Irvin Rodriguez’s Contemporary Baroque Figures
![Irvin Rodriguez | A Clean Slate, Ode to Private Gordon 1863 | Oil on Linen | 32 x 24 inches or 81 ¼ x 61 cm](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/52508ca0e4b078f5507265fc/1478424166159-08UD5DO8S0BQPW7AFX6U/ke17ZwdGBToddI8pDm48kN--Gqn-zIqKBJABzOhWf_EUqsxRUqqbr1mOJYKfIPR7LoDQ9mXPOjoJoqy81S2I8PaoYXhp6HxIwZIk7-Mi3Tsic-L2IOPH3Dwrhl-Ne3Z2f3ml5649xZbNpQa0JmGfGr-1s7zT71xSeDuAMnRxTuw_twk1mUNduAk0T15_nZ7z/image-asset.jpeg)
Irvin Rodriguez paints and draws the human figure, successfully combining a traditional realist approach akin to Spanish Baroque on his figures with a more contemporary looseness towards abstraction on the background settings. His method and process serve as a vehicle to explore the figure, nature, art history, race, and identity.
Born and raised in the Bronx, New York, Rodriguez is a first-generation bilingual American from Dominican descent. Growing up in the inner city—a cement jungle of concrete buildings, stone facades, and fire escapes—Rodriguez recalls a bleak and oppressive sense of low expectations. Art became his escape; it gave him a sense of purpose, carried him through life and drove him to study fine art.