
"I paint about the simple wonders of our daily life.
My gift to the world is to create paintings that radiate hope and beauty.
I create paintings that show trees that have not yet been cut, mountains that have not yet been ravaged, people that have not yet been subjected to any type of violence, seas that have not yet been contaminated, beaches that have not yet been polluted. I paint about all of what still exists and must be protected."
Cristina Rodriguez, London 2009
1964 | Born in Colombia | |
1983-1987 | BA in Fine Arts, University of Los Andes, Bogotá, Colombia | |
1989-1991 | MA in Painting, The Slade School of Fine Art, London University, Great Britain |
1989 | Scholarship for Outstanding Artists. Icetex: Government of Colombia |
1990 | The British Council Scholarship |
1992 | The Delfina Studios Scholarship. Delfina Studios Trust (one year) |
1993 | Travel Scholarship to Zimbabwe. Delfina Studios Trust |
1995 | Travel Scholarship to New York. Delfina Studios Trust |
1987 | Pictures at an Exhibition , Fundación Alzate Avendaño, Bogotá, Colombia |
1991 | My Gift to a Continent , Cadogan Gallery, London, GB |
1997 | The Carnival of the Animals , The Pump House Gallery, London, GB |
1999 | La Fête Sous la Pyramide , Carrousel du Louvre, Paris, France |
2001 | Jump Into Reality , MacLean Fine Art, The Air Gallery, London, GB |
2004 | The Desert Is Not Deserted , The Orangery Gallery, Holland Park, London, GB |
2006 | Imaginary Landscapes , Blenheim Crescent Gallery, London, GB |
2014 | De los Alpes a los Andes , Deimos Gallery, Bogotá, Colombia |
2016 | Promenades Enchantées à Genève , Cité du Temps, Geneva, Switzerland |
1987 | Los Nuevos Pintores de Bogotá, Centro Colombo Americano, Bogotá, Colombia |
1988 | Nuevas Tendencias, Galeria Ventana, Cali, Colombia |
1989 | 30 Años de Arte, Biblioteca Luis Ángel Arango, Bogotá, Colombia |
1990 | Contemporary View, The Royal College of Art and Christie's, London, GB |
1991 | The Discerning Eye, The Mall Galleries, London, GB Under the Eye of Saturn, Oriel Mostyn Gallery, Llandudno, Wales, GB |
1992 | The Ship of Fools, Acom Gallery, Liverpool, GB |
1993 | Summer Show, Delfina Studios, London, GB The Affordable Art Company, Connaught Brown, London, GB Delta Gallery Exhibition, Delta Gallery, Harare, Zimbawbe |
1995 | The Affordable Art Company, Connaught Brown, London, GB |
1997 | The Affordable Art Company, Connaught Brown, London, GB |
2002 | Dangerous Corners: An Exhibition of Football, Gallery 27, London, GB |
2006 | Two Worlds: Two Different Mediums, Fernand Vanderplancke and Cristina Rodriguez, Kursaal, Oostende, Belgium |
2008 | Art for Life, Somerset House, London, GB The Art Movement Art Sale & Auction, Christies, London, GB |
2009 | Mondi Lontanissimi, Vittorio Vecchi and Cristina Rodriguez, Galleria "evvivanoé esposizioni d'arte", Cherasco, Italy Westminster Arts Open Exhibition, SW1 Gallery, London, GB Biennale Internazionale Dell'Arte Contemporanea, Florence Biennale, Fortezza da Basso, Florence, Italy Imaginary Journeys, curated by Paola Trevisan, Castello Estense, Ferrara, Italy |
2010 | Little Treasures, Piccoli Gioeolli, Mostra d'Arte Internazionale, curated by Paola Trevisan. Galleria de Marchi, Bologna, Italy ![]() Butler Goode Gallery, Sydney, Australia, 2010 Celestial Spirits, Amsterdam Whitney, New York, USA, 2010 Museo Civico do Alatri, Alatri, Italy. Curated by Adelinda Allegretti, 2010 Marziart, Hamburg, Germany, 2010 Gallerie Gora, Montreal, Canada, 2010 Broadway Gallery, New York, USA, 2010 |
2011 | Artspace Galleries, London and Paris Group Exhibition, 2011 London, GB Paris, France |
2012 | The Broken Boundaries Exhibition, Chelsea Fine Art Building, New York, USA, 2012 Exposición Internacional de Arte Contemporáneo, Effetto Biennale, Museo de la ciudad de Mérida, Méjico, 2012 Santorini Biennale of Arts, Pyrgos, Santorini, Greece, 2012 |
2007 | London Art Fair, Business Design Centre, London, GB 20/21 International Art Fair, Royal College of Art, London, GB AAF New York, Metropolitan Pavilion, New York, USA Art London, The Royal Hospital, Chelsea, London, GB |
2008 | London Art Fair, Business Design Centre, London, GB AAF New York, Metropolitan Pavilion, New York, USA Art London, The Royal Hospital, Chelsea, London, GB AAF Amsterdam, Amsterdam, Holland |
2009 | 20/21 International Art Fair, Royal College of Art, London, GB Art London, The Royal Hospital, Chelsea, London, GB |
2010 | London Art Fair, Modern, British and Contemporary Art, Lena Boyle Fine Art, London, GB The Stuttgart-Sindelfingen Art Fair, Adelinda Allegretti, Stuttgart, Germany Art Sydney, Royal Hall of Industries, Sydney, Australia |
2011 | The Affordable Art Fair, Milano, Italy International Fair for Contemporary Art, Innsbruck, Austria Red Dot Art Fair, New York, USA Artexpo, New York, USA |
2012 | The Affordable Art Fair, Bristol GB |
Her work is in private collections in Europe, Great Britain, Central America, South America, USA and Africa.
Her work is in the following public collections :
Her work is in the following permanent collections:
Permanent collection of the University of Los Andes, Bogotá (Colombia)
Permanent collection of the Santorini Biennale, Pyrgos, Santorini (Greece)
Permanent collection of the Embassy of Colombia, London (Great Britain)
Permanent collection of the Consulate of Colombia, Paris (France)
Permanent collection of the Consulate of Colombia, New York (USA)
Permanent collection of Trinity Hospice, London (Great Britain)
Cristina Rodriguez was born in Bogotá, Colombia in 1964. She has lived in Colombia, Peru, Germany, Great Britain, USA, Zimbabwe and Switzerland. She now lives in Portugal. A passionate traveller, she has journeyed extensively through South America, Europe and Africa, finding enrichment and inspiration in the familiar and extraordinary practices and customs she has encountered. Although her paintings sometimes contain abstract and surreal elements, they are always emphatically figurative. Characteristic of her work are the bold outlines of the figures or objects, the curve and curl of the forms and the simplified areas of solid colour which clarify the whole pictorial concept.
Simplicity and a joyous passion for colour: these are the compositional keynotes of Cristina Rodriguez's art –clearly revealing the lasting impact of a childhood spent in Colombia with its rich heritage of folk art, primitive art, narrative art, story-telling, myth and fable.
Among many other influences, Cristina Rodriguez cites her love for early Italian Renaissance art, in particular for the quiet and reverential frescoes of Fra Angelico. Also primitive art in all its forms and the great colourists of the twentieth century, particularly Chagall, whose floating gravity-defying figures and animals find their counterpart in her own work.
Cristina Rodriguez has retained the child's ability to believe in the unbelievable and to see the magic in the mundane. She draws her subjects from the real and the imaginary, fusing fantasy and perception into one.
Her paintings – with their animals, dwelling places, radiant landscapes, domestic rituals and everyday objects – welcome us inside. At their centre are love and tranquillity.
The peaceful atmosphere she achieves is the tangible expression of her own longing for the ideal in life, and her fervent wish to eschew the ugliness and cruelty of the world. These are not spontaneous creations, but deliberate works of art which have been thought out, dreamed over, reflected on. Their purpose is to give joy and comfort and, above all, to affirm life. In their simple, direct way, they appeal to our emotions, evoking harmonious associations and creating recurrent sensations of serenity and beauty. We are disarmed and our hearts open to the magic of her art.
Gillian Adam, London 2007
"La bonté qui nourrit la beauté ne saurait être identifiée à quelques bons sentiments plus ou moins naïfs. Elle est l'exigence même, exigence de justice, de dignité, de générosité, de responsabilité, d'élévation vers la passion spirituelle.
La vie humaine étant semée d'épreuves, rongée par le mal, la générosité exige des engagements de plus en plus profonds; du coup, elle approfondit aussi sa propre nature et engendre des vertus variées telles que sympathie, empathie, solidarité, compassion, commisération, miséricorde.
Toutes ces vertus impliquent un don de soi, et le don de soi a le don de nous rappeler, encore une fois, que l'avènement de l'univers et de la vie est un immense don. Ce don qui tient sa promesse et qui ne trahit pas est en soi une éthique"
Cinq méditations sur la beauté
François Cheng