Rodriguez Calero

Rodriquez Calero was born in Puerto Rico, raised in New York, and has spent the last fifteen years living and exhibiting her art in New Jersey. In Puerto Rico, printmaking was her main focus; when she moved to New York her attention turned to painting. Before settling down in New York, she studied art in Spain and France, learning new techniques and inventing a unique medium of painting she calls Acrollage.

Calero's first solo exhibition was held at the Francisco Oller/Jose Campeche Gallery in Philadelphia in 1996. Her work has also been included in group exhibitions such as Crossing Borders: Contemporary Art by Latin American Women at Castle Gallery, New Rochelle, New York (1997); La Mujer en El Mundo de Bellas Artes at the Paterson Museum in Paterson, New Jersey (1997); American Microcosm at the McGraw Gallery/Newark Academy in Livingston, New Jersey (2006); and Tropicalism at the Jersey City Museum in Jersey City (2007). The New Jersey State Council on the Arts honored her with the prestigious McDowell Traveling Scholarship.(1)

Journey Inward Destiny Unfolded

Journey Inward Destiny Unfolded, 2003, acrollage painting, 84 X 72 inches. Image © Rodriguez Calero.

Transfiguration, 2001, acrollage painting, 64 X 42 inches. Image © Rodriguez Calero.

Virgen Maria, 2000, acrollage painting, 52 X 36 inches. Image © Rodriguez Calero.

Acrollage, the medium Calero invented, can be described as "a mixed media combination of acrylic and paper."(2) Unique patterns and ordinary objects are mixed together to create beautiful symbolic images in her paintings. By blending elements that offer open-ended interpretations, she conveys ideas and feelings with an emotional involvement. Her techniques involve "layering glazes of luminous colors with encapsulating rice and imaged paper."(2)

The painting above, titled Transfiguration, was created in 2001. The title references the "historical event when God became present in Christ's body, which occurred as Christ left his followers to pray."(3) Calero is not only a painter but a multi-media artist who also creates drawings, prints, and collages, many of which utilize acrylic paints. She is happy because her method allows her to search and experiment with new ideas every day.

(Ricardo A. Castro, Spring 2009)

References:

Artist's website and online resume.

El-status.com website (see link below).

Answers.com (see link below).