Ricardo Rodriguez

In Scenes from the East (2025), Valencian artist Ricardo Rodríguez explores the duality between strength and vulnerability through iconography inspired by East Asian visual traditions. After working with imaginary themes like Formula 1 or the cowboy, he now turns his gaze to symbols such as the samurai, cherry blossoms, or temples, where power and fragility coexist in tension. The series incorporates a formal innovation: paintings on superimposed panels that break the plane and construct a three-dimensional narrative space, akin to vignettes or scenes unfolded in layers. This structure intensifies the contrasts —warriors, flowers, love, and confrontation— and proposes a reflection on the masks and defenses we erect, understanding strength not as the absence of fragility, but as its companion: characters do not overcome it, they coexist with it.

7 works in the series

In Easy to Love, Harder to Hold, Ricardo Rodríguez Cosme takes the figure of the cowboy as an alter ego to reflect on the artist's position within the art system: their relationship with the market, with other creators, and with themselves. With direct imagery and the use of text as a conceptual signature, the series addresses tensions such as rebellion, trust, and the drive for independence. The works combine meticulous realism and powerful visual statements.

3 works in the series