GAVLAK is proud to present Back on the Inside, the gallery’s first solo presentation of the work of Brooklyn-based artist José de Jesus Rodriguez. Four new paintings (all 2021) demonstrate Rodriguez’s facility in styles ranging from abbreviated line drawing to mimetic realism. The coexistence of these distinct approaches within the same picture plane serves as a reminder that all images, no matter how simple or sophisticated, compel belief. By incorporating a range of images that have become shorthand for Chicanx experience in American visual culture, the artist underscores how the repetition of these symbols coalesces into ideology. With every stylistic shift Rodriguez demands the viewer reconsider the effects familiar iconography produces.
