“Justice Strikes the Arts, or The Death of a Sadist”, 120 x 150 CM, Oil on Canvas, 2022
An allegorical painting made as a cautionary tale to critique the art industry’s “blind eye” towards renowned artists whose accomplishments and practice has been sustained by abuse and the disenfranchisement of others. A grandiose setting and metaphorical elements from a classical understanding of art history are employed to bolster the seemingly untouchable and long rooted nature of this kind of exploitation, all to set the stage for an execution with the personification of Justice swinging down a sickle to strike the Arts in an act of retribution.
“The Moon and the Stars”, 36 x 24 IN, Oil on Aluminum, 2022
A personification and deification of the themes of Black Feminism, optimism, cultural pride, and Black Liberation depicted through references of religious icon painting, the fashion of AfriCOBRA artist Jae Jarrell, styles of tarot card art, and the series of paintings by Alphonse Mucha by the same name.
“Was it as Wonderful as you Remembered It?, 12 x 16 IN, Mixed Media on Paper, 2022
A depiction of an imagined fairy-tale romance through idea of a golden age fallacy, in which individuals tend to look at the past through a lens which romanticizes the positive aspects while ignoring the faults. This work applies this concept to a relationship, with an older woman looking back on an idealization of a former relationship in the reflection of the water, and the contrasting reality above. I wished to reference the popular, and often somewhat problematic idealization found within fairytales to a contrasting reality, and the reflection that comes after, with using metaphors of the gold and the roses in a style similar to a narrative storybook illustration and an illuminated manuscript.
“ Where the Earth Meets the Sky”, 24 x 30 IN, Oil on Linen, 2022
A painting that serves as a personal "diary entry", depicting a romanticized depiction of my experience as a closeted queer woman in a hostile community, articulating my experience of feeling “closed off” and cloistered, similar to typical fairytale depictions of women being locked away in castles or towers. Elements around the painting such as the violets, the doves, and the apple, point towards the nature of the relationship with elements of fantasy art and fairytale illustration.
Gabriela Lehmann Rodriguez
Ruskin School of Art, University of Oxford Portfolio Application
“A Love Letter to the Arts”, featuring “Paint Brush” and “Boston’s Muses” painting series in background, 2 Hour Performance Piece, Mixed Media Sculpture and Canvas, Variable Dimensions, 2022
A participatory performance work elevating the power of art making as a spiritual ritual. The audience was invited to take part through painting on the floor alongside as I painted the work in costume surrounded by the illustration series of “Boston’s Muses”. Participants were encouraged to express their own personal love for the arts through drawing, painting, or writing on the canvas, whether through writing down one’s favorite movie or novel, drawing whatever they please, or using a large paintbrush to “make one’s mark”, seeking to explore the importance of the arts and its appreciation from every individual as a universal and spiritual language.
“ Boston’s Muses: The Spirit of Literature”, 40 x 28 IN, Digital Painting printed on Photo Paper, 2022
Part of a series of five illustrations celebrating the contributions and legacies of historical women in Boston and tying them to the concept of the Greek Muse- creating a pantheon of figures based on their craft which I believe have inspired the different fields of arts in Boston and linked them to various notable locations. Here, Louisa May Alcott (1832-1888 is presented in the Boston Public Library as a personification of literature.
**Not made with the use or assistance of AI
“Boston’s Muses: The Spirit of the Arts”, 40 x 27 IN, Digital Painting printed on Photo Paper, 2022
Part of a series of five illustrations celebrating the contributions and legacies of historical women in Boston and tying them to the concept of the Greek Muse- creating a pantheon of figures based on their craft which I believe have inspired the different fields of arts in Boston and linked them to various notable locations. Here, Edmonia Lewis (1844 - 1907) is presented in the Museum of Fine Arts as a personification of the fine arts.
**Not made with the use or assistance of AI
“ Boston’s Muses: The Spirit of Performance”, 40 x 25 IN, Digital Painting printed on Photo Paper, 2022
Part of a series of five illustrations celebrating the contributions and legacies of historical women in Boston and tying them to the concept of the Greek Muse- creating a pantheon of figures based on their craft which I believe have inspired the different fields of arts in Boston and linked them to various notable locations. Here, Susanna Haswell Rowson (1762 - 1824) is presented at the Boston Opera House as a personification of the performing arts.
**Not made with the use or assistance of AI
“Homage to the Salvator Mundi”, 70 x 90 CM, Oil on Canvas, 2022
A social experiment inspired by the journey of Leonardo Da Vinci’s own Salvador Mundi becoming the highest sold painting in history, from its humble beginnings in obscurity before its attribution, to then being sold for almost half a billion dollars, then becoming devalued on The Prado's assertion against Leonardo's attribution, I wanted to attempt to recreate a contemporary version to question the value of art on its on merit vs. it's attribution and appraisal as a young woman artist unlike Leonardo. Meant to begin discussions and criticisms on how art is appraised within various industries, and how biases and play at hand when concealing the artist’s identity.
“An Icon of Flowers”, 60 x 75 CM, Oil on Linen, 2022
A portrait of a friend deified as a personification of beauty through the style of religious icon painting and symbolized through a rose as the "queen of flowers".
“The Psychomachia: Chastity and Lust” , 10 x 14 IN (x2), Watercolor and Ink on Paper, 2022
Part of a gestural series of pairs based on a medieval poem of the same name, which features women personified as opposing virtues and values going to war with one another. Chastity and Lust are each wounded in their respective ways according the source material. However unlike the poem, there is no clear victor in the pairings, questioning whether such values should even be conflicted against one another, and how such values have been typically pitted against women throughout history.
“Vanitas on a Shattered Plate”, 25 x 25 CM, Oil on Stoneware, 2022
The result of transforming a shattered plate into a painting reminiscent of a traditional memento mori and the mending art of kintsugi. Questioning how “value” is attributed to objects and people in an utilitarian society in which everyone's fate is the same: Why do we place so much value on usefulness? In taking an otherwise “useless” plate, and painting upon it with gold and oils- rebelling against an all-utilitarian narrative and ascribing a more sentimental value to what would have been regarded as a simple “useless” object, the imagery of the memento mori is used as a soft reminder against such thinking.
“I Love you”, 18 x 13 IN, Watercolor on Paper, 2021
An allegorical work which draws attention to and depicts a personification of the international Uighur diaspora fleeing persecution from Xinjiang. It is titled and based on the poem “I Love You” by By Abide Abbas Nesrin, a Uighur poet living in Turkey affected by the diaspora:
“I swear by the calluses inside me, I swear by hopes with whitening lips, I swear by my soul that can’t emerge, I swear by sunrises without you, If you become a wall I will still know you, In the pocket of a bird I would still feel you, If you are reborn as a snake I will still love you”
“Pupa”, 36 x 50 CM, Watercolor and Ink on Paper, 2022
A depiction relating the process of metamorphosis to traumatic events, critiquing the common platitude of "trauma" existing to make oneself stronger, and instead the reality as a very violent, upsetting, and painful process in nature.
“Swan Song”, 70 x 100 CM, Oil on Linen, 2022
An allegorical piece on the dire situation of the climate crisis depicted through the literal idiom of a "swan song”, a swan’s last call before it passes away, and the still, small hope of renewal presented though the hatchling next to the dying bird and withering landscape.