Press Mentions
Daniel Rios Rodriguez’s “Early Life” (2020) in the exhibition “Semper Virens.”
New York Times, Art Reviews by Martha Schwendener, February 14, 2020
What to See Right Now in New York Art Galleries
“Mr. Rodriguez’s paintings, which are more like chunky constructions with idiosyncratic homemade frames, include many found objects he collected while walking in the river valley near his home in San Antonio, Texas. There is a distinct folk-art feel to the show. Some works even conjure the vapid, cheery paintings you’d find in hotel rooms or at a local cafe. The precision and structure of these works — as well as nods to artists like Marsden Hartley — are a giveaway, however: Mr. Rodriguez has an M.F.A. in painting from Yale. In other words, this is folk art threaded through the needle of studied composition and artistry rather than curios fashioned by a self-taught savant. What we’re seeing is Mr. Rodriguez discarding the rules of Western art history, pushing “high” painting toward craft and coaxing us to follow.”
South St. Marys, 2015-16, oil, nails, wood, cement, metal and paper on panel with altered found frame, 14 by 17½ inches; at Western Exhibitions.
Art in America, Reviews, by Kyle MacMillan, March 24, 2016
"Daniel Rios Rodriguez’s quirky, unassuming paintings don’t fall into any easily recognizable niche or category, as was seen in the up-and-coming San Antonio artist’s first solo show at Western Exhibitions. With their homemade and found wood frames, their collaged elements (shells, river rocks, feathers), and their deliberately unrefined paint-handling, these works have a rustic, do-it-yourself feel..."
The McNay Art Museum, ALA: Daniel Rios Rodriguez, Vimeo Interview, 2015
"Daniel Rios Rodriguez combines imagery found in nature and derived from fantasy in his collaged works on canvas. Though often humorous on one level, Rodriguez’s work also invites the viewer into the darker realms of the artist’s psyche.
The ALA series salutes the vitality of the contemporary art community in the San Antonio area. Four artists are featured annually, each offering his or her perspective on current work and studio practice.
The McNay Contemporary Collectors Forum (MCCF) initiated the Artists Looking at Art series and jointly sponsors it with the McNay's education department."
Soltero, 2014, oil, flashe, denim and wood on canvas with cedar frame, at Roberts & Tilton.
Los Angeles Times, Review by David Pagel, March 11, 2015
“And There Is an End” is ahead of time — three times over.
"At Roberts & Tilton, the 16-artist exhibition fast-forwards a few months: More like a summer group show than a mid-spring offering, its diverse works are loosely linked rather than nailed down into tight groups.
Its casually apocalyptic title also suggests purpose, linking that end to another one: the desire to be done with the idea that art is a coldly speculative endeavor defined by professionals — financial and otherwise.
Hands-on dabbling, intimate exploration, fearless amateurism and goofy gambits are wholeheartedly embraced. This makes for a seriously ragged group of DIY experiments whose rough-edged messiness and psychological dissonance stand out from the soulless stuff so often served up by the little darlings of the auction houses.
Standouts include loopy still lifes by Daniel Rios Rodriguez, Max Jansons and Emily Sudd. Matt Lifson and Nathan Kitch turn the surfaces of their intensely different works into springboards for the imagination, where just about anything goes."