Growing up in Chile during the 1990s and early 2000s, Japanese manga, animation, and graphic culture formed part of my everyday visual education. Long before I understood their origins, these images shaped how I understood line, atmosphere, narrative suspension, and emotional space.
Francisco Rodríguez, 2026
Join us on Wednesday 1st July for breakfast at the gallery to view the series in person and celebrate
10 - 11.30pm
The artist will be in conversation at 11am
RSVP essential
The work of Francisco Rodríguez pulls inspiration from a rich matrix of different references, from Bruegel to Chinese woodblock prints, film and South American literature. In this current body of large format drawings however he returns to one of his formative early influences, Japan. As a teenager Japanese anime hugely influenced his work and these new drawings speak to the expanded influence of early 20th century Japanese illustration, particularly the highly stylised work of Settai Komura. A Shin Hanga artist, Komura’s work is known for its brevity of line and for eloquently leaving much unsaid. Working from autobiographical fragments Rodriguez recreates a fictionalised adolescence in Santiago, a world poised between intimacy and unease. The series focuses upon compositional reduction, prioritised negative space, and a heightened narrative rhythm. The result is a distinctive body of large format drawings that crackle with the electricity of stories alluded to but not quite revealed.
