Artemio Rodríguez
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Artemio Rodríguez was born in Tacámbaro, Michoacán, Mexico in 1972. He began by studying agronomy at the Universidad Autónoma Chapingo and was later introduced to art when he apprenticed and learned
letterpress printing from Juan Pascoe, at the nearby Taller Martín Pescador.
In 2002 he founded La Mano Press in Los Angeles, California. La Mano Press is an
artist-run center dedicated to the promotion and appreciation of printmaking.
After living in Los Angeles for many years, Rodríguez relocated back to Mexico, and is now residing again in Tacámbaro, Michoacán, where he continues to collaborate with the Taller Martín Pescador. The fortuitous collaboration of word and graven image has resulted
in some interesting and attractive books: Las fábulas de Esopo, 1996; Los signos del zodiaco, Francisco Hernández, 1997; Tacámbaro, José Rubén Romero, 2009; Honores a José María Idiáquez, 2010; Escarmiento y desengaño de insurgentes, Ramón Casaus y Torres, 2010; and now Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. Future projects are in the works. In addition to books they have made a goodly
number of posters, as well as many cards and invitations and other ephemera.
Primarily a printmaker, Rodríguez has departed at times from paper to apply his imagery on vintage delivery trucks and skateboards. As a printmaker who works primarily in black and white, Rodríguez’s signature style emphasizes simplicity and clarity. European medieval woodcuts
and the great Mexican print artists such as José Guadalupe Posada have been influential in Rodríguez’s printmaking career. His larger goal is to keep exploring and promoting printmaking until he feels he
has contributed something important to the medium. He fully expects this to
take a lifetime.
In form, his work pays tribute to the Mexican master, José Guadalupe Posada. Like Posada’s woodcuts, Rodríguez’s prints are aggressive and provocative. Both artists excel at pushing the craft
of printmaking to its limits. These are not artists that use the print as a
secondary form of expression, but rather they use the technique as their
primary medium. Rodríguez’s work has been featured in galleries in the United States, Japan, Puerto Rico
and Mexico. His work is in the collections of the following museums: San Diego
Museum of Art, Hammer Museum, Phoenix Art Museum, Boise Art Museum, Los Angeles
County Museum of Art, and others. In 2010 The Book Club of Texas published
The Defeat of Grandfather Devil, featuring his illustrations. He has also illustrated and published several
other books and portfolios, which can be seen at the Davidson Galleries web site or at his own website: artemiorodriguez.net
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Artemio Rodríguez
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