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ARTIST STATEMENTS​
 

"My drawings, paintings, and mixed media works are surreal landscapes that reflect meditative urgency around contemporary issues such as climate change, global instability, chronic illness, and social inequalities.  Through the fantastical forms I assemble, I aim to create pathways for personal and collective healing and release."

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Nancy Rodrigo, 2026

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"Art initially was my refuge from a dysfunctional family, sparking a lifelong calling. I started doing art as a kid, watching my mom oil painting in our Jackson Heights, Queens, apartment, with soap operas playing on our TV.   As she showed me how to create light on the rocks along the sand, her careful brushstrokes mesmerized my 4 year old mind.  

 

I went on to study fine art in college, and later etching and printmaking at the National Academy in NYC. I began attending art openings and events in Manhattan’s East Village, the same neighborhood where I had lived and hung out after I ran away from home at age 15.  Being amidst the zeitgeist of the 1980s art scene, my entry into the art world happened organically.

 

As a lesbian mom in an era before that was cool, I pursued my art while maintaining a full time job in other industries: libraries, philanthropy, health care, and social work. I have always had a constant curiosity, and have evolved many times, thriving in each of the iterations of my careers.  Throughout these, the constant for me has always been making art.

 

Pursuing a Masters in social work at Hunter College, I worked for many years at the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, an experience which to this day informs the imagery in much of my work.  Both the physiological imagery, and also the emotional intensity of working within the psychological context of oncology, had a lasting impact. At that time, I had planned to have a dual career to assure financial security for my son and partner, but that all changed when at 35 I was diagnosed with autoimmune diseases, and by age 38 was disabled by them. 

 

Continuing to make art, I had to pivot my life and adapt to the uncertainty of my body. The physical uncertainty of it all was a catastrophic blow, but I got through it with support of friends, family, and my community, and in finding creative ways to adjust my life. I began teaching from a home studio, and offering art workshops there. Starting my own business gave me the flexibility to control my schedule so I could take care of my health. 

 

These days, I continue to exhibit, collaborate with other artists, do public speaking, commissions, teach art, and create programs that engage both art and therapeutic modalities. I have continuously worked and volunteered in my community, and it is this balance of service and art that drives me."

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Nancy Rodrigo, 2025

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"I explore the interconnectedness of life forms using traditional mediums such as charcoal, watercolors and oils. My drawings and paintings are surreal landscapes that reflect meditative urgency around issues such as climate change and global instability. In 2015 I started my Clusterfuck series, as an exploration of physiological materials; bones, muscles fibers, roots, and veins all interwoven into surreal worlds reflecting the multiple crisis that have risen up and festering long beneath the radar. Hidden within these compositions are faces, and  body parts that blur gender, race, and biology. My highly detailed caverns and membranes demand closer viewing—a very different experience than looking at a device. I want to engage people in a way that asks them to leave their technology behind, thus creating a new canon in art history.​"

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Nancy Rodrigo, 2019