Lordy Rodriguez: 201 Drawings

In this exhibition of 201 drawings, each 10 x 14 inches, Lordy Rodriguez chronicles the visual alphabet of topography-based forms that has comprised his work of the last 15 years.

The vocabulary of cartography forms the basis of Rodriguez’s work. As his drawings have evolved, the works have become more abstract, but the relationship to maps is still apparent. Text has vanished, but topographical notations are recognizable through familiar coded lines and gradations of color. Mountainous terrain, fissures, lakes, rivers, and islands are identifiable. But in these new geologic microcosms, the familiar topographical forms begin to take on a supernatural life of their own. Colors are fluorescent and counterintuitive; shapes reminiscent of landscape morph into abstract patterns. References to microbiology, animation, Op Art, and textile design abound.

The act of charting the Earth and our universe has been an integral part of our evolution as a species. We attribute great power to the map; it is our key to understanding our place in the world. Without one, we are lost, literally and psychologically. Rodriguez delights in deconstructing the utility and function of maps, turning the coded language of cartography into a diagram of displacement.

Lordy Rodriguez’s work was included in the 2006 California Biennial (Orange County Museum of Art), and he receives his MFA from Stanford in May 2008.