WORK
Work by CJ Escobar Rodgers is about re-examining the place of humans in the world through perceptual, anthropological, materialist, and animist ways of knowing. It is about unfurling anthropocentrism and reframing our notions of self in favor of a more considerate and interconnected way of being.
NEW
The Gift Project
Bodymorphs
A pledge that all original sculptures by CJ Escobar Rodgers will be gifted by the artist (beginning in June 2024). Inspired by traditional gift economy structures, this is an effort to foster community bonds, emphasizing cooperation over competition. It encourages the circulation of art based on need and generosity rather than commodification by imposing monetary value.
An exploration of the materiality of the human form by directly manipulating parts of the human vessel. The alterations emphasize sense organs as the physical means by which we come to know our surroundings. The names poke fun at historical naming of Indigenous art as projections of Western ways of being on Indigenous culture.
Other Bodies of Work
Somatic Structures
A humanist critique drawing inspiration from textiles, architecture, ornament, and technologies influenced by forms found in nature. The project treats humans in a similar way by appropriating their bodies for structural and decorative elements to show how they can be similarly manipulated. It also applies animistic ways of engaging with the world to our made environment to increase our sense of belongingness with an increasingly artificial world.
Nature Calls: The Art of Answering Back
Using free association to combine plant, animal, and human forms and blur the categories we learn in order to separate and identify. It is an embrace of bottom-up perception and traditional ways of engaging with other agents applied to contemporary modes of existing.
Functionalware
An examination of human objectification and the pressure to project a purpose on one's existence.
