Ofelia Rodríguez

Ofelia Rodríguez’s work is rich with recurring symbols that invite viewers into a profound emotional dialogue. She aimed to transcend the surface of her paintings, reaching into the viewer’s interior through evolving visual strategies developed across her career. Her compositions often incorporate motifs drawn from Caribbean culture—such as snails, starfish, iguanas, and crocodiles—that disrupt flat pictorial planes. These elements coexist with objects imbued with symbolic meanings and energies, creating vibrant, layered surfaces. Exploring themes of femininity and self-awareness, Rodríguez’s signature “magic boxes” function as metaphors for the unconscious mind. These sculptural assemblages serve as stages where dark forces and intense emotions play out, reflecting both the artist’s psyche and inviting spectators into an intimate, often mysterious inner world. Rooted in a Caribbean cultural context and informed by a poetic sensibility, her practice combines personal mythology with broader cultural narratives, offering a deeply immersive experience that blends memory, identity, and dreamlike symbolism. ...

Instituto de Vision is a Bogotá and New York based gallery for conceptual practices. Their mission is to investigate conceptual discourses that have been neglected by the official Latin American art canon. They have recovered important estates from the Latin American art of the mid century and continue to research the most enigmatic oeuvres of the region. Through a parallel program, they represent some of the most relevant contemporary practices from Colombia, Chile, North America, Venezuela, and others. Directed by three women, Instituto de Vision gives special attention to female voices, queer theories, environmental activism, the conflicts of migration, and other critical positions that challenge the established order. Using the international art scene as a platform, they are committed to give visibility and expand the work of artists that reveal critical realities and raise important questions for these contemporary subjects. ...