The Truth In This Art: Stories That Matter

Rob Lee: Welcome to The Truth in His Art, your source of conversations connecting arts, culture, and community. These are stories that matter, and I am your host, Rob Lee. Today, I'm excited to welcome my next guest on to the podcast, a Latina mixed media artist based in the Philadelphia area. Her work focuses on themes of femininity, natural beauty, and identity.

She is known for blending bold colors with striking realism. So please welcome to the podcast, Genesis Rodriguez. Welcome to the podcast. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you for coming on. Thank you for spending some time with me.

The clock is ticking. I'd like to tell people. Before we get into the deeper questions, and just excited to have you here, and I'm glad we're able to chat a little bit before we get to the end of the thing. I've been talking to students recently. Apparently, my podcast is part of a curriculum.

Genesis Rodriguez: Oh, wow. Good for you. I don't know. Absolutely. One of the things that the students have asked me is, how do you make sure you have a good idea of how you get a guest on your side early on to establish a relationship like rapport? It's like, if I can crack them, if I can make them laugh, then we're in. We're already there. We're already staged.

Yeah. So before we get to the deeper questions about process, your insight, your background, could you introduce yourself in your own words? It's really important to give folks the space and opportunity to do that. And if you will, tell us a bit about your work. So please, a little bit of pitch. Okay. Okay.

Well, my name is Genesis Rodriguez. My art practice goes by Emotional IQ. I'm a mixed media artist, but I love oil mediums, oil pastel, or oil paint. I'm a Latino artist with a non-traditional art background. And I use my roots and my personal experiences as a young Hispanic woman, as my main inspiration. A lot of the work that I do is self-portraits. And I use my own image to kind of just portray what's going on in my life. I like to call myself kind of like an open book, very human. And I want everyone to kind of see that it's okay to have flaws. It's okay to be experiencing bad emotions or bad moments in your life. And to try to kind of like flip that a little bit and make it beautiful in a way to hang on your wall. Thank you.

Rob Lee: You're doing better for me than most people do in this whole mix. You answered one question and you already got another rapid fire question. I was typing one in and I was like, you can fire a question.

Genesis Rodriguez: Oh man, okay.

Rob Lee: So thank you for that. And I love the open book piece. I love sort of the emotional IQ. That's great. And sort of your color. That's the thing that pops in your work as well. And sort of just being, I guess, bears not quite the word, but being revealing in that way of this is me. This is how I'm feeling. This is what I'm thinking.

Yeah. You know, through the nearly 17 years of me being a podcaster, you know, people who followed what I've done and some of them, they've been around for a long time. You know, it's sort of the matriculation of being someone who at the time when I started up 24, I'm 40 now. So having those stages of like, yo, my 30s, you know, like this is what I was into. It's like, yo, you had your hair cut this way.

Remember you used to use this. So it's done in an audio format, but using sort of the creative outlet to share where you're at at a certain stage, that's very impactful.

Genesis Rodriguez: Yeah, absolutely. And you know, that's something that I've kind of been made aware of more recently as I've been exhibiting more. Um, you know, I've been making art my entire life and I know that we'll talk a little bit about that, but I mainly fall on self-portraiture and I have self-portraits from when I was like 11, 12, and it sees me kind of grow up in my artistic practice. It's like, it's like taking a picture of your life in a way where you see yourself kind of growing up, but my work kind of encapsulates beyond that and encapsulates like what I'm feeling mentally, what I'm going through or what the world is going like, what's happening in the world around me too. So I mean, each artwork that I make is kind of like a little time capsule for me. Yeah.

Rob Lee: And I think, I think going, going this is that this sort of living archive component and you know, this season of the pod has kind of been split into sort of two priorities, having like, you know, new guests or such as yourself of like, oh, I'm interested in this person. Let me put this person on. What you got going on? But then also having folks who were on and thinking about it, you know, and I mentioned this as far as time, I get to look back at some of my old interviews. It's like, wow, I was not a good interviewer there. Maybe I should have went a little bit deeper or all this person's work has changed in a lot in six years.

Like COVID was a part of it. So much more available. And it's like, I'm covering this and now it's like, I'm covering really happy work because I had this period where it was like, Yes, yes, absolutely.

Genesis Rodriguez: Absolutely. And I can only imagine like that time for me during the pandemic, I was actually in school. So a lot of my work was more, it was more guided based off of what class I was taking at the time.

But now I'm a little bit, I'm more free because I have my own guidelines. So I'm curious to see how my work today ages as I get older and how I can reflect on it later on.

Rob Lee: So I want to go back a little bit. You know, give us a bit about like growing up. What was it like growing up? Share some of those early experiences growing up and how perhaps those experiences impacted your view as an artist, how you approach art or how you approach life. It's going to get a little bit in that area.

Genesis Rodriguez: Yeah, absolutely. So growing up, I was a latchkey kid and being raised in a single parent household. I'm an only child. So I would come home from school and I would be alone most of the day. So I kind of like was left to my own devices and I had to find a way to entertain myself, you know, like I was obviously, I was raised in a generation where like, you know, we have our phones or iPads, all of those things.

But like when you're young, you don't have access to social media in the same way as other people. So I would watch like YouTube videos of like how to draw and I would just do those all day. And even before that, when I was younger, like, um, I would just sit in my living room and I would just like cut paper, just cut random pieces of pages.

I was so like infatuated with like the feeling of doing something with my hands. Um, so from a very young age, I was always creative. Um, and you know, my mom, she noticed that somehow, I don't know how, but we found a school that integrates art practices into everyday academics. So ever since I was in fifth grade, I was studying visual art, um, from the very early age of 10. And I continued doing that until I graduated high school. Um, that those middle school years were, you know, you can only do so much with the middle schooler, you know, so, um, I was just learning about myself. I was learning about what art means and just more technical aspects, but then I was also, um, being introduced to like, um, singing and instruments and all those things. Um, but then when I went into high school, um, it was, it was more vigorous. My, my high school taught at a college level. I got three and a half hours of studio practice every single day for four years.

Um, even during the pandemic. So like I, I have been, art has been part of my life ever since I was a child. Um, and I just, I can't live without it. Honestly.

Rob Lee: I love that. It's like you're getting that accelerated experience when you're talking about like multiple hours, like every day and then this sort of mixture. Like there's something about not purely being in, being around, let's say, other painters or being around other podcasters, but being around people who are doing something creative. It's like a certain energy that's there. It's like, you making art, what you making? Yeah. Can hit you. It's just like, it's just an energy.

Genesis Rodriguez: Absolutely. And I'm so grateful to like have experienced that in my life because you're right. Like in the schools that I was at, it wasn't just art. Like I would go out into the hallway into this thorough and I would see people reciting their lines for a play or I would hear a violin from like the basement playing because they're practicing for a show that they're going to have. Like every single part of my upbringing had some sort of artistic outlet to it. Um, and so it was almost impossible to not be inspired when I was in school because you're constantly getting that energy from other people. Um, and when you work in a group studio setting as an artist, that is an unmatched experience as well because you get to look at your peers and see how they work and you get to learn from that. Not only that, but you also get to get feedback every single day and you get to improve every single day when you're in your own studio or your own space and you're working, it's only you in that room unless, you know, you go out there and you make friends and do art making in a group setting, but it's not readily available for everybody and most people are very independent when they work. So I can say I was definitely at the time accelerating at a different level because I was surrounded by so many creatives.

Rob Lee: For sure. And, you know, in those, those instances where, you know, I've been doing this for as long as I have in a majority of it was, you know, I've started the last six years or so, most of it was internal with my circle of friends. So you put something out there.

You think you feel, however you feel about it, this stuff is great, but I found that in doing this sort of journey, which feels really weird to say, but doing, like sort of this podcast and being more out there, one of the things that stuck out, and I'm going to move into this next question because I'm really curious about it. One of the things that stuck out was that sort of peer reviewed thing. It wasn't that I was doing a podcast or anything, but it was two instances that came up.

One was this sort of podcast listening party. And I got to sit there like in the wild. Yeah. It was me because, you know, like, look, I'll wear a mask sometimes. I'm like, I can't.

It's all in the one. It's me. And then I don't talk because my voice is recognizable. I guess. So, you know, I'm listening to people kind of interact with my stuff. They're getting the bits. They're laughing at some of the stuff. And they're like, that's really insightful. Yeah, it's working.

Yeah. The business is other instance where I was in the digital storytelling class at a university in Maryland, Baltimore County. And I am not a video person. I do audio.

Audio is my medium, right? And the project we were working on in the class was you're going to do a video and everyone would do a video and then we're all getting the videos. So me, because I think outside of the box, Aquarius gang, gang, gang, I did some sound mixing. I gave sort of these stills for this video, but I did some sound mixing. They made it seem almost like a motion comic.

Genesis Rodriguez: Interesting.

Rob Lee: And it really, I had the sort of shortcoming of the sort of visual component because I have a standard and it's like, I don't want something. I don't want a grainy video on a good video. Yeah. So I was like, I'm not going to venture into it. I did a work around and it turned out to be really good in getting that feedback from folks. One gave me sort of some confidence in that. Trust my gut, my creative gut.

Genesis Rodriguez: And that's awesome too, because you're able to, you were challenged, you know, and being challenged is honestly when you are doing your own practice, you have to go out of your way to challenge yourself. But you were challenged and enforced kind of to do something, but you leaned on what you know is your strong suit and you leaned on that and you made something great out of it, even though maybe you're, you know, you don't have a lot of experience doing video work or anything like that. You still, you still made it work and you were able to get a good, a good piece out of that, you know?

Rob Lee: Yeah, that's awesome. And a peer review is just the piece of it that just really puts that pen in it. Absolutely. So moving into this, this next question. I was kind of touching on it a little bit that, that listening party, I was out there in a while. So tell me what it was like, like showing your work. This is in a sense me showing my work for the first time. But what was it like the first time like showing your work? Could you, you know, like publicly, you know, whether it be to the gallery setting, whether it be to like someone really close, but could you describe that feeling and, you know, that first time and how does that compare to now, whether it's showing an online or in a gallery setting or even at Art in the Park?

Genesis Rodriguez: Yeah, yeah. You know, that's a great question because I've never honestly reflected on that because I've been doing it for so long. But my first exhibiting or public viewing experience was when I was in middle school, you know, we would work on art for the entire school year and then it would come to an art show at the end of the year. And it was very like not what you expect a gallery or an exhibition to be.

Like it was in the cafeteria of our school, which is in the basement of the building. Like it was not, it was not what I experienced now, but it was very different than now because I remember at the time I wasn't feeling very confident in the work I was making because since I was so early on, I was always asking the question of like, how do I find my style? How do I find like what identifies me as an artist? And I was kind of just creating. I was, I was still figuring myself out. So, you know, that experience for me, honestly, was not very remarkable because of that because I didn't feel confident in the work I was producing. But then I think back to, you know, a little bit later on when I had my, my senior art show from my high school and that was a different experience. Because I genuinely felt proud of what I was, I was making, what I was producing, what I put on those walls. And it was so nerve wracking and so like, while to me that I was there representing myself and like, I'm getting an actual feel of what exhibiting is like.

Um, I wasn't great at starting conversations or introducing my work or anything like that. Like it was, I was so like new to it all. And in comparison to now, it's like, I'm a completely different person because now I'm not doing it because it's part of the curriculum. I'm doing it because it's part of my life and because that's what I want to do. And so when I started to venture and do exhibitions on my own terms, I had to learn to become a confident artist, to become a confident speaker and a person that is able to share my ideas verbally rather than visually. Um, and yeah, go ahead.

Rob Lee: Well, in that, because, because you're touching on, I'm very curious, where does that, that confidence come from? Does it come from the, cause you're, you're, you're alluding to it, I think, sort of this freedom and this sort of reorientation, if you will, to my life. Or is it from the reps of like, I've done this a lot now. I've done this more and more. So these are free throws. Okay. Maybe this one is a game, but this is, these are free throws. Yeah.

Genesis Rodriguez: I mean, I think it's a mixture of both. Honestly, um, you know, having a lot of experience under your bow, it, it'll help you because it'll teach you what to expect in certain circumstances. But also having good confidence in the work that you're producing is so important because that is how you sell yourself, you know, and unfortunately in this world that we live in, everything is a business. And as an artist, you're a business owner and you need to sell your work. So if you're not confident in the work that you're producing or putting on the walls, and if you're not able to kind of talk about it and express your ideas, you're not going to sell.

Um, and it's, it's such an unfortunate circumstance for a lot of people. Cause I know many artists are very, um, introverted and don't prefer to share like the personal process behind their work. Um, but a lot of times the person that is looking at your art on the wall does not have the same art critique experience as you does not know how to analyze an artwork and in the way that I was taught at least, you know, so it's so important to know what you're working on, know what points you're trying to make in a painting, in a sculpture, in a drawing and be able to express that verbally.

Rob Lee: Yeah, super important. Um, one anecdote real quick where, you know, I used to do a bunch of different podcasts and I just remember me and a couple of my buddies who were out on a one of those dude nights out and I think we ended up at a soju place. You're having like Korean liquor is just like, are we bugging?

What do you mean? And if there's a couple next to us, there's three of us and we're just like, you know, riffing and he kind of got a, the couple next to us got to get kind of got a sense of you guys do something. You guys are famous or something, right? But we're talking really confidently in our stuff and we're kind of riffing back and forth and my buddy who's the youngest of the three of us, he, um, you know, interacted with a couple and a couple was like, you guys, do you guys speak? Just be podcasters or something. And he's like, yeah, we're podcasters and the guy and the couple was like, so what do you guys podcast about? And then all of the confidence just fell out of my boy. We talk about stuff. You know, we have these black things we talk about. I'm looking at him like, let me do this. Let me do it. Yeah. And I think you're right. You can almost see like someone actively unsubscribing to the podcast that he did.

Genesis Rodriguez: Yeah. Yeah. No, I know what you mean. Yeah. And that's, that's such a great way to put it too. Um, because a lot of the times when, you know, you're exhibiting or when it's an opening night or something like that, you're going to meet people that you're never going to see again. And those however long, one minute, five minutes, however, like however long it is, that's your time to build a connection and to build something from the interaction. And a lot of the time when I, when I first started out, I wasn't even approaching anyone looking at my art. That was my number one mistake is that I was standing back and just waiting for people to come to me when it's like, I, how, how would they know? You know, yes, my face is in the painting, but that doesn't mean that like they just magically know that I'm the artist.

Like that's not, that's not how it works. So I learned after time that like, if you see someone like interested in what you're doing, shoot them a question, try to engage them into what they're looking at. Cause most of the time we live in the type of culture where it's like, you look and then you scroll, you know, most of the time someone will look and walk away and never remember, never remember you ever again, but you need to kind of get that, that hook. You need to make that interaction something that they'll think about later on. Yeah.

Rob Lee: It's, it's a part in printing. It's, you know, and I think you had a really good point earlier too. And that, you know, a lot of folks are sort of introverted shy. What have you and having these sort of instances where someone is asking you about your work or curious about your work or what have you. Ooh, I'm on the spot now, but it's just, it's a small thing. And I think to sort of the reps thing, we were talking about the more you do, you get just comfortable women and sharing sort of the story.

Yeah. For lack of a better term, people want to, people want the story. You know, people fall in love with the story. The work is the word.

It's like, this is technically sound. This is really done well. You know, you have some folks who do really like photo realistic work, right? And then it's like, hmm, lacking the soul a little bit, but the story attached to it, that can get that thing over to hump where it's like, yeah, this looks really, really good, but the story that went along with this was fire.

I loved being in that artist. You get all of the things. Yeah, absolutely. So going into some of the scenes, it's getting to the nitty gritty, if you will, which I know.

Just sounding old, as I say this. You work often explores things of femininity, natural beauty and identity, shedding light on, you know, pieces of your inner world as you touched on in the intro, I'm a, I'm a, I'm a hidden individual. I have a big head and I have a hat on right now as a reason for it. Um, but I have a lot of ideas and not all of those ideas, make it into a podcast, make it into my creative sort of outlet. So what is your process and bringing those sort of inner thoughts, the ones that are going on in your head to, to canvas or to any of these sort of art that you're pursuing? Yeah.

Genesis Rodriguez: Um, so I have two ways of basically going about that. Um, I was taught to plan every single step of your process. Um, I went from, you know, you go from the concept to the five composition studies to three value studies, to one color study.

You know, you do all of that before you even touch the final. Um, which I love and I think that works in so many ways, especially for artwork that is really heavy in concepts. Um, for example, my, my painting spilling my guts, that one, I went through a planning process with that. Um, you know, I sketched it, I went through different variations and I did a little bit of a color study, then I went into it. Um, but for others, I don't even really sometimes intend for things to come out as a final artwork.

Um, for, they call me exotic, that one, that was meant to just be a study. I was just practicing colored pencil because I have fought with colored pencil a lot in my life. So I wanted to, you know, learn how to use it and see if now, see if my experience with using pastel changed, um, the way I treat colored pencil. So I was working on it and then, you know, when I work, I meditate and I, I think, and that's kind of my, my alone time. And I was thinking and thinking and thinking and I was like, kind of getting riled up a little bit.

I was in my feelings and my feelings started to pour out into that, into that drawing. So then eventually it became a final artwork. So it really depends on what my end goal is for the artwork. If I'm creating to have a creative outlet and to use that as my therapy, then I'll just do without any planning. And sometimes it'll make something in the end.

But if I have a feeling that I have just been thinking about for so long, that just is part of my everyday life. And I'm like, I need to put this into something visual. I'll plan it out because I'm a perfectionist in a way. I, if I'm going to do something, it needs to be done right. So if I have a big idea, I plan and plan and plan and plan until I can finally do it and get it the way I wanted to be.

Rob Lee: Game recognized game sister. Yes. Absolutely. It's not perfect. Where are the dancers? I want exact dancers. This is a podcast. I want dancers, but I don't care.

Genesis Rodriguez: Oh my God. Yes. Cause like, and I think so many artists struggle with that too, where they, they see a vision in their brain and they're like, it has to be this way, or I'm not doing it at all, which, you know, to each their own, right? Me, I'm not that kind of person. I get an idea and I'm like, all right, let me put it down. And then let me see if I can build upon this idea.

Let me see if I can turn this into something else. Um, so my teacher's taught me about, you know, composition. You can have a composition in your head, but just try something a little bit different and then if you like that, maybe try something a little bit more different and maybe you'll like that even more. So it's important to kind of push your ideas as far as you can, because sometimes you'll produce something that you never even knew was, was possible.

Rob Lee: Yeah, I mean, it's the same in this where, you know, I have a question, you know, I ask it and maybe the person keeps going. It's like, well, you didn't knock out a couple of my other questions, so that's great. And I try to have some flexibility and openness in that, as I said earlier, letting the guests cook because you get a more robust answer out of it and maybe something further than just saying rigidly, here's my five point question that's been all over the time.

It's like, how do you question guide? It's the artist, it's the guest, it's Genesis, in this instance. Absolutely. So touching on, hey, and touching on spilling my guts, talk a bit about that for folks who are unfamiliar, you know, what was it about? But I had a, you know, sort of follow up question when I introduce it.

Genesis Rodriguez: Yeah, so spilling my guts is an artwork that is notably different than the rest of the work I've produced. It is a picture of me holding my stomach in my hands.

My chest is ripped open, basically, and my ribs is showing in a blue color, holding my stomach, but there's flowers around me. And it's kind of framed in a way. I was really actually inspired by Tarot cards for the framing in that.

And there's flowers, collage flowers surrounding me and then some flowers in the border of the artwork. And for that one, that artwork, honestly, it was completed in itself within a short amount of time, I would say about a week. But the planning and the preparation for that took a very long time because I was experiencing health issues with my stomach specifically, where I couldn't hold out food.

I was just constantly feeling sick all the time. And I wanted to find a way to visualize and show what I was feeling without blood, without being grotesque. I'm not that kind of artist. I wanted to show the pain that I was feeling at the time while also showing growth. And showing that bad things can lead to good things in the future. You know, when I went through that, I realized how important health actually is. You know, it's wild how sometimes you're not really aware of how important your body is until something happens to you. Yeah.

Rob Lee: Yeah. And, you know, and I think that that's something that's relatable where someone viewing it, they, you know, feel, oh, I feel seen, you know, I relate to that in a way. I get it in a sort of different way in doing this. It's like, oh, man, you asked a question I wish I asked or never asked me that or whatever the thing is. So do you have any experiences where maybe one of your works, someone's seeing like they're like in an exhibition, they're like, hey, who's the artist? I'm really connecting with this piece. Is there an example that comes to mind? Yeah.

Genesis Rodriguez: I mean, honestly, Silling My Guts is a really big conversation starter. That's one that I've gotten a lot of stories from. I had an interaction with this woman a few months ago where she looked at my painting and was asking me about it. And she was like, wow, you know, this actually really resonates with me because I have an autoimmune disorder. And I went through very similar things. And then all of a sudden her mom comes out and her mom says the same thing. She's like, yeah, me too. Like I was experiencing like the same thing.

Like it's so wild that we can connect on this level. And even beyond that, I had a man he was passing by just looking and he goes, you know, he's asking me about the painting. He's like, you know, I had knee surgery recently and it had me, you know, I couldn't walk for a few months. And he's telling me about his recovery and how it changed his life and how, you know, he's grateful that he can stand and walk and view my artwork, you know, that day. So I think in many ways, like that painting has really struck a chord with a lot of people because health, physical health is something that I don't really see.

Being talked about a lot in art specifically, I have a digital self-portrait that I made when I was in school. It's called pill pool. And it's me in a literally a pool of pills, like there's pills surrounding my face. And that one also, you know, brings a lot of conversation because that one is specifically geared towards mental health. And it's interesting to me how much more I hear stories about physical health versus mental health in those instances, even though I cover both of my art, but I think that artwork really strikes people because it's when you're going through something, whether it's physically or mentally, you feel alone.

You know, it's very easy to feel like you were the only person who was going through something like that, the only person who is struggling. But seeing it and being able to talk about it is so enlightening. And so, honestly, like it's inspiring. And what I'm grateful is what I'm grateful for is that those people when they spoke to me, they spoke to me healed, you know, they spoke to me and they were able to reminisce and able to laugh and smile about what they went through. But I know that there's so many people that aren't able to do that because they're actively going through those things.

So I want my art to kind of be kind of just like a beacon of light just to say like, you're not alone. You're not the only person going through this. Yeah.

Rob Lee: I think that's where, and thank you. I think that's where that transparency and sharing that there are, you know, I try to be detached emotionally. You're emotional, you know, I care.

I'm detached from others. But I'll say there are some instances in the pod where because I try to, my role is to be neutral and a guide more than anything else. And there are some instances where someone is sharing something that's very profound and has a lot of depth in it. And it's just like, ooh, and then it takes a more emotional bent. And it's like, let's go with it because this is a real conversation.

It's not like, Hey, let me do it for the clicks. It's just a real feeling. And these are sort of real emotions, complex emotions. Like when someone is like, I don't know what the future holds for me.

I don't know what's going to happen. I have this going on. I have that going on. I, you know, the sort of imposter thing that people talk about the imposter syndrome and all of that different stuff that definitely has an impact and has an impact on perhaps how you approach your work or, you know, if someone has like a physical thing that presents itself, you know, and that is what I was saying earlier in the sort of duration in which I've been doing this podcast, you know, gone to therapy a few different times. I'm currently in therapy now. And I am currently revisiting certain things that were really traumatic experiences related to health, not my health per se, but health. And it's kind of a thing that you're able to release it, you know, and I hold it on to it, but definitely it's in the top of mind. It's like, what's that doing then?

Wow. Like, you know, but it's a part of it. And I think it makes for a whole person, you know, being able to engage in that dialogue. And that makes the, the art in this story, as I said earlier, behind the art that much more impactful.

Genesis Rodriguez: Absolutely. Absolutely. And, and I think that, you know, every person does that in their own way. I mean, at some point you're going to have to face things that you weren't, that you were trying to avoid in your life, whether that's the therapy, whether that's the way different outlet. Me personally, I choose to face it head on through my art, maybe not as direct as I can be, but I try to do it in a way that is impactful to more people than just myself.

You know, it's, it's very easy in this world to be self-centered and to, um, and to focus on things that only affect you. But me, yeah, my art is self-portraiture, but I'm not making self-portraits just because I want to make myself happy. I'm making self-portraits because I'm showing that I'm a human being too, and that I'm not perfect.

No one is perfect, but I'm able to make something beautiful out of my pain and out of the experiences that I've had in my life. I'm able to build something, a career off of it, and I'm able to share these ideas and, in some ways, even get people to kind of face those things when they're avoiding it. You know, I think it's, it's interesting as an artist when you include difficult conversations in your work because you're forcing the audience to face an idea that they may be avoiding and that they may not want to ever think about, but who knows what, who knows what healing can come from that.

Rob Lee: Yeah, um, and I'm going to move into this next question, but I want to say this piece here, again, sort of the passage of time, like, you know, we've got the Trump stuff, you know, the podcast started off as a response to, you're talking spicy about the city, my guy, well, not my guy, my un-guy, and, you know, a lot of the stuff that's going on and, you know, some of the guests that I've had on who, frankly, are, you know, on, on visas, they're like, I don't know to which degree I can talk about certain things because of this and just being very sort of like, you know, we're sticking with the art, right? I say, of course, the art, this is all we're talking about.

And, but in that plate plays a part of it. And I think to not be reflective of the time that we're in in any of these things, like even when, um, you know, again, just sort of time frame, when I was doing a podcast in 2015, you know, it was called, called Metrocast. I've been talking about that a lot because people have been asking me about sort of my trajectory. And I was just like, I wrapped up an episode of that podcast as the news came out about Freddie Gray and Baltimore and all that and sort of the fallout and, and sort of the different things that are resulting subsequently. And, you know, it's not like we're discussing that, but for us to come back the following week with all of these different things, the protests and the different stuff, the unrest in the city cannot act like that is happening. That's a disservice as people who are quote unquote boots on the ground as citizens of the world that's encountering us. Absolutely.

Genesis Rodriguez: And I think, you know, being an artist in today's world is, is difficult and political in itself. And I'm still navigating that too, because there are so many emotions and a day, just every single day is like, you see so many different headlines, you see so many different things. And it's like, okay, if I want to make it artwork, am I going to do something that is visually appealing to make people happy and just forget about everything? Or am I going to do something that's more real?

And am I going to do something that's going to be a mark in history that talks about what's going on right now? And that's tough. That's tough to do as an artist, no matter what type of work that you do. The work I do is inspired by my life. So I'm trying to navigate a way to express visually how I'm feeling, but have it in alignment with the person that I am, not with the emotions that I'm feeling in this very moment. You know, it's very, every single day is a different conversation with myself. And I noticed that, you know, when the world gets crazier, I don't produce as much because I'm more intentional and I'm more aware of the impact that my artistry and my voice could make, even if it's little, you know, anything that I say or do can make an impact. And I want to make sure that it is in alignment with who I am.

Rob Lee: That's great. That's great. You know, I, what I'm doing, sort of some of this stuff, I, I'm not thinking about, will this get me demonetized? I'm not thinking about, you know, how many clicks is this one I'm going to get? I think about the conversation that I'm having. I think about the guests. I think about the archive of interviews where folks are trusting me to come on my thing, talk about their stuff, pretty much put their work out there.

I'm trusting that, that's sort of the whole thing. Everything else is noise around it. So if I'm saying something that's real or someone else is saying something that's real and it's like, well, you better be careful, you know, it's a hidden algorithm, shadow banning. It's not, not really the point of it. I don't make that.

I don't make that podcast. I make that to, as you were touching on something that feels, feels real. So I'd be remiss if I didn't ask this. And it aligns with sort of, it's a project I'm looking at that you did. It's been paying homage, right? I want to kind of combine these two questions.

You know, who are some of the artists that you admire, you're inspired by? And I'll give you a chance to answer that and I'll go to the next one. Okay.

Genesis Rodriguez: Oh man, that's like a big question. So I have to say, like, this is so, like everyone says this, but my number one is probably Frida Kahlo. Her work, she just owns, you know, or owned what she was feeling at that time. And I think that is my biggest inspiration is being able to put my face on something and be unapologetic about it. And, you know, when I learned about the struggles that she was going through behind her artwork and behind like the mask of all of that, I, I, it brought so much more value to it because when you're an artist, you can, you know, be department by things or, you know, sometimes your mental health might kick in or, you know, something else.

And you're like, you know what, I just can't, there's no way that I can produce it right now. But she still did it. She still made art, even when she couldn't even stand up, you know, like she still found a way to do it.

And that's probably like one of my biggest inspirations, honestly. Also a contemporary artist, I would say is Angela Fraley. She makes really interesting artworks of women who have been depicted in master portraits. And she gives them a new light.

She reimagines them in a way that's more how do I say it's more empowering for them, you know, maybe they were, you know, put into a painting that was very like, oh, whatever, it's like a woman in the background, you know, but she uses them and she empowers them in their reality and then gives them a new story, which I really love. And then my most recent inspiration has probably been in Kihinde Wiley. His work is just striking to me. And I, you know, I love oil mediums. So I love like, just the way that he incorporates this like decadent pattern in the background of his paintings, while having just like this really beautiful and like the color to his portraits are just so like vibrant and amazing.

I recently saw one of his paintings in person for the first time at the Armory show. And I was like, fan girling. It was like, it was like meeting a celebrity.

It was, it was amazing. But a lot of my, the work that I'm making now is really inspired by him. And I'm, I'm following that idea of using decorative backgrounds and using the figure in a way that's more powerful and upfront.

Rob Lee: Yeah, that's good. That's good. And yeah, I was looking at, see, what I, what I do when I'm not familiar with someone else, I, let's type in this first one. Let's go. And so definitely have Fraley in here as well.

So that's pretty tight. I want to get a little bit on, you know, want me now, could you talk a little bit about, because that's, that's sort of a little bit of this paint homage in some ways. Yes. Give us a bit of that, give us a bit of that background.

Genesis Rodriguez: Yeah. So, yeah, so that artwork, when I made that, I really wanted to touch on the idea of femininity and what that really means, not what mainstream media makes it seem like. Women are very over sexualized. And automatically when someone sees a new female, they automatically think, oh, sensor, you know, it's not safe for you to see.

So I wanted to kind of have a conversation about that in a way that feels more relatable to the type of person that I am. So, you know, typical Gen Z, I'm scrolling on Pinterest, and I'm looking for inspiration. And I come across the Hades painting by Hannah Yadda. And I was just like struck. I was struck by it, because when I looked at that figure, I saw, I saw my ancestors, I saw my family, I saw women that I can relate to, not women who are traditionally painted in master paintings. I saw a figure that was beautiful and put into a beautiful background and was just overall natural.

And that was my favorite part of it. So, in a way, I kind of ripped off of Angela Freili, and I took that figure and put it into my own world. So, painted it, and then I put a Vejigante mask on it, which is a Puerto Rican mask that represents resilience. But back in the day, it was used as a demon figure, and it was worn in festivals, and it was worn to also scare kids into going to church.

So, I'm like, okay, well, you know, why is it that as a woman, you feel so demonized and you feel so just like, like you cannot exist, because you are sexual, you are deviant, you are, you know, inherently bad. So, I kind of mixed the two, created this character, put it into just like a Y2K background, and made my own world from it. And honestly, that painting is actually not finished yet. It's still in progress, but, you know, when I make art, I kind of, I create until I'm done, and until I'm able to walk away from that emotion. And I don't think I'm able to, I think there's still like that, I don't know, that anger or something that's in me, that I need to work past. But once I'm ready to kind of leave that behind me, I'm going to finish that painting. But it's in my living room, it watches me, and it's like, you need to finish this.

Rob Lee: No, come on, what are we doing? We're supposed to be getting up.

Genesis Rodriguez: I just made this talk to you, like you haven't seen it in a while.

Rob Lee: I guess that we had lunch schedule. What are we doing? Yeah, honestly. So, I want to move into this last real question. I have three rapid fire questions after this.

But the last one is this, everyone needs support. And I've been really curious in this last year about this. I always talk about community, like, you know, when I went back through looking at who's been on the pod, I was like, the interview is great. But there's some sort of post rollout. Are you sharing it? Are you putting it out there?

Are you promoting the conversation you were about? And I think money is always sort of the thing. And I think we see it over and over. Money is important, but money is so connected to evil and weird stuff.

So, I like to exclude that from the scenario. So, in your opinion, in your opinion, what is the most significant way to support, like, you know, young artists, emerging artists, artists in general, in your opinion, what is the most significant sign of support, a way to support?

Genesis Rodriguez: And in my opinion, in my personal want and belief, I think the best way to show that you support an artist is to speak on their work, whether that's the comment on it, or to DM or contact them, email, DM, or to repost it and share, you know, I love this because I love this, that and that they're being able to discuss in artwork is being able to appreciate it beyond what you see. It's being able to conceptualize and actually share that I appreciate this in a deeper level. So, I think it's important to comment.

I think it's important to, you know, repost and to be able to show, like, you know, I really enjoyed this and I want other people to see it too. That, yeah, I think whether that's having a conversation with the artists themselves or other people just think beyond surface level when it comes to things that you, that really touch you, that really, you know, struck a chord with you.

Rob Lee: Yeah, this course is going with some depth. It's adding to its engaging with it. You know, there have been some really odd things that I shared before we got started, self-funded in this season, and there have been some weird conversations where I set a certain aesthetic for an audience that folks want to get to. So, hey, we can offer you a thing. I don't want that, which you have to offer because I think it takes away from the integrity and credibility, but also it's just not as fun. And, you know, there were so many folks early on that would almost forbid me from having this conversation with you because you're not based in Baltimore. So, you're interrupting my vision at that, you know. So, I'm really happy that I chose otherwise and had this conversation.

Genesis Rodriguez: Yeah, me too. And also, I think, you know, seeing that people are engaged in the work that you're doing is really, it's fuel for me at least. Like, when I see that someone enjoying what I'm doing, it gives me a reason to continue because when you're in your own world, like, self-fulfillment can only go so far. And so, I do this for a bigger reason. I do this to know that other people are being impacted. So, if I hear or see that someone is really connecting with something, that'll give me more reason to get up and finish that painting or to, you know, finish that sketch or actually put it onto the canvas.

Rob Lee: Don't worry, you're gonna still have that painting texture.

Genesis Rodriguez: Like, oh. I know.

Rob Lee: So, thank you. This has been tight. And I want to hit you with these three rapid-fire questions. Don't overthink these, you know, sort of brevity of key here. That's the sort of the point of it.

It's usually like one word answers or things of that nature. But so, I see that flowers are a theme that appear in your work like a lot. What is your favorite flower?

Genesis Rodriguez: Automatically, I think of a lily. I love lilies, but recently I've discovered that gladiola flowers are actually my birth, like the flower of August, my birth month. So, and I actually use those in my, spilling my guts painting.

And they represent strength and resilience. So, both of those. Leo? Yes. Yes. Well, I'm a cuss. I was born last day of Leo, first day of Virgo. So, I can swing back and forth. I am also a cuss. Oh, wow.

Rob Lee: Yeah. First day of Aquarius last day at Capricorn. So, I have some, but then I'm also like with some other ish. So, you know, depends on who you love. One color. What would the color be? Man, my favorite color is pink.

Genesis Rodriguez: I think that pink is a great color because it is soft. It's not overbearing. And there's so many ways that you could use it too. A lot of people think of pink as like the number one color for femininity. But like, there's other ways that pink is shown in the world like in your face or in a sunset or, you know, there's so many ways to find that color. And I think that for me, I'm just a very adaptive person. So, probably pink. Okay.

Rob Lee: Here's the last one. You started off in the pod. We talked about, you know, you being an open book. It's your open book. What's chapter of the book are we on? Oh, yeah.

Genesis Rodriguez: I would probably say, do I have to come up with like a catchy title or just like?

Rob Lee: I mean, this is yours. This is yours. This might be an autobiography one day. It might be. It might be. Okay.

Genesis Rodriguez: I'm definitely, I don't know if I have a good title, honestly. I'm not great with titles. But I'm in the part of my book where I'm building a structure. I'm, you know, I know what my goal is and I'm just trying to lay a nice foundation down to make sure that I don't fall. So I'm definitely like my building, my building era.

Rob Lee: I was going to call it the time that I didn't text that painting back.

Genesis Rodriguez: That's a good one. Or the painting staring at me on the wall, something like that.

Rob Lee: Time where I did this weird podcast with this guy on Baltimore.

Genesis Rodriguez: Yes, that's exactly it. If I do an autobiography, that's what the trapper's going to be.

Rob Lee: I love it. So that's kind of it. That's it for the conversation, for the pod. So it's two things I want to do as we close out here in these final moments. Two, one, I want to thank you for coming on and spending some time. It's truly been a treat. It's been great to tap in and just learn more about you, your story, your work, and your insights. Really, really good conversation. And two, I want to invite and encourage you to share with the listeners, websites, social media, and any final thoughts you have as we close out here. Yeah.

Genesis Rodriguez: Well, first of all, thank you for having me. I think I mentioned to you this is my first time to actually publicly speak about my work. So I love, I'm a deep thinker, emotional IQ. So I love to go in depth about it.

So I'm happy to have that opportunity today. But ways to find me on Instagram, I'm emotional IQ underscore art. I'll post all of my art on there in their link is my website. And I am also kind of working on music too. So that may be something that will come out soon. My soundcloud is linked on there. So that's the easiest way to reach me.

Rob Lee: And there you have it, folks. I want to again thank Genesis Rodriguez for coming on to the podcast and sharing a bit of her story with us, this chapter of the story. It's really great to get that insight background and process and just her thoughts that go into her work. And for Genesis, I am Rob Lee saying that there's art, culture, and community in and around your neck of the woods. You just have to look for it.