Audrey Rodriguez, born in 1990 in Texas, USA, is currently in residence as a recipient of the New York Academy of Art Chubb Fellowship. She completed her master’s degree at the New York Academy of Art in 2022. Her debut solo, Tastes of Home, will be on display from June 16th to July 28th at McLennon Pen Co. Gallery in Austin, TX. Rodriguez’s painting titled Corona Plaza is currently on display at the Museum of the City of New York until September 17, 2023, in the exhibition Food in New York: Bigger Than the Plate. In recent years, her work has been exhibited at art institutions such as the John F. Peto Museum in the Peto Biennial and at the Brownsville Museum of Fine Art in the 47th International Art Show.

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People are behind everything we consume. My work started from an antojo, a craving. This was an antojo for a familiar warmth—a familial warmth. I was satiated by street vendors and the food they sell. This craving turned into a hunger– a hunger to delve deeper into the journey of food as it relates to culture, identity, connection, and the socioeconomic divide in this country.

My paintings feature New York City street vendor scenes and constructed transient spaces. These constructed scenes are still-lifes that are referenced from my sculptures where the objects are stand-ins for people. I am drawn to still life painting because I feel as though objects inherently hold essences of humanity. Originally, I built maquettes as visual tools, but throughout the process of making them I was led down a new path. I became fascinated with the journey of a mango from Mexico to New York and it made me think about how not only is this a metaphor for migration, but a result itself of human migration. As populations change, so too does the demand for certain foods and products. I’d been very focused on the present and everyday life, but thinking about these concepts sent me searching through the past. Through this research the Banana Republics have captured my interest. I learned about the United Fruit Company, known as El Pulpo, “the octopus.” By the mid 1950s, United Fruit was the largest landowner and employer in Central America, and had its tentacles in everything. They’re now known as Chiquita. “El Pulpo Vive”– the octopus lives, because even if United Fruit has evolved, the damage has been done. El Pulpo has taken new forms. I find myself traveling back and forth between past and present–painting and sculpture, and hopefully along the way I can find some resolve for the future.

One should learn from the past, but bear in mind the types of thinking we’ve unconsciously adapted in the present. Migration patterns repeat. Continued capitalist disruption in Latin American countries sends people away from their homes. I treasure the taste of home offered to me by hardworking people trying to make an honest living. The subjects of my work are artists of survival. Resilience through necessity. My attempt to capture these daily displays of invention and resourcefulness only achieved through creativity. This process is not only an examination of my own connection to place, but also the relationship between the location and commodity of food. Above all else– my work is about people.

Audrey Rodriguez 2023