Devon Rodriguez (born 1996) is an American artist and painter from the

South Bronx The South Bronx is an area of the New York City Borough (New York City), borough of the Bronx. The area comprises neighborhoods in the southern part of the Bronx, such as Concourse, Bronx, Concourse, Mott Haven, Bronx, Mott Haven, Melrose, B ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. He initially gained recognition for painting a series of realistic portraits, on the

New York City Subway The New York City Subway is a rapid transit system owned by the government of New York City and leased to the New York City Transit Authority, an affiliate agency of the state-run Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA). Opened on October 2 ...

system. In 2019, he was a finalist in the

Outwin Boochever Portrait Competition The National Portrait Gallery is a historic art museum between 7th, 9th, F, and G Streets NW in Washington, D.C., in the United States. Founded in 1962 and opened to the public in 1968, it is part of the Smithsonian Institution. Its collections f ...

for his portrait of sculptor,

John Ahearn John Ahearn (born 1951) is an American sculptor. He is best known for the public art and street art he made in South Bronx in the 1980s. Life and art Ahearn grew up in Binghamton, New York, with his twin brother Charlie Ahearn, who is a film di ...

. In 2020, he joined the platform TikTok and gained immediate success for sketching strangers and capturing their reactions. He is now the most followed visual artist on the platform.

Early life and education

Devon Rodriguez was born in 1996 in the

. At age 8, he began doing graffiti with his friends but, after being arrested at age 13, he turned his attention to portraits. In 2010, he applied for the

High School of Art and Design The High School of Art and Design is a career and technical education high school in Manhattan, New York City, New York State, United States. Founded in 1936 as the School of Industrial Art, the school moved to 1075 Second Avenue in 1960 and mor ...

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

, but wasn't accepted. He then attended

Samuel Gompers High School Samuel Gompers Career and Technical Education High School was a public vocational school for grades 9–12 located in East Morrisania, Bronx, New York, named for American Federation of Labor founder Samuel Gompers. The school was founded in 1 ...

in the Bronx for two years before being accepted to attend the High School of Art and Design in 2012. He graduated from that school in 2014. He later attended the

Fashion Institute of Technology The Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT) is a public college in New York City. It is part of the State University of New York (SUNY) and focuses on art, business, design, mass communication, and technology connected to the fashion industry. It ...

Career

While Rodriguez was still in high school, sculptor John Ahearn attended a school portrait exhibit and took notice of Rodriguez's realist oil paintings of subway passengers. Ahearn then asked Rodriguez to be a subject for his own sculpted portrait. The resultant work, two plaster busts of Rodriguez called ''The Rodriguez Twins'', was a finalist for the Outwin Boochever Portrait Competition and was displayed at the National Portrait Gallery in

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

in 2016. Rodriguez attended the opening gala at the Gallery in place of Ahearn. In 2015, Rodriguez's own pieces were featured in an issue of '' Southwest Art''. His work, including some of his paintings of subway passengers, would go on to be featured in publications like ''

The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American weekly magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issues ...

'', ''

The Artist's Magazine ''The Artist's Magazine'' is a monthly magazine for artists formerly published by F+W Media in Cincinnati, Ohio. The magazine was founded in 1983 and claims a circulation of 60,000. The founding company was Fletcher Art Services. F&W Publications ...

'', and ''

The New York Times Style Magazine ''T: The New York Times Style Magazine'' is a perfect-bound magazine publication of ''The New York Times'' newspaper dedicated to fashion, living, beauty, holiday, travel, and design coverage. It was launched in August 2004. It was published 1 ...

'' in the following years. Rodriguez also began taking commissions. In 2019, it was announced that Rodriguez's portrait of John Ahearn was a finalist for the Outwin Boochever Portrait Competition, three years after Ahearn's own portrait of Rodriguez received the honor. The prize eventually went to Hugo Crosthwaite.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Rodriguez, Devon 1996 births Living people American male painters American portrait painters 21st-century American painters Artists from the Bronx Fashion Institute of Technology alumni American realist painters High School of Art and Design alumni 21st-century American male artists Painters from New York City