Eddie Rodolfo Aparicio seeks to expand viewers’ understanding of identity and place-making by forging material connections between pre-Hispanic Central American cultures and contemporary Los Angeles, often through innovative large-scale sculptural creations. Aparicio earned a Bachelor of Arts from Bard College in 2012 and a Master of Fine Arts from Yale University in 2016. His work has been featured in solo exhibitions at The Museum of Contemporary Art (MoCA), Los Angeles (2023); Commonwealth and Council, Los Angeles (2020); The Mistake Room, Los Angeles (2018); and Páramo, Guadalajara, Mexico (2019). His awards include the Nancy Graves Foundation Award (2022); the California Community Foundation (CCF) Fellowship for Visual Artists (2016); the National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship (2014); and the Elizabeth Murray and Sol LeWitt Studio Arts Award from Bard College (2012).
About the Work
Eddie Rodolfo Aparicio’s three imposing forms connect to his family’s histories in Los Angeles and El Salvador. These sculptures are inspired in part by the miles of electric transmission towers that span Los Angeles, the city where the artist was born and raised. Aparicio transforms the electrical tower’s metal form into three bulging, tree-like bodies, incorporating the clothing of his family and friends. He hand-stitched these textiles together using a diente de lobo or “wolf’s tooth” stitch, which is typically used to convey protection. Aparicio’s “dressed” towers also recall the dolls once made by the artist’s Salvadoran grandmother. Her dolls were made from clothing left behind by family members who disappeared during the Salvadoran Civil War. Aparicio’s approach softens an otherwise utilitarian structure, making the infrastructure of a city feel personal. His towers are stuffed with fiber from Ceiba trees—a tree that metaphorically relates to migrants that have come to the United States from Central America. Ceiba trees are native to the subtropics but are now commonly seen throughout Los Angeles.
Support for this project was provided by the National Endowment for the Arts.
