Sam Rodriguez

Born and raised in east-side San Jose, Sam Rodriguez was attracted to art from a young age. His first real foray into the art world came with adolescent graffiti adventures, but even then Rodriguez knew he wanted more. At age 25, holding down two jobs while finishing up college and with a baby on the way, Rodriguez didn’t have the time or energy to further his art. Luckily, a few years later, artist and friend Aaron De La Cruz invited him to be part of a small art show, reigniting his purpose. Now, Rodriguez has garnered the world’s attention with his symbolism-heavy, typographically jumbled portraits and his unique way of capturing the human form. His work graces the surfaces of international brands such as Puma, Under Armour, and Google. Recently, Rodriguez has taken to putting his work on T-shirts, both to make his work more financially accessible and to honor the cultural forms that first inspired him to make art.

“A lot of my work explores identity in general. It depends on each piece; some pieces are about identity in relation to language or fashion or anything really. It’s not a specific meaning; it’s more like I’m mixing different ingredients to create a new portrait. Sometimes my work is my interpretation of what’s popular in culture. As a parent, I’m consuming more pop culture than ever, so a lot of my work is my take on what’s happening in the world. But, simultaneously, I don’t really have conclusions in the work I make. It’s more like I’m documenting information around me. In a way, my art is note taking.”

Written by Tad Malone