“Subcutaneous”
FOR ADRIAN RHODES, THERE WAS NEVER A TIME when she didn’t
like getting her hands messy…on an art project, that is. Growing up, she
knew she wanted to pursue art as a full-time career; however, it wasn’t until
college that she was able to take her very first art class. “That first semester of
studio classes, which was very intense, solidified to me that I was in the right
place doing the right thing.” During her time in school, Adrian learned many
valuable lessons that have helped shape her into the artist she is today. “First
of all, I learned how to think about art and art-making. Art can really be a kind
of philosophy, a way to reflect and communicate, and I learned how to think
daughters. Having lost my own mother before the birth of my daughters,
about art as a process and not a product. That said, I also can’t say enough
I still see her influence in the temperament, expression, and experiences of
about the importance of foundational drawing and design classes, color
my children. In my work, bees represent these matrilineal ties. Bee society
theory, and figure drawing. I took as much figure drawing as I could in school
is matriarchal, complex, resilient, and yet still fragile…bees are absolutely
and spent a semester in Finland where I did even more. Drawing the human
crucial as pollinators. These are all qualities that I see as symbolic of the ties
form from life is the greatest technical exercise you can do and will improve
between mothers and daughters. I hope to reflect on the ways that gener-
your art practice, no matter what medium or subject matter you prefer.”
ations of women connect, influence, and pass on that influence to their
Adrian works with a collage mentality. “I am always taking apart and
daughters and granddaughters. Inheritance across generations, through the
reassembling my work mentally as well as literally. My work isn’t really
use of bee imagery, and also reflected in DNA imagery, and a studio process
either abstract or literal - I’m somewhere in between.” While browsing through
that uses collage as a way for individual pieces in my body of work to literally
her work, one can’t help but notice a huge influence from the universe and
inherit visual information from work to work, considers the way matrilineal
atoms. “I use sky charts as a way to symbolize the attempt to understand and
ties connect those who have never met yet still influence each other.”
control the universe, which I view as something that is ultimately impossible.
Of course, legendary artists have served as inspiration for Adrian’s work
The idea of labeling and categorizing all the stars in an earth-centric fashion,
as well. These include abstract expressionists Jackson Pollock and Mark
which is what the sky charts do, is a task that is almost laughable in both
Rothko, and contemporary artists Julie Mehretu and Sarah Sze. “I tend
its absurdity and its enormity. Because the constellations are based in Greek
to be drawn to complex work that seems on the verge of chaos, but with
myth, I also see using them as a way to incorporate the themes of the my-
an underlying grid or structure. One of my professors from undergrad,
thology into my work. I find the stories to be reflective of human experience
P aul Martyka, made work that was impeccable in its craftsmanship and
and interaction in a way that continues to be pertinent to modern life. I am
skill, which formed my expectation of what I can and should aspire to
interested in atoms because I am interested in the underlying scaffold about
in my own work.” As a mixed media artist, Adrian enjoys the freedom of
which the chaos of the universe is ordered.” Her approach to art-making is
“playing in the sandbox” of endless materials. Her favorite medium,
viewing it as a form of philosophy. “I think asking questions and the journeys
however, is printmaking. “Printmaking is the basis of all my work. Print
on which those questions take you is more important and interesting than
mediums (woodcut/linocut, etching, lithography, screen print) are
getting concrete answers. If I wasn’t in art, I might have studied philosophy.
basically a type of drawing, but allow you to create in multiples. I can
I would definitely be doing something that made the wheels in my brain turn
carve a woodcut, print five impressions from it, collage them into five dif-
and smoke come out of my ears.”
ferent pieces, and take them in five completely different directions. It’s
Another source of inspiration for Adrian is bees. “I am interested in
generational memory and how it forms connections between mothers and
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adrian
rhodes
the idea of themes and variations, of revisiting different angles and approaches to questions.” CONTINUED...
APRIL 2016
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