Paradise for a Tourist Brochure 1990

Freddy Rodriguez made this painting, Paradise for a Tourist Brochure, with mixed media on canvas. It’s built up of layers, like memories or palimpsests. I see newspaper fragments, a big blue butterfly hovering like a symbol, the word 'Paraiso' repeated in a cursive hand, and then red handprints at the bottom. I can imagine Rodriguez working on this, maybe in his studio, with a radio playing Latin music. He's layering paint, collage, and text, creating a dense and complex surface. The butterfly, so iconic, feels like it’s pinned to the surface, both beautiful and a little bit trapped. And those red handprints, they give me a jolt, like a physical presence. This painting reminds me a little of Basquiat, in the way it mixes text and image, but Rodriguez has his own distinct voice. Artists are always talking to each other across time, you know? The conversation never ends, and the exchange is everything.