Pangea Texas, 2023

2001 Artpace International Artist-in-Residence, Lordy Rodriguez utilizes multiple maps of Texas of create a geographical conglomerate or “continent” in this work from his Pangea Series. The interior consists of hatch marks that mimic street grids and multiple colors are arranged so that no two areas touch. This is a nod to, and expansion on, the four-color theorem where it is dictated that any map can be colored using four colors in such a way that regions sharing a common boundary do not share the same color. The colors represent the population diversity of Texas, especially the wide and diverse cultures Rodriguez grew up with in Houston, a city with a large immigrant population. Each region is contained; neither isolated nor fully integrated. The exterior outline of the “continent” utilizes the colors of the Texas state flag, along with a singular star on the left side, mirroring the position of the Lone Star in the actual state flag. Rodriguez often utilizes layers of color to further obscure the recognizable shapes of borders and coastlines, as seen here. The colors of the state flag act as an obstacle for recognizing familiar shapes of the Texas border, and become a metaphor for the struggle between fitting into an identity or adding to it.

This work is framed.