Using his background as an urban street artist as a starting point, Matthew Rodriguez
has expanded his range of media to incorporate collages of found
materials, paintings, and staged photographs. Each work straddles the
fence between the sweetness of a grade-schooler's homemade valentine
and the diary doodles of the playground bully between shakedowns. The
characters populating Rodriguez's narratives are executed with
child-like innocence and reference products that recall the familiarity
and security of childhood. The nostalgic sensibilities of the artist,
combined with an innate sense of humor, soften the aggressive stances
of his "monster-like" creations. His knack for ironically turning the
most innocent subjects (e.g., candy corn, rainbows, Christmas trees)
into ghoulish creatures renders them more endearing than dangerous.

With his "monsters," Rodriguez succinctly encapsulates urban
anxieties yet makes ridiculous viewers' fears of dark and dangerous
downtown alleys. While such alleys, by-ways and vacant lots may be
considered non-places (perhaps even sites of potential danger) by some,
these overlooked pockets of blighted urban landscape are playgrounds
for Rodriguez, who brings them to life through his staged photographs.
As critics Rachel Koper and Kristin Unger have observed, Rodriguez is
"open to city life as it really is," or as it is actually lived. He
draws out and celebrates the character of overlooked spaces, asking
viewers to recognize the potential in the world around them. According
to the artist: "my character-land-art puppets are being made to bring
attention to the natural environment that's on its way out if things
don't change . . . [to give] a face to the environment to explain that
it's also a living being."

Rodriguez has exhibited with Barry Mcgee, Chris Johanson,
Travis Millard, Shepard Fairey, Swoon and many others. His street
posters can be seen pasted up around New York, Portland, Baghdad, and
Austin. This is his first solo show at RARE.