Rodolfo Salgado Jr

mail@rodolfosalgadojr.com

As a young child I was interested in the ways our bodies function. Experience taught me that I would bleed if I broke my skin. When I was sick, I would project vomit with an inner force that I could not understand. My nose would literally drip for hours. My body had the ability to excrete in ways I found fascinating. Quite often, the pressure in my body would physically reject its fluids. Curiously, I began to make sense of what was happening inside my body and how it affected my external experience. Some of the most memorable times in my life are instances of bodily failure. Although these experiences were very embarrassing, I feel they have defined my work and lifestyle.

 I create an imaginary world with the limited knowledge I have of the human body. I view the body as a magical, pressurized, and mechanized world in which everything is interdependent. The pressure in our bodies leads us to bleed, vomit, sneeze, shit, and so on. The juxtaposition of bodily organs and industrial fluid transfer systems allows me to reinvent the mechanisms of my body, as if I were still a child.

I am specifically interested in the beauty and serenity of bodily functions. I explore the mysteries of my childhood, combining organic forms inspired by the functions of the body and industrial mechanisms that resemble our organs. My work has begun to include commercial products, such as breast pumps, medical devices, and handheld sex toys, which work to release pressure from our bodies. Adult toys mimic organs and exaggerate their function. The imagined worlds in my ceramic, print, and sculptural work create a system in which commercial and organic forms function together.