Lucha Rodríguez: Proximity Spectacle
November 3, 2023 - November 26, 2023

All artwork available to view/purchase here.

Paradigm Gallery + Studio is pleased to present Proximity Spectacle, a solo show of “knife drawings” by Atlanta-based Venezuelan-Panamanian artist Lucha Rodríguez. Proximity Spectacle is a continuation of Rodríguez’s signature works on paper featuring her bas-relief technique. Thousands of superficial cuts on the paper’s surface create movement and texture as they interact with light. These patterns become a mesmerizing labyrinth that the artist uses as a purposeful distraction to ground herself amidst daily information overload. The collection will feature three series of labyrinths: corners, levels, pathways, and organic forms, that invite illusion, intimacy, and internal introspection. Rodríguez applies her mastery of knife skills that she has harbored for a lifetime, creating a delicate environment of reflection held together by the essence of craft. Proximity Spectacle will be on view on the 2nd floor of the Paradigm Arts Building (12 N. 3rd Street) from November 3 through November 26, 2023, with a public opening reception on Friday, November 3 from 6:00-8:00 pm. 

Present in all of her work, Rodríguez uses the color pink to marry the anatomical to the psychological, comparing the trajectory of her internal thought process to the journey of information inside the twists of the ear canal. Her creative process is influenced by her background in hypnotherapy, centered around a routine of mindfulness, meditation, and taking inventory of instinctive motion using a concentration tool. Rodríguez holds clay in her hand and begins to carve informed movements to drown out the influence of outside stimulation. She escapes the complexity of identity politics, of trying to hold pride in self-expression without being boxed by race or gender, but into the labyrinth of self-indulgence: the urge to hide from the world’s perceptions. She develops her designs until eventually transferring them to paper, rendering shapes from directional cutting. Rodríguez explains, “I kept coming back to the sensation of getting lost. My mind needed distraction and to do something with my hands, adding new perspectives to the same shapes. It’s like a flow, I never know where the work is going to take me.”

Rodríguez’s explorations steer into the realm of magical realism, allowing the fluidity of the work to lead her to enigmatic, abstract ideas. Rodríguez chose to use a metallic finish on paper, inspired by the concept of Fool’s Gold. As light hits the manipulated paper, illusions of color, depth, and pattern create a fantastical spectacle of pathways, levels, and rooms. While the eye is attracted to the gleaming nature of the labyrinth, it becomes lost in the experience of finding new perspectives of the same subject.

Rodríguez’s aptitude for translating subconscious emotion into knife drawings adds to the notion of craft being a way of working when creating fine art. Her skill cannot be replicated through simple imitation, as it is supported by Rodríguez’s family traditions, dexterity, background, patience, and appreciation of light.

EXHIBITION HOURS
Thursdays • 10 AM – 6 PM
Fridays • 10 AM – 6 PM
Saturdays • 11 AM – 6 PM
Sundays • 11 AM – 5 PM
And 7 days a week by appointment.

LOCATION
12 N. 3rd Street
Philadelphia, PA 19106

MEDIA CONTACT
For all inquiries contact info@paradigm-gallery.com

SOCIAL MEDIA
Instagram: @ParadigmGS
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Facebook: facebook.com/paradigmgallery

About Lucha Rodríguez
Lucha Rodríguez is a Venezuelan-Panamanian artist based in Atlanta, GA. She received her M.F.A. from Savannah College of Art and Design (Atlanta, GA) and her B.F.A. from The Art Institute of Atlanta (Atlanta, GA). During her career, she has been featured in group and solo exhibitions in the U.S. and internationally in India, Mexico, China, and France. Rodríguez’s work has been exhibited most recently at The National Museum of Women in the Arts (Washington, D.C.), The Museum of Contemporary Art Georgia (Atlanta, GA), Union College Feigenbaum Center for Visual Arts Crowell and West Galleries (Schenectady, NY), Ortega y Gasset Projects (Brooklyn, NY), Telfair Museum (Savannah, GA), and the University of Central Florida (Orlando, Florida). Her work has been featured in Albany Times Union, The Hong Kong Standard, The Nashville Scene, and The Atlanta-Journal Constitution, among others.

Rodríguez has been an artist-in-residence at Wassaic Project (Wassaic, NY), Vermont Studio Center (Johnson, VT), MASS MoCA (North Adams, MA), Hambidge Center for the Creative Arts and Sciences (Rabun Gap, GA) and ChaNorth (Pine Plains, NY). Rodríguez is a 2016 Fulton County Arts and Culture Artist Grant recipient and the 2010 Forward Arts Foundation Edge Award Awardee. In the academic field, Rodríguez has been invited as a visiting artist and guest lecturer at Kennesaw State University, UGA Lamar Dodd School of Art, Emory University as well as a guest lecturer at The Savannah College of Art and Design Lacoste, Hong Kong and Savannah campuses. More recently in 2020 Rodríguez lectured at Union College in Schenectady, NY.

About Paradigm Gallery + Studio
Paradigm Gallery + Studio® was established in 2010 by co-founders and curators, Jason Chen and Sara McCorriston. The gallery exhibits meaningful, process-intense contemporary artwork by emerging and mid-career artists from around the world. In 2022, Paradigm announced the opening of its new 5-story, 7,000 sq. ft. home, The Paradigm Arts Building, in Old City, Philadelphia. Now open to the public, the building boasts multiple floors of exhibition space, integrated in-house design and printmaking, a dedicated events floor, and art advisory offices. With this, Chen and McCorriston expanded their vision for the greater Philadelphia arts community. The gallery is at the heart of this vision, anchoring Paradigm’s overall mission of increasing access to the commercial art world, supporting artists and advancing their careers, and collaborating with like-minded partners to build a more equitable, sustainable arts economy for all.