Daniel Rios Rodriguez

Daniel Rios Rodriguez, a painter based in San Antonio, Texas, exhibited work in the raw, dilapidated eastern portion of the Ice Plant at the end of his residency in December. Rios Rodriguez’s small, votive- or icon-like paintings are inspired by natural and man-made aspects of the Texas landscape and incorporate bits of refuse collected by the artist on his excursions. He builds his paintings in layers, then sometimes applies a torch to their surfaces to create a controlled burn that reveals the works’ underlying materiality. Arranged on the walls and placed on the dirt floor of the Ice Plant’s eastern side were paintings—many painted directly on the wall and evoking terra cotta sun figures—and freestanding sculptures made from rough-hewn chunks of wood and other materials.

Daniel Rios Rodriguez received his MFA from Yale School of Art, New Haven, CT in 2007. Recent solo exhibitions include Artpace, San Antonio (2019); Kerlin Gallery, Dublin (2018); Nicelle Beauchene Gallery, New York (2017); Cooper Cole, Toronto (2017); Lulu, Mexico City (2016); Western Exhibitions, Chicago (2016); McNay Art Museum, San Antonio (2015); and White Columns, New York (2011). Recent group exhibitions include Nicelle Beauchene Gallery, New York (2018); Contemporary Arts Museum Houston (2018); Galeria Fortes D’aloia & Gabriel, São Paulo, Brazil (2017); Hannah Hoffman Gallery, Los Angeles (2016); Wilkinson Gallery, London (2015); and Roberts & Tilton Gallery, Los Angeles (2015). The artist is a 2013 recipient of a Louis Comfort Tiffany Award.