Atlanta Journal-Constitution, The = (GA)

February 19, 2006<= /span>
Section: Arts & Books
Edition: Main; The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Page: <= span style=3D'font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Geneva'>K5

VISUAL ARTS: A world = of anxiety emerges
= CATHERINE FOX

REVIEW =

= "Rocio Rodriguez: Parallels"

= Through March 25. 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Tuesdays-Saturdays. M= useum of Contemporary Art of Georgia. 1447 Peachtree St., Atlanta. 404-881-1109. <= /span>

= Verdict: Strong paintings announce a new direction for the <= st1:place w:st=3D"on">Atlanta artist.

= Throughout her career, Rocio Rodriguez has approached the empty canvas as a forum for her thoughts and feelings. =

= During the early '90s, she gave voice to the loss and pain caused by her family's exile from Cuba with a vocabulary of lone figures and abstracted wounds. She shifted gears after a 1996 fellowship at the American Academy in Rome. Inspired by the beauty of the <= st1:place w:st=3D"on">Eternal City, she let herself loose in t= he joy of painting, using ornamental ironwork and, later, lilies and roses as motifs.

= Now, Rodriguez has shifted gears -- and moods -- again. The dramatic new paint= ings and drawings on view at the Museum of Contemporary Art of Georgia simmer = with anxiety.

= The artist has traded rose and pink for a harsh orange or a sober palette of black, taupe and white. The once-undulant line has become more regimented, angular. Jagged shapes painted in flat colors replace the voluptuous flow= er forms. As titles like "Reconnaissance" and "Rules of Engagement" suggest, the disquiet is political as well as personal. =

= In "Rules of Engagement," large jigsaw-shaped blocks of color are accompanied by clusters of frenetic lines and jerky, Etch-a-Sketch ones. = The piece has the look of a map or a survey. One can imagine a general standi= ng beside it with a pointer. A drawing called "April 8" vibrates w= ith a nervous energy. One loop of lines, layered atop a menacing black form, suggests barbed wire. Another looks like Mercator lines collapsing without the support of a globe.

= Things fall apart.

= Rodriguez, it seems, has tapped into the existential worry engendered by global unre= st, nuclear fears and war.
Photo

= Jagged shapes in "Rules of Engagement" suggest a tougher Rocio Rodriguez.

= Photo

= Frenetic lines set off patches of black, taupe and white in "Coup de Main.&qu= ot;

=
Rocio Rodriguez

Copyright 2006 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution