 | Visiting several dozen countries, thanks to a travel grant, Seattle artist George Rodriguez found himself thinking about the way we can connect to others through the veil of differences. Upon his return, Rodriguez imagined himself as eleven alter egos, each radically different from one another in appearance, but all sharing one trait – the name George. KUOW art critic, Gary Faigin, reviews the resulting cast of characters, in both ceramic sculptures and drawings, currently on exhibit in Pioneer Square. George Rodriguez is brilliant at surfaces, and his portrait exhibition at Foster White Gallery uses elaborate decorative effects as a running commentary on the ten cultural icons he portrays. The faces of the various characters in the show, all of whom share the name George (Washington, Bush, Curious, Burns, Saint, Jetson, etc.), are mostly treated in a straightforward, literal way. But once the artist ventures beyond the face, anything goes, and it is the hair, the accessories, and the surfaces that set each figure apart from the rest, and gives the show its aesthetic charge. |
