Artist Spotlight: Stephanie Rodriguez

Name: Stephanie Rodriguez

City: Miami

Birthplace: I was born and raised in Queens, New York.

Artistic Medium: I like to work in a variety of different mediums depending on the project at hand. I really enjoy working in oil paint and pen and ink.

How did you get started?
My mother encouraged me to follow my dream of becoming a professional artist. When I was accepted into New York City’s art high school La Guardia I was determined to follow my dream of becoming a professional artist. After graduation, I took a short detour to study music at Five Towns College in Dix Hills, New York I attribute the heavy influence of music to my studies at Five Towns. After I graduated from Five Towns, I was ready to continue my art studies at the Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT). When I graduated from FIT my husband and I decided to move to Miami. It was in Miami that I began to pursue my art career and receive many art assignments as well as show my art in galleries around Miami. I had the opportunity to work with more than 100 books and magazines from around the world including Aurealis Australian Science Fiction, The Artist’s and Graphic Designer’s Marketplace and newWitch to children’s publications like Plank Road Publishing and Wee Ones.

Who or what are your influences?
The look, style and color palate of my art is influenced by the expressive, bold figurative works of Edvard Munch, Max Beckmann, Rembrandt van Rijn and Francisco Goya. The pen and ink/mixed media art of Aubrey Beardsley, Howard Pyle, Arthur Rackham and Alice and Martin Provensen have influenced the design of my compositions. The subjects of my paintings are based on music, literature, mythology and folklore. Oscar Wilde, Edgar Allan Poe and Fyodor Dostoyevsky are some of my favorite writers.

What inspires your work?
Music and literature are the main inspirations for my art. The dark gothic literature of Edgar Allan Poe, the witty plays and short stories of Oscar Wilde and the sublime characters in the novels of Fyodor Dostoyevsky have shaped the way I create emotion in my art. Aside from literature, music is a huge inspiration to me as well. Some of the music that has inspired my work have been from different periods of music including jazz artists Chet Baker and Miles Davis, Romantic composers Ludwig van Beethoven and Nicolo Paganini and heavy metal artists like Yngwie Malmsteen and Alice Cooper. You will find many of these musicians as subjects in my new series of paintings “Der Unbekannte Muskier” (The Unknown Musician). This series explores the ways that music and art inspires our popular culture through the eyes of the common everyday person. It explores how the arts inspire us to expand creativity.

How does Miami/South Florida influence your work?
Miami/South Florida is a very different place from where I grew up in New York. I have had the opportunity to explore new cultures and places. Key West has become one of my favorite places to visit because of its mysterious history.

How would you describe your work?
I would describe my work as bold, striking, whimsical and unique. It is very important for me to capture the true personality of each subject that I paint. I like to distort the features of the portraits that I paint to enhance the emotion portrayed in the painting. The art must tell a story that is significant and personal to the viewer.

What has been the most unusual reaction to your work from the public?
One person actually said to me once that my portraits were so striking that they could not stop looking at them. This person actually said that they thought the subject would “jump” off the canvas.

What would you like to achieve as an artist?
I want to continue to share my art with the world. Creating art is my passion. My desire above all is for the subjects in my art to explore the following questions, “Why do we create?” “How are we connected?” and “Will we be remembered?

Upcoming shows:
My next upcoming art exhibition will be a solo show, “Der Unbekannte Muskier” at the ArtCenter/ South Florida, located at 924 Lincoln Road in Miami Beach. The show will be on exhibit in the large main storefront window overlooking the Lincoln Road mall from October 15 to November 17.

Where is your work available?
You can view more of my artwork online at http://stephanierodriguez.artroof.com

Der Unbekannte Muskier, oil on canvas, 42x32, 2008

Reincarnation? I (Nicolo Paganini and Steve Vai), oil on canvas, 30x40, 2009

Reincarnation? II (JS Bach and Yngwie Malmsteen), oil on canvas, 30x40, 2009

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

Memories of Edgar, pen and ink, 11x14, 2006

The Brothers Karamazov, pen and ink, 9x12, 2002

The Green Musicians, oil on canvas, 24x30, 2006

If you are an artist and would like to be a part of Artist Spotlight, contact Mary Damiano at StarrWriter2000@aol.com