Exhibition view of Eddie Rodolfo Aparicio's FOCUS exhibition at MOCA.
Photo: JEFF McLANE; COURTESY OF THE ARTIST, MOCA, AND COMMONWEALTH AND COUNCIL
Next Big Thing: Eddie Rodolfo Aparicio
The Los Angeles native found his voice making visually striking sculptural pieces using techniques that speak to his identity and cultural roots
Eddie Rodolfo Aparicio. Photo: DOUG KRANTZ/ BFA.COM
For Eddie Rodolfo Aparicio, all materials are political. A native of Los Angeles, he abandoned painting in art school when he realized his ambitions went beyond “working alone in the studio with materials that didn’t have a connection to the things I wanted to talk about.” His father emigrated from El Salvador, and Aparicio found his voice making visually striking sculptural pieces using techniques that speak to his identity and cultural roots.
His tour de force at the most recent Whitney Biennial, titled White Dove Let Us Fly, was a monumental block of amber embedded with found objects as well as documents related to white activists working for justice in Central America. Intentionally placed next to a large window, the glowing rectangle degraded slowly in the sunlight—slumping and crumbling into a pile. “I’m interested in making art that expresses the complicatedness of the world,” he says.
“Eddie’s ambitious experimentation with complex, mutable materials brings back decades-old questions around the changing art object, but this time suggests new paths ahead”
Kim Conaty
Eddie Rodolfo Aparicio's 2023 work Taco, Cuca, y Màs (Terrace Dr., Los Angeles, CA). Photo: JEFF McLANE; COURTESY OF THE ARTIST, MOCA, AND COMMONWEALTH AND COUNCIL
On view: Aparicio has a large-scale commission in the current Prospect New Orleans, through February 2, and a show of new work at his L.A. gallery, Commonwealth and Council, debuting in March.
Exhibition view of Eddie Rodolfo Aparicio's FOCUS exhibition at MOCA. Photo: JEFF McLANE; COURTESY OF THE ARTIST, MOCA, AND COMMONWEALTH AND COUNCIL
A version of this article first appeared in print in our 2024 Winter Issue under the headline “Next Big Things.” Subscribe to the magazine.
Click here to see the full list of “Next Big Things.”
Cover: Exhibition view of Eddie Rodolfo Aparicio's FOCUS exhibition at MOCA.
Photo: JEFF McLANE; COURTESY OF THE ARTIST, MOCA, AND COMMONWEALTH AND COUNCIL
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