Badajoz - Aluenda 1975

Curator: Here we have Joaquim Rodrigo's "Badajoz - Aluenda," a mixed-media painting from 1975. It's quite unusual, isn’t it? Editor: Absolutely. My first thought is that it feels like an earthy cartographer’s daydream. The color palette, that almost sepia tone, grounds everything, while these abstracted, geometric shapes… what are we looking at exactly? Curator: I see it as a layered exploration of landscape, not just what we see but also how we name and define places. The artist uses mixed media to evoke texture and depth on the canvas, mirroring the layers in the physical world itself. Look closely— you’ll find text interspersed with visual motifs referencing geographical locations. Editor: Right, it looks like different villages and grazing fields, almost a codex of economic relations mapped on the canvas, where livestock rearing seems like a dominant practice. Rodrigo uses labels to demarcate geographical points but flattens out the spatial relations between those very regions. Curator: The interplay between word and image here—the toponyms and simplified figures—suggests not just geography, but also stories attached to the landscape, myths and realities woven together. It feels almost childlike, a fresh view onto what one thinks a country looks like! Editor: Well, Rodrigo has definitely given us an artistic rendering that prioritizes the production aspects, while hinting at their political implications! Curator: Indeed! And those browns, creams, pinks... Rodrigo uses a humble range of tones to illustrate Badajoz province’s history! Thank you for shedding light on Rodrigo’s method! Editor: Thank you for this interpretation, too! The dialogue between his representation of labor and place really sings in this work.