Alberto Ortega Rodas

"No Time Like the Past"

"Kick the Can"

"Long Distance Call"

"Shell"

"The Lateness of the Hour"

"Nocturno 2"

I'm a sucker for low light landscapes. I love those bright electric bulbs buzzing in lonely places, so unequal to the task of beating back the night. There's something about a night scene where the human presence is so near but not directly revealed, that seems to naturally load the mind with narrative potential. Stories are best told in the dark. Evening light is nice too I guess. Whatever the lighting, Alberta Ortega Rodas, an artist in Raleigh, North Carolina, has a knack for capturing it far more eloquently than most. I was immediately reminded of Linden Frederick whose work is often tighter but employs the same formal compositions and captures the same lonesome moods. I wish I knew the sizes of these paintings. Their rougher technique suggests to me they're fairly small, but either way, I rather like the loose gestural quality of them contrasting with the architectural formality. I've seen many artists who do quick studies for larger works and I've found that I often prefer the studies to the final product. The artist seems happy to oblige my tastes on this point.

His website is simply a blog at this point and has only been up for a year, so if you like this work as much as I do, we hopefully have plenty to look forward to. I wish I could have posted this earlier. His show at Designbox ends tomorrow. Alas, I simply did not know. Hopefully I'll be able to post a whole bunch of new work the next time he exhibits somewhere, which, given his skill, ought not to be too long from now.
 www.aortegarodas.blogspot.com