BIO
Artist Jessenya Rodriguez was born and raised in Miami, where she now has a multidisciplinary practice. Representational and naturalistic drawing and painting served as a point of departure toward investigations of issues related to identity, gender, politics, and the status quo.
Her aesthetic shift came about through an exploration of the spiritual through the use of form, color, and composition. Jessenya’s work is reaching for a visual language that transcends boundaries of perceived reality into that of the sublime.
Artist Statement
My previous aesthetic was representational and naturalistic; inclined toward the use of signs and symbols. Over several years, my work grew toward the abstract and non-objective. Inspiration for this transformation came from the need to free my artistic expression and find a suitable and outward form that aligned with my inner need.
I investigate color and form, creating a visual language to engage the viewer on a higher conscious level. The work is aimed at catalyzing forms with variations of lines and shapes that work in harmony with the movement of color and, by working in a larger-than-life scale, elevate the experience into the realm of the sublime. In freeing form and color I aim to illustrate a vision whose language is connected to the ineffable; that which is incomprehensible to the mind through reason, but which is experienced as the fusion of divine manifestation in the natural world. This requires an altered state of perception, one primarily experienced through emotion, which defies thought and language but remains undefinable, indeterminate, and indefinite.
In challenging the materiality of painting, I use installation as a central component to enhance the experience. I want to challenge the way a painting is typically viewed, opening a pathway of interaction that pushes the boundaries of painting interpretation itself. As painting takes on dimensionality within different spatial planes, my inquiry is aims to connect materiality with the spiritual.
The title for my ongoing project is On the Dialogue of the Spiritual. Through my work, I invite the viewer’s perception to move into a stream of higher consciousness.
CV
Education
2024 | Florida International University, MFA candidate
2022-2023| Miami International University of Art & Design, MFA candidate
2016-2020 | Florida International University, BA in Art, minored in Art History
2006-2014 | Miami Dade College, AA in Art, Graduated Honors
Exhibitions
Sep 2023
Nine-Person Exhibition
Womxn in Flux, Miami Art Society, Miami, FL (performances curated by Tere Garcia)
Languages
English | Native language
Spanish | Native language