Francisco Rodriguez

Mousse Magazine

Francisco Rodriguez “Midday Demon” at Steve Turner, Los Angeles

Steve Turner is pleased to present “Midday Demon”, a solo exhibition of new paintings by London-based Francisco Rodriguez, most of which feature an isolated male figure within a desolate urban landscape.
In some, the figure is upright and smoking a cigarette. In others, he appears to have passed out. The artist describes the bleak setting as one that fosters exhaustion, listlessness, sadness, dejection, restlessness, anxiety and depression. Rodriguez observed the phenomena of the “midday demon” while growing up in Santiago, one of the largest cities in South America; again in London where he has lived for the last five years; and also during a recent residencies in Poland and Ukraine. He ponders the effects of the oppressive midday sun and wonders if such “spirits” actually do appear at that hour. Are his figures victims of some “midday demon”; or are they the demons themselves?

At Steve Turner,  Los Angeles
until 12 October 2019