about
Rodríguez-Past is a multidisciplinary artist, photographer and video maker. She has lived and worked in Mexico, the USA and the UK. She was awarded her BA from San Francisco Art Institute (SFAI) in 2005 and her MA with distinction from Wimbledon College of Art, University of the Arts London the following year. In 2011 she was Shortlisted for the Sainsbury Scholarship in painting and sculpture at the British School at Rome.
She has exhibited in Mexico, the USA, Canada, Puerto Rico, England, Italy, Norway, and Kenya. Rodríguez-Past's work often explores the uncomfortable border between culture and nature; she also finds inspiration in rough improvised objects made in developing countries which imitate industrial items made in the USA and Europe.
In 2009 Joanne Lee, Senior Lecturer in Fine Art at Nottingham Trent University, wrote a review for A-N magazine about the exhibition It's All About Paradise 2, in which she says that Rodríguez-Past's
"work is certainly about beauty and functionality, the copy and the authentic, but in such a way that one experiences the idea poetically rather than being lectured about it."
Apart from developing her own art practice, Rodríguez-Past collaborates creatively with other artists, creating short films, documentaries, and music videos.
Education
2005-2006
Masters degree in Fine Arts: sculpture and video, Distinction.
Wimbledon College of Art, University of the Arts London, UK.
2001-2005
Bachelors in Fine Art, GPA 3.828, San Francisco Art Institute (SFAI), San Francisco, California, USA.
exhibitions and projects
Mouthful, exhibited at the London Group 2013 centenary exhibition, The Cello Factory, London, UK, 14 - 24 May 2013.
Screened at the Ruskin Shorts 2012, Phoenix Cinema, Oxford, UK.
Primaveras group exhibition,
EDELO, Centre for Experimental Art and International Residencies,
San Cristobal de las Casas, Chiapas, Mexico, April 2011.
Documentary film
Mar Inclinada presented at the
Puerto Rico Contemporary Art Museum, San Juan, Puerto Rico, December 2010.
Documentary film
Incantations projected as part of the Mexican Bicentennial Celebrations
at the
Mexican Cultural Institute, San Antonio, Texas, USA, October 2010.
Documentary film
Ebb and Flow screened on a loop as part of Rebecca Hind's exhibition
Moonscope,
Museum of the History of Science, Oxford, UK.
Ebb and Flow is also displayed on the museum's
website.
Papelito de la Suerte screened at Visual Roots Film Night, Radio BBC Brighton, UK, June 2007.
Webs installation exhibited as part of the Cannizaro Sculpture Festival,
Cannizaro Park, London, UK.
Patterns, film screening, McBean Theatre,
Exploratorium, the Museum of Science, Art and Human Perception;
CA, USA, February 2004.
SCAR, Youth Media Project, digital billboard, commissioned by Galeria de la Raza in cooperation with
Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, CA, USA, 2004.
Monstricciatoli, Pienza Cultural Centre, Pienza, Tuscany, Italy, June 2003.
Prizes, grants and publications
2010
Shortlisted for the Sainsbury Scholarship in painting and sculpture at the
British School at Rome.
2009
Arts Council England Grant for the Arts
for
It's All About Paradise 2.
2009
It's All About Paradise 2, catalogue pp. 5-6; 26-27.
2009
Joanne Lee, 'It's All About Paradise 2', review,
A-N, December 2009-January 2010, p. 12.
Click here to read.
2007-09
Founder and editor of volunteer-led magazine
The Response, Fabrica Gallery, vols. 1-4, 2007-2009.
2001-2005
'Cal grant,' California State scholarship.
2001-2005
Merit Grant for the Fine Arts, SFAI, CA, USA.
cultural exchanges
2008
Representative of Fabrica Gallery and the UK at EU-funded youth cultural exchange themed around globalization, Krakow, Poland. Participating countries were Poland, Cyprus, France, Italy and the UK.
2007
Exchange and educational residency organized by Fabrica Gallery and Ceméa, Avignon Festival, France.
2004
Student exchange between SFAI and the
Ruskin School of Drawing and Fine Art,
University of Oxford, UK.
work
2011-2012
Research Assistant,
European Live Art Archive,
Ruskin School of Drawing and Fine Art, Oxford University, UK.
2006-
Freelance film-maker and editor for clients including:
Artist Tamarin Norwood.
Modern Art Oxford.
Artist Rebecca Hind, UK.
Editorial Cinco Puntos Press, USA.
Artist's cooperative and independent press Taller Leñateros, Mexico.
Pighog Press, UK.
Photographer José Ángel Rodíguez, Mexico.
Poet John Davies (a.k.a. Shedman), UK.
Poet Ámbar Past, Mexico.
Artist Gitte Dæhlin, Norway / Mexico.
Artist and poet John Burstein, USA / Mexico.
2007-2010
Exhibition Space Manager, Volunteer and Education Co-odinator,
Fabrica Gallery,
Brighton, UK.
2004-2005
Emerging Educator as part of the Youth Media Project, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts and
SFAI, CA, USA.
