Paula Rivas Rodriguez
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Paula R Rodriguez (1989, Mexico City) is a Mexican artist based in London whose painting practice combines creative explorations of her native Mexico with social concerns. She weaves narratives that explore the subject matter of mental health, often specifically as it relates to her cultural background.
Rodriguez’s paintings capture the beauty and magic of Mexico and Latin America while exploring issues of identity. Seeking to portray fragments of the essence of communities and places, Rodriguez is fascinated by the way spaces acquire an identity of their own through the passage of time, and through the meaning given to them by the people who inhabit and animate them. She uses shape, colour, and form to evoke the magic realism of her cultural background and the richness of its native traditions.
Being Latin American is integral to Rodriguez's identity and is a key part of her work; intersections between memory and place as sites of personal and collective belonging are central subjects. She is especially interested in the magical realism it evokes and aims to portray this whilst transporting people to imaginary places rooted in her own recollections, often evoking a pleasant feeling of solitude.
The poetic realism of Rodriguez’s work conveyed through striking color combinations, and hard-edge abstractions, and her images which are populated by lone figures, transport us to an imaginary world of understated beauty and stillness.
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Bio
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Paula Rodriguez (1989, Mexico city) is a Mexican artist based in London, UK whose painting practice combines creative explorations of her native Mexico with social concerns. Rodriguez’ practice and her community-based work are founded in the belief that art can be a vehicle for recovery and provide a safe space for people who experience mental illness. She received her Bsc Molecular Biology from The University of Exeter (2012) before returning to her first love, art, and receiving an MA Illustration from University of the Arts London, Camberwell College of Arts (2017). She is featured in several publications; Inverosimil Magazine (2021) Winsor and Newton “Featured Artist” (2021) La Vaquera, Universidad de Colima (2018), Juanjo Pregunton, Puerta Abierta Editoriales (2018). Rivas’ exhibitions include solo shows; Bienvenidos al Mictlan, Mexican Embassy in London (2022), Spaces Within, Oxo Tower London, (2021), Memorias de mi Tierra, Falling Piano Brewery, Mexico City, (2021) and El Colima de Gregorio Torres Quintero, Archivo Histórico del Municipio de Colima, (2019), as well as the group shows; May we know them, Lewisham Arthouse London (2022), Adidas International Women's day, 425 Oxford Street (2022), Space Jam, 14 Bedford Square, London (2022), Dear Brockley, Lewisham Arthouse London (2021), Sounds of the City, The London Transport Museum (2017). She was also selected as the Artist in residence for Cluster London, Cluster Illustration Residency Program (2021). She has also facilitated a number of participatory creative projects with communities with lived experiences of mental health at Arts Network London (2017-2021)