FC/ETD: DIY PAPR (Powered Air Purifying Respirator) PROTOTYPE MK-1
Performance/video demonstration
About the artist
Manuel Alejandro Rodriguez-Delgado
Manuel Alejandro Rodríguez-Delgado (Bayamón, Puerto Rico, 1982) is a Puertorican artist formerly based in Los Angeles, CA. The son of a master woodworker, he was exposed at an early age to the saint carving traditions of the island. His work has been shown in the mainland United States and Puerto Rico. He was the recipient of the two most notable artist awards offered in Puerto Rico: the Lexus Grant for Artists and the Oriental Bank Group Prize for Emerging Artists. These esteemed awards allowed him the means to pursue his MFA in sculpture at the School of The Art Institute of Chicago, where he was the recipient of the LeRoy Nieman Foundation Fellowship. Rodriguez’s work has been shown in numerous venues, most notably the Museo de Arte de Puerto Rico, San Juan, PR; Sullivan Galleries, Chicago, IL; The Gallery of the University of Sagrado Corazón, San Juan, PR; the Roswell Museum and Art Center, and The Anderson Museum of Contemporary Art, both in Roswell, NM. Rodriguez was a recent fellow of the Roswell Artist-in-Residency Program in Roswell, NM, and continues to pursue his career in the mainland US.
Statement:
I am concerned with the overlap between the technological landscape and built/imaginary environments. Through my experimental sculpture practice I assume the role of artist-inventor who produces technological objects. I am interested in the ways these objects behave as artifacts of near-future realities and speculative cultural-identities. My objects are constructed using the technological surplus of late Capitalism, that is to say; refurbished and repurposed electronics, materials and hardware. In my work, I reconsider technological objects from an artist perspective in order to overcome the hermetic ecology of industrial processes, by creating means for the research, development, and production of technological objects as articulations of emotional and psychological dimensions.
