Tony Rodrigues Video Moment with CrushedBlack!
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Tony Rodrigues is true Jville in the best of all possible worlds. Quirky, sophisticated, nuanced and laid back. Tony has been collected by some of the most discerning art patrons in the region. Yet he consistently proves his accessibility and underscores Jville bizarre Art/Nightclub connection by showing in spaces traditionally set aside for nightlife. Keagan Anfuso of Crushed Black continues her videographic documentation of Jacksonville's real creative community in her newest update from Tony's show at Rain Dogs. Join us after the jump for some uniquely jville madness!
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http://www.metrojacksonville.com/article/2013-aug-tony-rodrigues-video-moment-with-crushedblack
Photography (is said to have) killed painting, only to have painting resurrect into something truer to itself, rather than being merely a way to create an illusion to another time and place.
Later, screen printing squares itself against painting. Screen printing not only carries an illusion well, but does it in multiples. You can make all the Marilyns you want, or at least until you're eyes are sick of it (and they will be). Has painting responded to that challenge? Sometimes by surrendering to it, sometimes by competing, rarely winning....
Finally, computer graphics/animation throws down their Mac-challenge. All the capabilities of the previous, plus movement (both in terms of animation and sharing and flux of design).
Tony's work skims a little from all of the above, but never really gets into the blood of any of it. There is style, but it's the weightless; the narrative is less poetry and more brand.
I am not speaking to about his past body of work. Only that recent show, and work with M. Howard. I do compare the past and present work, but only in reference to what the recent work is missing.
The past paintings, many on the link, have a honest clumsiness to them. He's painting from photo references, but the outcome looks more like the memory of the references, rather than any labored rendering challenge. There is a quality of life in the line and value of the drawing. At times is searching, not quite sure how far to make the form, other times its direct and concrete (very modern). They work as paintings (single pieces hung alone on the wall) because their surfaces complement the ideas they are commenting on. They have a balance between idea and execution that works.
The added screen printing make for a cleaner, more assured image, but far less poetry. The cleanliness of the execution and conservative choice in size takes away from it. They work as pages to a greater whole, but as single pieces, they lose weight. I see that body of work as having worked through "how" to screen print, but not "why".
I do not... I haven't seen too much of that show that I can link to.