Cristina Lei Rodríguez

Sometimes, in the midst of the frantic hurly-burly of everyday life, we seem to reach a moment of lucidity when everything suddenly freezes. It is when we observe from this angle that we discover that the edges are not sharp, and that everything blends into a sort of viscous amalgam on the verge of collapsing or melting. Cristina Lei Rodríguez’s artistic proposal fits exactly into this momentum: a crucial interstice that defines and condemns us.
This fate explains the reason why we cannot exactly grasp the proposal of this slippery artist who escapes easy definitions. Lei Rodríguez’s oeuvre keeps its balance on the tense and delicate tightrope implied in any duality. Her sculptural forms constitute whimsical harmonies dominated by a tightness which we guess is premonitory. This antithetic sense that prevails in her work may be summarized by the following dialogical pairs: organic forms versus geometric forms; natural element versus synthetic element; abstract character versus referential sense; macro versus micro scale; glamour versus decadence; creation versus destruction.
“Change”, held at Fred Snitzer Gallery, was the title of the solo show featuring Cristina Lei Rodríguez’s recent work. The body of work presented in this exhibit could be subdivided into three fundamental focuses of interest.
The first of these was associated to that feeling of timelessness so dear to this artist’s proposal and which seconded the general atmosphere of the show, dominated simultaneously by a futuristic and an archaeological sense. We seemed to find ourselves in the presence of archaeological vestiges of a future society: a still unconsummated world, but one towards which we are irreversibly headed. In this subgroup, the titles of the works became revealing. Such was the case of Excavation, Rethink or The End.
A second subgroup appeared to focus on a more contingent discourse. The trilogy Cause and Effect was a beautiful allegory of the moment US society is currently living. It is not by chance that each of the works comprising this series (Red, Blue, White) was named after the colors of the flag. On the polished pedestals that reflected the image of visitors approaching the works arranged in a linear order, enigmatic entanglements crowned by ribbons alluded to the original values on which the American nation is built. The title of the exhibition, “Change”, added new readings to this series.
The third group of works focused on what we might describe as one of the most pressing symptoms in contemporary society: vanity. The light pieces comprising this group declined resting on the floor and were shown, instead, on shelves on the walls. They included Settle into Place, Living Off the Accumulation and Open. The latter work, paradigmatic on account of the effective use of composition, constituent elements and color, had a strong evocative power: it conveyed an atmosphere of frivolousness not devoid of certain rococo accent.
In the manner of an altar of a civilization beginning to decline, “Change” became a sign of our time, questioning our senses with every torsion, every shred, and every suspended drop.

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*. Janet Batet
Jameson, Fredric. Postmodernism or the Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism. Duke University Press, 1991