JOSÉ TONITO RODRIGUEZ: Inktervensions

Born in Havana, Cuba in 1961, José Tonito Rodriguez came to the United States in 1978 and currently lives in Florida.  His early career as a photographer significantly shaped his current work. Using photographic paper, color inks, and an array of unconventional techniques, his images have a uniquely organic, exploratory feel.  What he calls “accidents” splatter and sprawl across paper, revealing themselves to him as he follows and urges them forward into other-worldly forms.  Influenced by the forces of nature, he imagines the creation of rivers and lakes as he works, sometimes visualizing how clouds or even micro-organisms might behave under a microscope.  The artist’s experiments tease the viewer into discovering “hidden, magical worlds” within our own imaginations.

Tonito earned a BFA from Florida International University in 1997 and has been exhibited in the U.S as well as in his native country at the Colonial Museum of Havana, the Ludwig Foundation of Cuba, among others.

Artist's website