Araceli Rodas

In my works I favor the use of dense impastos, not without first a careful study of the theme started with drawings and small color sketches. In a sense, I like to approach every project in a stepwise fashion, first I develop a clear graphic and compositional structure, and then I move into the canvas more freely with the use of impasto, which acts as the reward that allows my creative process to continue. It is extremely important for me to maintain a palette rich in tonalities, with clean colors properly mixed, that allows me to take on the search for a colorful harmony. Painting for me is thinking, finding the exact place that calls for the precise tone. 

Personally, in this regard, my painting tends towards the academic, I refrain from using blacks, and I love to use pigment charged brush strokes. Thematically, I tend to explore topics that can contribute somehow to society, for example, sometime ago I created a series of paintings addressing cervical cancer, which I entitled “Metamorphosis of a garden".  The series aimed at creating awareness among women about this disease, and it currently belongs to the collection of a medical institution in La Paz. 

I received training at the workshops of the National Academy of Fine Arts and at the Department of Arts of the Universidad Mayor de San Andrés in La Paz, Bolivia. Since 2011, my works have been displayed at multiple collective and individual exhibitions. My favorite media for painting is oil, but I also feel at ease with watercolor and other media. My ceramic sculptures are distinctive for their intense and colorful glazes. In the past few years, I have combined my approach to ceramic sculpture with traditional techniques from silver jewelry making, which has a long tradition in Bolivia, to create an art jewelry collection entitled “Andromeda".