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Nature Graces Robots and Bombs in the Paintings of KMNDZ

Johnny Rodriguez channels his darker emotional weight into silver-lined imagery.
Her Kind Words. Courtesy of the artist.

Los Angeles-based artist Johnny Rodriguez is best known as KMNDZ, a play on the Apple "undo" function, Command + Z. In this vein, the graphic designer-turned-painter embraces the draining emotions that pervade life, those we wish we could possibly undo: sorrow, anger, and frustration. KMNDZ channels these melancholic sensations into his art.

Unsurprisingly, stress factored into Rodriguez's leap from graphic designer into artist proper. "Painting came from being pissed off at an ad agency I was art directing for," Rodriguez explains to The Creators Project via email. "I needed an emotional outlet and painting seemed like the best way to express what was eating me alive."

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  1. Courtesy the artist.

Running with the age-old philosophy that sifting through emotions provides the best material for fueling one's art, Rodriguez has come to recognize his methodology for his portraits of skeletal robots, birds, and harrowing weaponry: "I tend to gravitate toward music that is emotional… the kind of music that gently guides you into a dark alley, [and] once there it clobbers you over the head and takes your wallet," Rodriguez explained. "Artists like Marley, Pixies, Piaf, Budos Band, and King Krule."

It's impressive how picturesque it is listening to the darkness of a fuzzy electric guitar ballad while gazing at these works—the robot's face in 2015's I'd Rather Love You mirrors a face you'd see at a King Krule concert—but the mystique and wonder of Rodriguez's art lies in the sheer amount of starkly contrasted visual themes. The most blatant distinction is his long-running motif of juxtaposing gritty, metallic robots next to uplifting birds or nature-based objects.

Atoll. Courtesy the artist.

Perhaps more stimulating and apparent, though, is his use of matted palettes. Recalling his time in Mexico, where he sourced his coloration style, he explains that "there, nothing stands out more than a teal house set in natures earthy tones. It’s butt ugly, yet the prettiest thing I’ve ever seen."

Admittedly, it's tempting to fall into the trap of assuming Rodriguez's works are anti-war or pro-environment statements (understandable, given the colorations for one, but also the iconographic motifs flowers growing out of a bomb, or machine versus nature), but surface-level visuals aside, this is not the case. I'd Rather Love You, his most recent exhibit at the Merry Karnowsky Gallery, was centered around his personal experiences of losing a friend who had turned into an enemy. Gazing into the sullen-look of humanoid faces graced with a slight reprieve from airy floral arrangements encasing a bomb, one can begin to comprehend this universal feeling: one we all wish we can undo, but have to endure and make the most of.

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"What I’m ultimately painting about is personal relationships," the artist divulges. "Instead of responding to hate with hate further perpetuating the situation, I’m suggesting we respond in love."

Click here to learn more about the artist.

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