Ana Rodriguez – Abominable Gift Baskets
Nano Rubio – Fast & Hard
October 8 – November 5, 2016
(Los Angeles) – Launch LA is proud to present a two-person show of new work by Ana Rodriguez and Nano Rubio. Opening Saturday, October 8th, the show combines abstract works from two artists who work magic with paint, color, and composition.
Ana Rodriguez brings a selection of untitled paintings grouped together under the title “Abominable Gift Baskets”. Vivid colors and playful composition evoke magical adventures of imagination. Confectionery, yet unsavory, Rodriguez fills her work with the nostalgia of hometowns that lay next to the toxic landscape of America's chemical industrial complex.
Nano Rubio's new work is a visual reference to hard edge painting, derived from action painting. Titled “Hard and Fast”, Rubio uses rigid, straight lines against labored, masked areas of color, activity signaling the human condition and sexuality. Intense and painterly, Rubio's work speaks to individuality submerged by the technological revolution.
“Both artists are informed by their middle class upbringing as well as their willingness to use a new language of rich, complex abstraction to continue to tell their stories through a dedicated art practice and teaching careers in their home towns," says James Panozzo, Executive Director of Launch LA.
Ana Rodriguez grew up in the small community of Maywood, California, which is adjacent to the industrial cities of Commerce and Vernon and their numerous chemical plants, refineries, public waste areas and foundries. Rodriguez recalls being highly aware of the contrast between the putrid, foul smell of dead animals from the meat packaging factories like Farmer John and the sweet scents from bakeries (Sara Lee) and cake shops from her city. Rodriguez combines patterns that range from kitchen cabinet liners, linoleum flooring, wallpaper, and fabric from her toys and clothes as a child. The mix of sources is reflected in Rodriguez's paintings which combine brightly colored gesture/cake-like batter against the decorative and the play between smells is something that the Artist is really intrigued by.
Ana Rodriguez earned a BFA from California State University, Long Beach (2007) and an MFA from Otis College of Art and Design (2009).
Nano Rubio received his MFA from Claremont Graduate Shool in 2011.
He was the recipient of a GSU Graduate Fellowship and a Joan Mitchell Foundation MFA Grant Nominee. In 2012 he received a Moore Family Foundation Grant for his innovative practice and distinctive visual style. His art has since been shown in prominent galleries from Los Angeles to New York in solo and group shows, as well as appearing well-known art publications like Fabrik magazine