Rodrigo Valenzuela is a Chilean artist working in America
Episode 173: Rodrigo Valenzuela is an incredibly gifted Chilean artist working in California.
Rodrigo and I got together to speak about his new book Journeyman published by Mousse Publishing. It is a thick tome filled with various bodies of Rodrigo’s intense tableau. In the episode, we spoke about a number of things from his book and the process of making his work. We spoke about the conceptual, social, and political framework that undergirds the work.
Rodrigo’s work speaks about a number of important concepts such as industrial decline, migration, and the notion of arrested decay. There is a heavy emphasis on labor and worker rights and post-industrial gazing. Though Rodrigo concentrates on the medium of photography, you can also find video in the work and his photographs are arguably as much about building and are meted out through his sculptural instincts.
The arrangements in his photographs oscillate from minimalism and something that feels inspired by modernist tendencies found in architecture and city planning. I am reminded often of Kader Attia, Edward Weston, and perhaps Franz Kline when I look at the work. All of his various bodies of works can be found in the new book. It was a great honor to catch up with Rodrigo to speak with him on the various layers found within. We will be seeing much more from Rodrigo in the future. Tune in!
