 2019, the exhibition comprises twenty pieces, including portraits of the children and a large-scale map detailing the incidents across the U.S.-Mexico border^[7][8]. The installation also includes a visual recipe for healing "susto" or trauma, as derived from the colonial medicinal manuscript Codex de la Cruz-Badiano^[7].

Rodriguez employs traditional materials such as amate paper, used historically in Mexico to create codices, and utilizes Maya blue, a pigment created by ancient Maya artists, to symbolize the children’s cultural heritage^[8]. The exhibition incorporates contemporary portraits of scholars and healers alongside the child portraits, reinforcing a narrative of cultural continuity and healing^[7][8].

“Rodriguez/Valadez in Vernon” is a two-painter exhibition at Fine Art Solutions featuring Los Angeles artists Sandy Rodriguez and John Valadez.^[9]This show highlights their unique perspectives on the city, often infused with dark humor and elements of the magical. Both artists utilize their works to comment on contemporary themes through a lens of cultural critique.^[10][9] With Rodriguez’s referencing painted colonial and pre-Columbian codices, presenting them in contemporary contexts. The exhibition was held in 2018 at Fine Art Solutions, located at 3463 E. 26th St., Vernon^[10][9].

Her works are held in the permanent collections of Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA; Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville, AR; Amon Carter Museum, Fort Worth, TX; Cheech Marin's collection of Chicano art housed at The Cheech Marin Center for Chicano Art, Culture & Industry in Riverside, California;^[11] private and other collections.

2023, Jacob Lawrence Award, American Academy of Arts and Letters, New

York, NY

2023, Hermitage Greenfield Prize, Hermitage Art Retreat, Florida ^[12]

2022, Mapping the Early Modern World, an NEH summer institute, Newberry Library, Chicago, IL [withdrew]

2021, Migrations initiative, Mellon Foundation Just Futures Initiative and Global Cornell ^[13]

2021, Creative Capital Award 2021-2024 ^[14]

2020, Caltech-Huntington Art + Research Residency, California Institute of Technology (Caltech) and The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens, Los Angeles, CA ^[15]

2020, Alma Ruiz Artist Fellowship, Joshua Tree Highlands Artist Residency, Joshua Tree, CA ^[16]

2019, City of Los Angeles (COLA) Master Artist Fellow, Department of Cultural Affairs, Los Angeles, CA ^[17]

2018, National Recognition to the Best in Public Art Projects Annually, Public Art Network Year in Review, American for the Arts, New York, NY ^[18]

2017, Trailblazer Award, Department of Cultural Affairs, City of Los Angeles, CA

2017, Artist-in-Residence, Los Angeles County Arts Commission’s Civic Art ^[19]

2016, Program, Martin Luther King Jr. Community Hospital, Recuperative Care Center (RCC), Los Angeles, CA

2014-2015, Artist-in-Residence, Art+Practice, Los Angeles, CA^[20]

Rodriguez, Sandy, and Laura Ortman. “Where Process Meets Sensorium”. New Suns 4 (2022).^[21]

Lyall, Victoria I., and Terezita Romo, eds. Traitor, Survivor, Icon: The Legacy of La Malinche and the Conquest of Mexico. [Exhibition catalog]. New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2021.

Lyall, Victoria I., and Jorge F. Rivas , eds. ReVisión: A new look at Art in the Americas [in conjunction with exhibition]. Munich: Hirmer, 2021.

Magaloni Kerpel, Diana. COLA 2019 Individual Artist Fellowships. [Exhibition catalog]. Los Angeles, 2019: 68-73.

Rodriguez, Sandy; texts by Diana Magaloni Kerpel and Anuradha Vikram. Sandy Rodriguez: You Will Not Be Forgotten. [Exhibition catalog]. Los Angeles, 2019.

Wingate, Timothy, ed.; texts by Ananda Cohen-Aponte, Ella Maria Diaz, Charlene Villaseñor Black, and Adolfo Guzman-Lopez. Sandy Rodriguez: Codex Rodriguez-Mondragón. [Exhibition catalog]. Riverside, CA: Riverside Art Museum, 2018.

Rodriguez, Sandy. “Artist’s Communiqué: Keeping the Home Fires Burning”. Aztlán: A Journal of Chicano Studies. (Fall 2017) 42 (2): 287-300.^[22]

Rodriguez, Sandy and Isabelle Lutterodt. “Studio75: A Place We Call Home: East of La Cienega and South of Stocker”. Los Angeles County Arts Commission, Some Place Chronicles, Los Angeles, CA.^[23]

2024

García, Carmen. "Sandy Rodriguez’s Maps of Survival: Documenting Indigenous Knowledge." Artforum, November 10, 2021.

• In this exhibition review, Carmen García reflects on Sandy Rodriguez’s innovative use of cartographic techniques to address the enduring impacts of colonialism and migration.

Latorre, Guisela. "Indigenous Cartographies and the Politics of Representation in Sandy Rodriguez’s Art." Chicana/Latina Studies 19, no. 2 (2020): 45-65.

• Guisela Latorre, a prominent scholar in Chicana and Latina visual culture, focuses on how Sandy Rodriguez employs indigenous cartographic methods to challenge colonial narratives in her artwork.

Sandy Rodriguez: You Will Not Be Forgotten. Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 2019.

• This exhibition catalog accompanies Sandy Rodriguez’s show at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, where she presented works responding to the humanitarian crisis at the U.S.-Mexico border.

Simpson, Jennifer. Art and Activism: Contemporary Indigenous Voices in American Art. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 2021.

• Jennifer Simpson’s book offers a comprehensive look at contemporary indigenous artists, with a chapter dedicated to Sandy Rodriguez’s contributions to the field.

Montoya, Daniel. "Sandy Rodriguez: Visualizing Histories of Resistance in Southern California." Latin American and Latinx Visual Culture 3, no. 1 (2022): 55-74.

• Daniel Montoya’s article offers a critical examination of Sandy Rodriguez’s work through the lens of Chicanx and indigenous histories of resistance.

Pérez, Laura E. "Decolonial Aesthetics in the Work of Sandy Rodriguez." Latinx Spaces, March 15, 2020. https://www.latinxspaces.com.

• Laura E. Pérez, an expert in Latinx art and culture, explores the decolonial aesthetics present in Sandy Rodriguez’s body of work.

2023

Reynosa, Tatiana. Reclaiming the Americas: Latinx Art and the Politics of Territory. Austin: University of Texas Press, forthcoming.

Diaz, Ella Maria. “The Art of Telling: Toward a Genealogy of Testimoniadoras”. Label Me Latina/o 13 (Spring 2023): 1-20.[1]

2022

Leibsohn, Dana. "Foreword". Colonial Latin American Review 31.4 (December 2022): 475-78.

Hsu, Husan. L, & Vázquez, David. J. “The Materials of Art and the Legacies of Colonization: A Conversation with Beatrice Glow and Sandy Rodriguez”. Journal of Transnational American Studies (2022) 13.1.^[24]

Diaz, Ella Maria. “Exhibition review: Traitor, survivor, icon: The legacy of La Malinche”. Latino Studies (November 2022).^[25]

Martin, Deborah. “Things to know about 'The Legacy of Malinche," the San Antonio Museum of Art's big fall exhibit”. San Antonio Express News. October 12, 2022.^[26]

Stromberg, Matt. “A new dawn: the Huntington makes progress”. Apollo. July/August 2022.

Miranda, Carolina A. “She’s been branded a traitor. A new exhibition says Mexican icon Malinche was anything but”. Los Angeles Times. May 3, 2022.^[27]

Escalante-De Mattei, Shanti. “LACMA Exhibits Subvert the Totalizing Myths of Colonial Conquest”. ARTNews. February 18, 2022.

Loic, Erika.  “The Once and Future Histories of the Book: Decolonial Interventions into the Codex, Chronicle, and Khipu”. Latin American and Latinx Visual Culture 4.1 (2022): 9-26.^[28]

Green, Tyler. “Interview: Sandy Rodriguez, In American Waters”. Modern Art Notes podcast.  Jan 13, 2022. Episode 532.

2021

Knight, Christopher. “Review: The conquered rather than the conquerors are given the stage in LACMA’s two new ‘Mixpantli’ exhibits”. Los Angeles Times. Dec 28, 2021.^[29]

"Sandy Rodriguez Unveils new pandemic-inspired works on paper in exhibition at the Amon Carter Museum of American Art”. Artdaily. December 18, 2021.^[30]  

Mitter, Siddartha. “Seeking Art That Expands the Possibilities for a Troubled World”. Fall Preview, New York Times. Sept 14, 2021.^[31]

Longazel, Jaimie and Miranda Cady Hallett, eds. Mortality: Social Death, Dispossession, and Survival in the Americas. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 2021.^[32]

Hubber, Laura. “Sandy Rodriguez: When art, geography and politics collide”. BBC World Service. October 2021.^[33]

2020

Travers, Julia. “You Will Not Be Forgotten: Artist Sandy Rodriguez Calls Us to Witness and Act”. IMM-PRINT. May 4, 2020.^[34]

Miranda, Carolina A. “Experimentation. Reflection. Wild ensembles. Photos show 5 L.A. artists working under quarantine”. Los Angeles Times. April 3, 2020.^[35]

Miranda, Carolina A. “How a vital record of Mexican indigenous life was created under quarantine”. Los Angeles Times. March 6, 2020.^[36]

Soto, Daniel. “A Remarkable Project Remembers Child Migrants Who Died in Custody”. Hyperallergic. March 3, 2020.^[37]

2019

Cohen-Aponte, Ananda, and Ella Maria Diaz. “Painting Prophecy: Mapping a Polyphonic Chicana Codex Tradition in the Twenty-First Century”. English Language Notes (2019) 57 (2): 22–42.^[38]

Trujillo, Maria. “Sandy Rodriguez: an artist honoring the land and confronting immigration”. Art Critique Magazine. November 10, 2019.^[39]

Villaseñor-Black, Charlene. “Art and Migration”. Aztlan: A Journal of Chicano Studies 44, no. 1 (2019): 1–16.

2018

Miranda, Carolina A. "How artist Sandy Rodriguez tells today's fraught immigration story with pre-Columbian painting tools". Los Angeles Times. December 2, 2018.^[40]

Quinn, Patrick. “Exploring Boundaries with HERE – A Group Show at LA Municipal Art Gallery”. Art and Cake. December 13, 2018.^[41]

• https://www.studiosandyrodriguez.com