Preston Rodriguez

“Last house on the Rez before you hit the cattle guard, a place where kids ran laps around a seemingly endless yard. Lizard catchers, dirt clots, and domestic violence my roots are embedded in a home that was built from the ground it sits on,” Preston Rodriguez, Adobe Red.

A life-long artist of 32 years started from humble beginnings. The youngest of a family of five he grew up on the Rincon Indian reservation, a small community located in the foot hills of northern San Diego county. He states,” we had a typical Rez life. Good times, hard times, we were in poverty but through it all art has always been there for me, sometimes I would sit for hours alone and just get lost in a drawing, for me art is like an alternate reality where everything makes sense.” He credits His late father a self-taught musician and mother a free spirit as his earliest inspirations. “The people I looked up to were people within my surrounding community.”  He grew up seeing work from local artist like; Robert Freeman, Johnny Hawk, and Cathy Rodriguez. “I remember staring at their work and feeling in awe of the emotions that were radiating off-of their paintings and it gave me an extreme appreciation for the expression.” It wasn’t until his teenage years he became infatuated with graffiti, “There was something about graffiti that just spoke volumes to me. I knew that it was something that I had to do.” What Initially started as an act of rebelliousness evolved into the colorful and dynamic works of art that he is known for. In 2009, he attended the prestigious institute of American Indian arts in Santa Fe, New Mexico where he was exposed to many talented artists who shared a similar story. He states. “It was an awesome experience which pushed me in the direction to persue a career in fine art. Ironically one thing I learned that stuck with me the most is the importance of practicing art within your community.” Today he works from his home studio, producing one off pieces, as well as painting large scale murals for both public and private use. He applies the moral principles of his upbringing within his work by collaborating with other local up and coming artists who share a similar passion and is a firm believer that art has the power to transcend boundaries, and is a necessary aspect of every culture.