Surya Ratha 

13’ x 9’ x 9’

PVC piping, LED lights, steel wire, fabric and photovoltaic paneling

2011

2011 FSP/Jerome Fellow

Artist Statement

I have always been intrigued by the possibility of making art that embraces, or at least articulates, the immanent change that is part of our daily lives. For the past ten years impermanence and transcendence have become big parts of the narrative behind my work. By impermanence I don’t mean the simpler interpretation “x was, and now it was no longer is,” or “this object is decaying/disappearing.” These formulations themselves imply some sort of permanence, because they merely see decay as the end in a chain of existence, instead of as one of its many links. Impermanence, paradoxically, carries with it a sort of continuum, because all matter and all events are compounded. In other words, they arise and decay dependently on other causes. I want to find ways to express that continuity. A continuity that becomes a sort of “preservation through corruption,” very similar to the evolution languages and cultures. At the same time, I am very interested in that sublime sense of transcendence that one experiences when entering certain spaces-whether natural or constructed. Throughout history humans have built around these spaces to enhance and enshrine such sensations, but nowadays, the commercial side of our lives has exerted such a disproportionate influence in how we design and conceive space, that contemporary architectural design is obsessed with the idea of transit, and most spaces are meant to receive and send off consumers in as efficient a way as possible. My purposes in inviting you into a space is the complete opposite; I want people to stay. I want you to pause. Very much like you would at a sacred space – natural or built.

Jose Emilio Rodriguez

Born: San Juan, Puerto Rico, 1969

Education

MFA, School of Visual Arts, 1999

BFA, Ohio State University, 1996