Crypto-Jew Series

Many of the Crypto-Jew paintings are nichos (boxes with doors - you get two paintings in one!)  They celebrate the double existences of the crypto-Jews in northern New Mexico who carried on their Jewish traditions in secret for 500 years while pretending to be Catholic.

Lowriders

The Lowrider, Rodriguez claims, purifies the karma of global pollution, decadent consumption, petro-politics, and radioactive war by making cars useless except as art, and does it with quintessentially Chicano irony.

Erotica Series

Full of joy, humor, and profound mystery, the Erotica Series celebrates sex, sensuality, and play.
Many of these are nichos that open to reveal another painting inside.

Fiestas, Food, & Narrative

Anita is an enthusiastic and creative cook, and loves to set an artistic table and serve food.  She is writing a cook book that she plans to illustrate.  Most of these paintings are destined for the book,  painted in fond memory of special meals with good cook friends.

Musicians and Dancers

Rendering corridos, flamenco, salsa, cumbia, Afro-Latin jazz, and fados into vividly colorful images, the Musicians and Dancers paintings are full of movement, rhythm, and exuberant feeling.

Anita paints herself every once in a while, and none of her friends are safe either.  They might appear in a painting as part of architecture, as a saint or a character in some scene from my imagination.  She not only photographs her friends, but also people in the streets of the US and Mexico.