"Reincarnation? I," oil on canvas, 30x40, 2009

Picturing the Unknown
Artist Stephanie Rodriguez Examines Anonymity and Legend

By Angie Hargot

In her cheery Miami Lakes townhouse, artist Stephanie Rodriguez expertly navigates around her living room, which is adorned with so many of her paintings that the shocking orange wall is scarcely visible.

Her dogs moan and yelp at the presence of a stranger — pets as varied as the painting styles around them. Along with her husband, Rodriguez cohabitates with a Great Dane named Gaspar that she rescued from the streets, Leo, a chow-retriever mix and the Chihuahua she recently adopted after her mother died.

Yet another pot of coffee brews in the kitchen — Rodriguez is hard at work, finishing up the final pieces for an upcoming solo exhibition.

Called “Der Unbekannte Musiker (The Unknown Musician)” the show is scheduled to open Oct. 15 in the main display window overlooking the busy thoroughfare at the Art Center/South Florida’s 924 Lincoln Road building.

The series is inspired by the concepts of artistic anonymity, inspiration and, well, rock music.

“I had been experimenting with simplified portraits of musicians jamming together,” Rodriguez explains. “I liked how they seemed anonymous, but I felt that something was missing. These simplified musicians really interested me but it wasn’t until I started painting portraits of famous musicians that I became inspired to combine the two together. I was having a conversation with my husband concerning musicians that were not known to the general public. We found that these virtuosos did not need the kind of fame that most would consider meaningful and fulfilling.”

The effect of her technique is a compelling mix of color and shadow, and a juxtaposition of childlike perception of form and scholarly symbolism. Utilizing a style of photorealism, she often paints on top of glazes, not waiting for the layers to dry.

"Reincarnation? II," oil on canvas, 30x40, 2009

The technique is evident in one canvass that serves as a nod to the heavy metal music and literary horror that influences much of her work. A portrait of shock rocker Alice Cooper with a dead bride – the work is inspired by his song “Cold Ethyl,” in which he makes love to a corpse. Not surprisingly, the painting doesn’t always go over so well with older crowds.

“People say the faces are so grotesque,” Rodriguez said, although she cites the worst insult to her work as a time when a gallery owner suggested she use her art to create mouse pads. Nevertheless, she enjoys the attention. “I do that to evoke some kind of feeling that endures, even though it’s subconscious.”

Up a steep flight of stairs, Rodriguez’ tidy studio is only half-filled with the evidence that her paintings are created here — the other half of the glowing green room is home to various musical instruments, amps, and other audio paraphernalia. The studio symbolizes the two facets of Rodriguez’ work: art and music.

A little taken aback at a stranger inside her creative space, she launches right into an introduction of her never-before-seen works in progress — large brightly colored canvases that, even among dozens of paintings, instantly draw a stare.

Perhaps one of her most compelling works, the unfinished “Unknown Musician’s Studio,” rests on an easel near her drawing board. In it, the unknown musician points up to where a master musician will likely float. Oranges rest on a window sill — the symbol of the Holy Spirit coming in and out, she explains.

In “The Eternal Lineage,” a dorsal view of a very young jeans-clad guitarist appears staring off into a romanticized landscape is inspired by Caspar David Friedrich’s “Wanderer Above the Sea of Fog.” However indifferent to his existence, above him hover Johann Sebastian Bach, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Scott Joplin and Ludwig van Beethoven, pictured at the height of their glory, inspiring him from the unknown.

“All little boys and girls are the unknown musician,”Rodriguiz said.

Her voice quiets suddenly, settling into to a calming melodic explanation of the musical genres of the four masters hovering above the boy.

In her own work, Rodriguez often depicts a brightly-colored, bald face with large almond-shaped eyes. Of amorphous identity, he is Everyman – anyone and no one at all – an unknown. He also often holds a candle, a symbol prevalent in her work, which represents the perpetual flame of artistic illumination and the inspiration the famous muses unknowingly provide their student. The musical masters she paints were often, in a sense, unknown musicians themselves.

Mozart was buried in an unmarked grave; and there was so little demand for music in Bach’s day it spawned the legend that after his death, his compositions were used as fish wrap.

Scott Joplin’s second opera was a failure when first performed in 1915 – the work later won “The King of Ragtime” a special posthumous Pulitzer Prize in 1976.

And after the loss of aristocratic patronage towards the end of his life, left with only a small pension to live on, Beethoven was forced to sell his composition rights.

"Alice-n-Ethyl 4-Eva!," oil on canvas, 25x36, 2008

“It is so important for an artist to look at their past,” Rodriguez said, as she thumbs through a dozen or so waist-high canvasses, selecting one of her more literal works, “Reincarnation III,” which depicts Bach and guitar virtuoso and neo-classical metal composer Yngwie Malmsteen. She pulls out the portrait of Robert Johnson she was working on in June when her mother died. Her mother supported her early artistic aspirations, pushing her to commute into the city everyday, and her mother’s death was an important impetus to continue the work.

A self-professed artistic “chameleon,” multiple influences can be seen throughout her body of work. Many of the drawings from her pen and ink, and classical periods are inspired by great works of literature — hanging in her living room are the Brothers Karamazov and Edgar Allan Poe. Her background in illustration also plays a role.

Originally from Queens, New York, a portfolio of pencil portraits got her accepted to New York City’s famed art high school, Fiorello La Guardia. She went on to attend Five Towns College in Dix Hills, NY to study music. Graduating with honors in 1998, she went on to The Fashion Institute of Technology, where she devoted herself to the study of fine art and illustration. Exhibiting often, her work won a dizzying array of awards and after earning her Bachelor of Fine Arts in 2002, she moved to Miami with her husband.

Rodriguez continued to show her artwork internationally, and has now been published in more than 100 books and magazines, including newWitch magazine, Aurealis (an Australian Sci-Fi magazine) and Plank Road Publishing, a children’s music company.

But it was her study of music and the anonymous characters in a series of oil paintings that would later morph into the ‘unknown musician.’

Having taught art at inner city high school Turner Tech, Rodriguez also now teaches a handful of classes at the Art Center, two missions with very different challenges.

Teaching is “a very rewarding yet tiring experience,” she said. It’s “granted me the patience and the inner-strength to continue my own work. I teach because it is important to create a deeper awareness of the arts to all people. It makes me happy to know that a student of mine has learned to appreciate and understand an aspect of art that they never knew or realized before.”

Rodriguez also recognizes the benefits of self-promotion, and maintains a healthy dialogue with the community and media. Having already gained much recognition for her ever evolving craft, it seems doubtful Rodriguez will be an unknown artist herself.

“It’s my passion and it feels like it’s coming together,” she said.

She also wants to take “Der Unbekannte Musiker” on the road.

“I would really love to turn the Unknown Musician series into a national traveling show,” she said. “I would like to share its message with as many people as possible. I would like to explore more aspects of the topic by incorporating different genres of music such as Jazz and Blues…I am planning to create a new series that incorporates the idea of the unknown musician with a new artistic twist. But you’ll have to come see my next exhibit to find out.”

Stephanie Rodriguez’ “Der Unbekannte Musiker (The Unknown Musician)” will be on view from Oct. 15 to Nov. 17 at the ArtCenter/ South Florida in the 924 Lincoln Road building’s main display window, with a reception on Saturday, Nov. 7 from 7 to 10 p.m. There will also be live musical performances by classical guitarist Maikel Rodriguez and  local rock band Frontline. To see more of her work visit stephanierodriguez.artroof.com.

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