Rodrigo Oñate, a.okay.a. Roco, marries the visible languages of graffiti, comics, and popular culture in his energetic work. Splitting his time between Chicago and Querétaro, Mexico, the artist works on partitions and canvases, mish-mashing a flurry of characters together with easy patterns, squiggles, and the occasional surreal element, like a gloved hand embedded with an eye fixed.
Roco describes his course of as totally intuitive and virtually like graffiti writing. “I throw some lines and from there. I start staging characters and elements adding textures and intricate forms,” he says. “I like movement and fluid forms, (and I’m) also always looking for a good balance of color and texture in the composition.”
A number of cartoonish characters recur all through the spirited works and sometimes emerge from private connections. Birds, for instance, come from Roco’s mom telling him that the animals flocking to their household backyard had been ancestors visiting from one other realm, whereas canine mimic his three canine.
Different creatures have broader symbolism, just like the jaguars and huge cats recalling the non secular guides of Mexican mythology. And the primates? They’re included as a result of they convey a way of play and pleasure, the 2 emotions the artist hopes to convey with every work.
Prints and different items can be found in Roco’s store, and yow will discover extra on Instagram.
