Lucía Rodríguez Pérez
Lucía Rodríguez Pérez paints dreamlike spaces where organic elements, architectural features, and rich colors bend the distinction between the believable and the unrealistic.
Where are you from and where do you reside?
I am from Santiago, Chile. I currently live and work in Brooklyn, NY. I have been living in the US for 10 years (between NYC and Denver, Colorado).
What necessities do you require when making your art (radio, specific paintbrushes, etc.)?
When working I need a good amount of time to focus, and prefer to have music or tv shows on in the background that help me concentrate. I particularly like history podcasts, documentaries or silly tv shows.
Describe a typical day in the studio for you.
I usually arrive early in the morning and prepare a cup of coffee or chai tea. I play some music and slowly get in tune with the space. If it is Monday, I draw a card for the week from my Oracle deck for the next seven days. I make sure things are organized enough and I take some time to get in the mood to paint. I answer some emails, or take care of some administrative stuff before deciding if I will paint or draw. I usually have multiple pieces in progress at the time so I can pick what to work on depending on mood or need.
What is the most difficult part of the artistic process for you?
Right now, the most difficult part is deciding what to work on. I have so many ideas and possibilities but time and means are limited so I have to decide what to commit to and sometimes that is hard. I wish I could work faster, but the work takes the time it takes. Sometimes it haunts me - the idea that I am sacrificing some ideas when I prioritize others.
Are there any aspects of your process that are left to chance?
I have learned that chance is very important for my process. It may sound strange because I am very organized and plan ahead when making my pieces: I do multiple sketches and color studies before going into the final piece. But many times all these previous steps act as a sort of compass to get me going in a certain direction and when working on the actual piece some things happen and the plans change. Usually, it is for the best. Every time I try to resist it, I regret it. The work tells me what it needs from me and it is important to listen.
How do you choose your materials?
When choosing materials I am very aware of the way they will materialize my idea. I like working with a variety of mediums as all their differences make me think differently about the dreamspaces I create. They act like different lenses, almost like dreams with different flavors.
My main medium is oil paint because oil paint has a very specific way of carrying color. When using oil paint, it is like working with ground up jewels, and the sense of vibrancy and depth that allows is unmatched by any other paint. It is the perfect material to create the nuanced transitions I love, and to transform the canvas into a field.
When I work with graphite, I can completely focus on the relationship between light and shadow without including hue. This allows me again to understand value better, and I think the final pieces come up with an aura of mystery that is very particular to the medium. I really enjoy that.
Finally, with gouache, I am focused on exploring ideas in a quicker way, and gouache, as it dries quickly, works perfectly. I also love the finish of gouache - the matte quality is perfect to create flat even surfaces and to think about the work in abstract ways.
I sometimes work with other mediums such as fabric, video, wood and thread. I love doing this because it always informs my painting and helps me understand that my interests are not limited to medium, but to a feeling, an understanding of the experience of art.
I like the idea of painting as a veil, a filter between us and something else. I find myself constantly presenting something to the viewers, attracting them, but also hiding, covering the surface. I also have been very interested in the tension between structure and chaos, through the use of ornate architectural structures and natural elements such as leaves.
Lucía Rodríguez Pérez
How has your work developed in the past few years, and how do you see it evolving in the future?
My work has grown a lot in the past three years. I have been able to focus on developing my own visual language in the work. I have been focused on painting different elements that interest me from a conceptual standpoint as much as a formal standpoint: fences, water, leaves, arches, columns, patterns. I have focused on working on all of these individually and this year I have been able to start combining them into more complex pieces. I am very excited for where this will take me, as I feel that I am at the point where I have finally been able to create the work that I have envisioned for years.
When did you begin your current practice?
I have been really focused since 2020. That year I really started prioritizing my studio practice and I set the goal to develop work that allowed me to make my work. What I mean by this is that I started thinking about my practice as the development of a visual language. In a way, every painting or drawing was a step to understand something formally (color, substance, light) and conceptually (what does a fence represent? What do patterns do to our sense of perception?). This way, each piece was like a “word” and by combining many of those elements in my current paintings I am able to create “sentences”. This has been my way to create a world through my paintings, a world that grows and evolves.
What tangible objects or intangible moments are you most interested in representing through your works?
I am interested in creating an experience of a sort of suspended time. I like thinking about my work in relationship to dreams insofar they share a sense of disjointment, believability, warped sense of time and mystery. I think these are all qualities of ambiguity, which I am very interested in. We live in a world where everything is heavily language base, and words separate, define, point at things. This can be very useful, but also strict. I am interested in those experiences and moments that go beyond language, the ambiguous and unnameable. I like staying in these as it can be an uncomfortable but also beautiful and exciting space.
What themes or motifs are you consistently drawn to?
I am always looking to infuse a sense of mystery in my work. I like the idea of painting as a veil, a filter between us and something else. I find myself constantly presenting something to the viewers, attracting them, but also hiding, covering the surface. I find this ambivalence very attractive, enticing. I also have been very interested in the tension between structure and chaos, through the use of ornate architectural structures and natural elements such as leaves. Over the years I have been going back over and over again to the inclusion of leaves as I think they are the perfect element between abstraction and representation. I love how they can live in this space in between, being just shapes that reflect light and cast shadow as well as evoke an organic growing presence. I think I still have to keep learning from them.
Where do you find your day-to-day inspiration?
I constantly find inspiration around me. As I walk on the street I find patterns, plants or color palettes I like holding on to through pictures. I have a folder full of those that I go back to when sketching and coming up with ideas. I also look at a lot of art, in museums, galleries or online, and those pieces also serve as inspiration. Architecture and ornaments are a never ending source of inspiration and I like looking back into history to find new possibilities.
Are you influenced by any author or non-visual artist?
I am constantly feeling drawn to new things that nourish my practice. Lately, I have been reading about beauty and have felt very inspired by books such as Divine Beauty: The Invisible Embrace (John O'Donohue), and On Beauty and Being Just (Elaine Scarry). I am interested in the role that Beauty can have in society and its relationship to spirituality. I also loved the book The Language of Ornament (James Trilling), which heavily helped me to understand the role that ornament has in my own work. I am also a huge fan of John Berger, I love the way he thinks about painting, art and perception.
Another very important source of inspiration is film. I love movies like The Fall (2006, Tarsem Singh), Last Year at Marienbad (1961, Alain Resnais) and The Fountain (2006, Darren Aronofsky). They all have in common a disjointed sense or narrative, and a powerful sense of atmosphere.
Some artists that inspire me constantly are Ellsworth Kelly, James Turrell, Rachel Ruysch, Inka Essenhigh, Bronzino and Fragonard.
I like working with a variety of mediums as all their differences make me think differently about the dreamspaces I create. They act like different lenses, almost like dreams with different flavors.
Lucía Rodríguez Pérez
Are you formally trained? Did you go to art school? Who did you train with / Did you have a mentor?
In Chile, I got a BFA. The focus on my University was very theoretical - very focused on thinking about visual communication and understanding what art can do. We read a lot and discussed a lot. It was a very useful as this way I learned that visual art is visual communication, it can be its own language and we live in a time where there are almost infinite ways to approach this language. As my interest always went back to painting, it helped me to understand what painting is and what it can do. At the same time, I did not receive very advanced technical training. That is the reason why I moved to NYC in 2014, to get my MFA at the New York Academy of Art where I received a very intense and specialized training in drawing and painting. That experience was the perfect complement to my previous education.
As far as professors, back in Chile, Eduardo Vilches was the first person to show me an approach to color as a language and had a great impact on me. Once I was in NYC, I went deeper into the understanding of color in painting by learning from Dik Liu who is an amazing painter and professor. Another great influence was Patrick Connor, who taught me to think about painting as light. And finally Michelle Fenniak helped me to question my decisions as an artist and gave me great guidance while learning what drawing is about. She taught me to think differently.
Do you remember the first work of art that captured your attention?
When I started learning about art history I remember feeling very drawn to Jackson Pollock’s paintings and at that point I did not understand why. I think that it was very important to me to hold on to that attraction, as in time it helped me to understand that my interest for representation had its roots in an interest for abstraction. His sense of all-over composition and rhythm influence me to this day.
Do you admire or draw inspiration from any of your peers who are also working now? Have you ever collaborated, or would you?
I do, I love seeing what other artists are doing and I really enjoy whenever I can do a studio visit with them. I love Chason Matthams work, his sense of color and light are very unique. It is always a pleasure to see his paintings in person. I also love the work of Manuela Caicedo, I went to a residency with her and learned a lot about her sense of freedom when approaching art making.
But I think my biggest influence has been my partner Árón Ó Maolagáin, my husband and fellow artist, who I share a studio with. We have spent many many hours discussing our work together and talking about art. I really respect his opinion and he has helped me to understand my art practice and push myself further and further. Whenever I am working and need feedback he is the first person I go to. Years ago, we collaborated in a show we created for a gallery space we used to run together in Denver. That was the first time I allowed myself to work with other materials besides painting and that collaboration had a huge impact on my own work. I love collaborating and I hope I have the chance to do it again with other people in the future.
Is there any artwork on display in your home/studio? Whose is it?
I do have a small art collection at home that includes pieces from Sarah Schlesinger, Heather V McLeod, Adrian Gouet and Macarena Espinoza.
Is there something people would be surprised to learn about you?
I don’t know if people would be surprised, but I am a huge Sailor Moon fan. As a preteen I was obsessed with it, and I spent almost three years just drawing Sailor Moon, rewatching all the seasons and reading the manga. I think this obsession really informed my sensibility as an artist and I see a lot of connections between the show and my current practice. I sometimes go back to look at images (especially background paintings for the show) to draw inspiration, I love the mood they convey.
What’s next for you?
I just came back from a residency in the West of Ireland and a trip to Paris that fueled me with a lot of new ideas. I am looking forward to investing my time in the studio for the rest of the year so I can pour all that inspiration into new pieces.
Published October 30, 2024.
