Longtime Atlanta painter Rocio Rodriguez takes an admirable change of tack in her latest solo show at Sandler Hudson Gallery by focusing on drawing.
For "Purge," the artist has traded in her usual paintings for mostly smaller-scale drawings and a large wall installation. The show itself yields very mixed results. But "Purge" does impress for its indication that Rodriguez, even as one of the city's most successful artists, continues to take risks.
Rodriguez's drawings balance mania and control in equal parts and are more pared back and restrained than much of her previous work. A suite of pastel and charcoal on paper drawings are defined by bundled, manic explosions of energy in a confined space amidst an expanse of white paper. Energy and calm coalesce in works such as "July 18, 2011." That work suggests — as do many of these pieces — a city skyline under siege. It was hard for me not to think of Sept. 11 while observing Rodriguez's juxtaposition of one tall gray edifice whose summit has been scratched out with furious black marks, a flamelike column erupting beside it. A short distance away is another darker gray structure — calm and placid despite the frenzy next door.
But representation may be more in the eye of the beholder than part of the artist's intent.
Rodriguez's artist statement points to "Purge" as a self-referential exploration of painting. "Offering up an image that comments on painting and at the same time creates a painting" is her intent, says the artist in a statement about the exhibition. In other words, one is aware looking at all of "Purge" of the artist's hand at work: the way pressure or a light touch can yield different results; the movement of her drawing tool as it works over the paper's surface; and the flexibility of charcoal and pastel to be ethereal or solid, depending upon how they are used. Many of the drawings seem to take the gallery itself as their subject matter. Several, such as "May 15, 2012," feature a pedestal-type structure of the kind you would see supporting a sculpture. And atop those pedestals: frantic, animated, brightly colored objects that seem to stand as symbols of the act of creation.
The drawings are tidy, engaging bursts of color and calm, and like Rodriguez's paintings, they offer much to ponder. They don't offer the wow factor of her paintings, but you can see why that might signal a refreshing change of pace for the artist.
Less successful is Rodriguez's installation work "Purge," which magnifies but does not necessarily expand upon the more engaging drawings. The installation consumes one large wall and a smaller satellite wall onto which Rodriguez has drawn various structures: stacked squares, columns and haystack piles in charcoal, graphite, acrylic and spray paint. The work offers a cacophony of visual tones — rich blacks and sooty graphites, ghostly whites surrounded by auras of smeared gray clouds. It is a memorial to mark-making. The work illustrates the power of an artist to transform with the tools at her disposal. If only the result were as promising as that interesting proposition.
The Bottom Line: A respected Atlanta painter focuses her latest solo show on varyingly successful drawings.
Art review
"Rocio Rodriguez: Purge"
Through Sept. 8. 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Tuesdays-Fridays; noon-5 p.m. Saturdays. Free. Sandler Hudson Gallery, 1009-A Marietta St. N.W., Atlanta. 404-817-3300, www.sandlerhudson.com.
