Above: “About to Explode”
University Libraries has recently acquired seven paintings by Phoenix Latino artist Julio Cesar Rodarte. These are on display in the café’s lower level. New furnishings have also been acquired with support from the SGA.
The oldest of four children, Rodarte was born in Fresnillo, Zacatecas in 1984. Three years later the family immigrated to the United States. He took his first art classes in high school in Arizona after his psychologist and school counselor encouraged him to take a drawing class after a failed suicide attempt.
Above: Julio Cesar Rodarte in front of his painting, “Constructed Chaos”
At the age of 19 he enrolled at Glendale Community College where he discovered his talent for painting. Since then he’s developed his unique style in which he first develops a sculptural form and then paints on the shapes with colorful repetitive patterns, geometric shapes, forms, silhouettes, and numbers. In 2008 he began showing his art in group shows in Phoenix and had his first solo exhibition “Over and Over” at Arizona State University’s Downtown Campus in Phoenix in 2009. Since then the 26 year old painter has continued to have solo and group shows such as “Shapes”, a March 2010 solo exhibition and “Arte Latino en la Ciudad”, a May 2010 group show at the Phoenix Center for the Arts.
His art has been collected by corporations and private collectors. He says he continues “to paint with determination” in his studio in Phoenix.
Brian Coutts
Above, left to right: “Is This Real, What Do You Feel?,” “Sound Waves,” “Constructed Chaos”
Above, left to right: “Sound Waves,” “The Superhero of Color,” “Is This Real, What Do You Feel?”
Above: “About to Explode,” “Upside Down”
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