ExhibitionSeptember 25, 2023
Ofelia Rodríguez: Talking in Dreams. Spike Island
Spike Island presents Talking in Dreams, a major monographic exhibition by Colombian artist Ofelia Rodríguez (1946–2023). The exhibition brings together a selection of over fifty paintings, drawings, prints, and sculptures made over the past five decades.
Influenced by memories of her native Barranquilla on Colombia's Caribbean coast, Rodríguez combines found objects and images rich in symbolism to construct humorous yet critical works that examine cultural identity and gender stereotypes.
She developed highly personal work inspired by her childhood memories and populated by tropical motifs. Describing Colombia's influence on her work, Rodríguez mentioned: 'There is that sense of unreality… a feeling of being on the edge of the world, at its margin… a feeling of floating, of being suspended in mid-air – a dreamlike state – which is inevitably in my work.'
An avid collector of objects she found in street markets in Colombia and Mexico, Rodríguez incorporated all kinds of findings into her work, from carved, painted, and molded masks to devotional images, horns, and plastic toys. Sometimes, she would place an object on the canvas and paint or spray around it. In the late 1970s, after moving to Paris, Rodríguez began to arrange these objects in what she called 'Magic Boxes': small wooden boxes with doors that she painted with brilliant colors and then placed objects inside, like a relic or a fetish. By combining seemingly disconnected things, Rodríguez would create striking and often surreal compositions.
Rodríguez's appropriation of mass-produced objects, readymade materials, and sentimental mementos explores the crossovers between the exotic and the popular, casting an analytical eye on her background. In this exhibition, Rodríguez's idiosyncratic visual vocabulary builds a strong characterization of her Latin American roots, exploiting the clichés that have defined her native Barranquilla: the sensual colors, tropical motifs, and the many myths and legends that populate the Caribbean coast of Colombia.
Influenced by memories of her native Barranquilla on Colombia's Caribbean coast, Rodríguez combines found objects and images rich in symbolism to construct humorous yet critical works that examine cultural identity and gender stereotypes.
She developed highly personal work inspired by her childhood memories and populated by tropical motifs. Describing Colombia's influence on her work, Rodríguez mentioned: 'There is that sense of unreality… a feeling of being on the edge of the world, at its margin… a feeling of floating, of being suspended in mid-air – a dreamlike state – which is inevitably in my work.'
An avid collector of objects she found in street markets in Colombia and Mexico, Rodríguez incorporated all kinds of findings into her work, from carved, painted, and molded masks to devotional images, horns, and plastic toys. Sometimes, she would place an object on the canvas and paint or spray around it. In the late 1970s, after moving to Paris, Rodríguez began to arrange these objects in what she called 'Magic Boxes': small wooden boxes with doors that she painted with brilliant colors and then placed objects inside, like a relic or a fetish. By combining seemingly disconnected things, Rodríguez would create striking and often surreal compositions.
Rodríguez's appropriation of mass-produced objects, readymade materials, and sentimental mementos explores the crossovers between the exotic and the popular, casting an analytical eye on her background. In this exhibition, Rodríguez's idiosyncratic visual vocabulary builds a strong characterization of her Latin American roots, exploiting the clichés that have defined her native Barranquilla: the sensual colors, tropical motifs, and the many myths and legends that populate the Caribbean coast of Colombia.
