LAUNCH LA is proud to present Floral Interiors, a new exhibition or original paintings by Ana Rodriguez.
Through a medley of organic and patterned forms, Rodriguez explores a balance of extravagant colors, sinuous shapes and syrupy textures. At first glance, Rodriguez’s inspiration is firmly rooted in the decorative arts with patterns of wreaths, flower vases, floral pattern motifs, interior wallpaper, cakelike shapes, and bows. Upon closer inspection, Rodriguez critically engages the function of pattern and decoration inside the home, and their cultural implications.

Rodriguez recalls the imagery of her childhood home, decorated with fake fruit vases, 99 cents interior decorations, and an array of house plants. Within this framework, Floral Interiors investigates Rodriguez’s own nostalgic memories of decorations that adorned her childhood home, and the subsequent link to social class around such binary conversations as real food versus fake food, 99 cent decorations versus China vases, and a deeper understanding of how we classify beauty and objects of value.

By combining this duality, Rodriguez explores objects of ritual as a way to visualize the social construct of objects in interior settings. At its very core, Floral Interiors engages in this dialogue on how pattern and decoration within the home contribute to a large framework of social and individual constructs.
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Ana Rodriguez grew up in the small community of Maywood, California, which is adjacent to the industrial cities of Commerce and Vernon and their numerous chemical plants, refineries, public waste areas and foundries. Rodriguez recalls being highly aware of the contrast between the putrid, foul smell of dead animals from the meat packaging factories like Farmer John and the sweet scents from bakeries (Sara Lee) and cake shops from her city. Rodriguez combines patterns that range from kitchen cabinet liners, linoleum flooring, wallpaper, and fabric from her toys and clothes as a child. The mix of sources is reflected in Rodriguez’s paintings which combine brightly colored gesture/cakelike batter against the decorative and the play between smells is something that the Artist is really intrigued by. Ana Rodriguez earned a BFA from California State University, Long Beach (2007) and an MFA from Otis College of Art and Design (2009).