ROLANDO ROJAS

BIOGRAPHY | CURRICULUM VITAE

BIOGRAPHY

Rolando Rojas is a Mexican painter and printmaker who lives in Oaxaca, Mexico. His work remains deeply connected thematically to his cultural history and the legacy of the rich Oaxacan visual arts tradition.  Universal themes of fertility, sensuality and music and recurring motifs, such as the cosmos, the sun and the moon are hallmarks of his work.

Like so many of his contemporaries in Oaxaca, Rolando Rojas grew up in a culture where storytelling was an important part of every child’s upbringing. His work is influenced by the tales told by his grandmother and great-grandmother, which included narratives about historical events and a variety of indigenous myths about human behavior and the beginning of the world.

There is a sense that Rolando has captured another place, another time, another dimension—one that is replete with unusual creatures, altered by the perspective of a childhood spent in a small rural village. But, there is also a quiet and playful energy about his work that contains multiple layers of meaning, and rich sensual symbolism that, in some cases, is waiting to be discovered.

When Rolando Rojas first began to paint, he refrained from attending classes or workshops because he could not afford them. In time, the artist would open his own studio and teach others what he had learned through his journey. Today, Rolando Rojas is an internationally-acclaimed artist, with experience working with a variety of techniques and materials including linoleum, lithographs, metal, ink, mixed media and Oleographs (an engraving technique that replaces ink with oil, endowing each work with rich colors and a beautifully textured finish).

In some cases, surfaces texture is created  by mixing actual soil from Sierra Madre de Chiapas with paint, making a primordial connection to his Zapotec Indian ancestry.  Rolando gathers up handfuls of various hues of earth pigment, and mixes them by hand to build his palette.

This unique focus and power in his composition allows his work to transcend any national boundaries and connects with a universal language represented by the work of artists like Wilhelm DeKooning, Robert Beachamp, and Gerhard Richter. In a relatively short time, Rolando Rojas has become a master of this tradition and has achieved international recognition in the USA, Japan, France, Canada, Cuba, Argentina, and Puerto Rico.