This speaker event was recorded live on Thursday, March 7, 2024 at 5:30 pm at the Michigan Theater, Ann Arbor, MI.
Artemio Rodríguez is a Mexican artist who was born in Tacámbaro, Michoacán. He began his career as a printer’s apprentice with Juan Pascoe at his renowned letterpress studio Taller Martin Pescador (Kingfisher Workshop) in Tacámbaro, Michoacán. At the age of 21, Rodríguez immigrated to Los Angeles and became a printmaker at Self Help Graphics. He co-founded La Mano Press in 2002 in Los Angeles before relocating to Michoacán in 2008, where he co-founded La Mano Gráfica, a gallery and craft store. Rodríguez directs the Library of Illustrated Books (Biblioteca del Libro Ilustrado, BLI), where his many public projects include The Bibliográfico, a 1977 Toyota converted into a traveling library, and the Graficomovil, a 1948 delivery truck converted into a gallery and printmaking studio.
Rodríguez is known for his linocut prints as well as his mural-sized prints and for his vehicles. Influenced by both European medieval woodcuts and Mexican cultural symbolism developed by artists like José Guadalupe Posada, Rodríguez’s style emphasizes simplicity, clarity, and imbued with a personal narrative. His images come from contemporary icons like American cartoons and Mexican culture, mythology and surrealism. A poet at heart, Rodríguez uses the physicality of the printmaking process to write stories in images. His work has been exhibited internationally and is in the collections of many public institutions, including the Seattle Art Museum, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Hammer Museum, Petersen Automotive Museum, Library of Congress, Phoenix Art Museum and Museo José Guadalupe Posada. A retrospective look of his works can be seen in the book American Dream.
The Penny Stamps Distinguished Speaker Series Spring 2024 Season
This spring, the Penny Stamps Distinguished Speaker Series brings respected leaders and innovators from a broad spectrum of creative fields to Ann Arbor’s historic Michigan Theater for weekly in-person events.
Detroit Public Television and PBS Books, in partnership with the Stamps School, will stream each week’s event Fridays at 8pm.
See the full schedule of events livestreamed by PBS Books here.
Some programs may not be available online, depending on artist requests. Interested in receiving notifications before online videos go live? Sign up to receive a reminder before each event begins streaming.