| NORBERTO (BERT) RODRIGUEZ |
Named "Best Local Artist" by Miami New Times in 2006, Miami native Norberto (Bert) Rodriguez earned a B.F.A. from New World School of the Arts in 1998 and also studied at the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture in Portland, Maine. He has shown his work at many galleries and museums, including the Fredric Snitzer Gallery, Miami; the Bass Museum of Art, Miami Beach; the Museum of Contemporary Art, North Miami; and the Bronx Museum, New York. His 40 by 60 foot photographic banner with a view of the water, the Venetian Causeway, and Miami Beach was displayed on the exterior of the Miami Herald Building in the winter of 2006, a commission from the Miami-Dade County Department of Cultural Affairs. Rodriguez’s work has been acquired by The Rubell Family Collection, the Museum of Contemporary Art, North Miami, and the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art, Kansas City.
Witty, ironic, and sometimes hilarious, Rodriguez’s conceptual work deals with nearly everything he experiences in his daily life. A Friendly Reminder, a black light neon sign reading “DEATH…it’s closer than you think” and The Gifts I Could Never Give You, a 2004 show literally consisting of gifts he had never given to former girlfriends, both capture his original, deadpan humor and hands-off approach to the making of art. You’re Just a Friend I Haven’t Met, a photo of a pan of chocolate chip cookies Rodriguez frosted with his name and phone number in search of a date, met with much-deserved success, and shows why he is considered one of Miami’s most promising young artists.
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