--Stephen St. Thomas once claimed that to understand a creature’s weakness is to reveal its essential nature. A similar sensibility informs the love of humanity and the technical mastery of Lisyanet Rodriquez’s art. Her subjects are people, animals, things rendered in exquisite detail, never at the height of their strength. Barns in a state of disrepair, embodying both an emptiness and a human presence. Dead or wounded animals. The worn faces of aged people, the scared, scarred eyes of war refugees who are still young children. Her portraits are drawn with a devotion to detail reminiscent of Chuck Close’s portraits, but Rodriguez achieves a deeper emotional resonance. Because she probes the cracks, the broken beauty of people and the things that surround them, her art taps into the essence of our shared humanity.

 

Stephen Haven 

Author of The Last Sacred Place in North America