Maria Rendón: Of Water, Tumbleweed and Transformation
Originally from Mexico City, Maria Rendón studied design at the Universidad Anáhuac in Mexico City and ArtCenter College of Design in Pasadena, working for two decades as an illustrator, before turning her practice to painting, receiving an MFA from UCSB, and emerging anew as a bold artist of non objective paintings that insinuate figuration and landscape.
Maria Rendón, “The Rain of January 16, 2020.” Courtesy the Artist.
Rendón’s current works draw from natural elements – flowers, plants, water, mountains. The translucent edges and overlays of diffused color recall Gerhard Richter’s “blur” while also rendering Rendón’s vision of “transformation and hybridity – the fact that we as human beings, every living creature, are changing.”
In this body of work, Rendón experiments with abstractions and deep color plains – an homage to the super bloom springs that followed California’s five-year drought that ended in 2018 with copious rain. Inspired by the dormant colors that rose from the ground “after having been oppressed,” Rendón began to experiment with more liquid materials, creating vibrant color compositions. With attention to surface qualities, negative space and edges, Rendón creates tension between opaque forms and translucent washes to a soulful, sometimes haunting, effect.
Maria Rendón, “The Mountain Pushed Us Off Her Knees.” Courtesy the Artist.
Rendón paints horizontally on her studio floor using Japanese calligraphy flat brushes. She’s committed to reacting to what the material does, which varies depending on the paint’s substrate and density, combining chance and control. This practice of immediacy though, the hallmark of Abstract Expressionists, allows Rendón’s process to have a temporal limbo the artist enjoys: “present then and present now.”
Rendón notes that she was looking at the region’s dry plains spotted with tumbleweed when she began to think about how when it dries, “it dies and gets carried in the wind, but it still carries thousands of seeds.” That idea, that something can carry “life while it’s dead” resonated with her; could she have a practice where one thing carries another inside itself, and beyond itself? – “A practice of creating something else.”
Maria Rendón, “But Up By Roots To Bring Dark Foliage On.” Courtesy the Artist.
Maria Rendón, Nothing Gold Can Stay.” Courtesy the Artist.
In this mode, Rendón has developed a series of works with paint peals – the residue of paint that drips or falls from brushes and canvases and hardens on the studio floor. “At that point, whatever falls could be thrown away,” says Rendón, “It might be dead, but it gets brought to life. It becomes another surface.” The peals are adhered to paper and integrated into new paintings, creating a wider diversity of surface types. Rendon notes in a single flower there will be surfaces that are shiny or dusted by pollen; petals are often velvety, and the pistol is almost wet.
Maria Rendón, “FP 15.” Courtesy of the Artist.
Layering has been in Rendón’s artillery since she was an illustrator. When she was creating dioramas to later photograph for illustrations, her work had strong ties to Mexico and Mexican art and architecture. “I would always do arches, like those inside of a church, and textures. In Mexico City, there are so many textures, in the Zocalo, Templo Mayor, Catedral, Palacio Nacional… In my work, like in Mexico, there are always going to be layers, the rawness, and then the more lush on top.”
When Rendón was a child, she’d often ask her mother, “Why am I me?” And that search for meaning ultimately propelled her to paint. “I want to make work that releases you from the hardships of life and puts you in a space where you can find soul or solace surrounded by something that you find meaningful,” says Rendón. “That’s my goal: to make a painting that people feel connected to somehow.”
ABOVE, clockwise from top left: Portrait of Maria Rendón’s Aunt Chacha who helped raised Rendón and her six brothers and sisters. Sketchbook with paint peals. Photograph of Rendón’s brother who passed away as a child. Rendón holds paint peals on paper. Two books on Rendón’s desk. Sketchbook with paint peals. Photos by Debra Herrick.
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COVER PHOTO: “Maria Rendón” by Debra Herrick
