Rocío Maldonado facts for kids

Rocío Maldonado (born 1951) is a Mexican artist. She was born in Tepic, Nayarit.

Rocío became well-known in the art world during the 1980s. This was a time called the Neo-Mexicanism movement. Her art often focuses on women's issues. It questions old ideas about what it means to be a woman. People sometimes compare her work to famous artists like Frida Kahlo and Maria Izquierdo. Maldonado's art style has changed over time. Her main focus is often the female body. She uses it to talk about social, political, and cultural topics. She sometimes adds different materials to her large paintings. Maldonado studied art at a school called ENPEG in the late 1970s. She has also traveled a lot. Some of her famous artworks include Soldadito de Plomo, Las Dos Hermanas, and Éctasis de Santa Teresa.

About Rocío Maldonado

Rocío Maldonado started her art career in the 1980s. This was during the Neo-Mexicanism art movement. Her paintings show concerns about women's rights. They challenge old ideas about women's roles. Her art is often compared to Frida Kahlo and Maria Izquierdo.

Maldonado's art has been shown around the world. Her works have been seen in California, Spain, Mexico, Australia, and New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York keeps some of her art permanently.

Maldonado's art style changed over the years. She first painted desert scenes with bright colors. Some of her early works are like Neo-Expressionist art. But she added Mexican cultural themes. Her art themes fit into the 1980s neomexicanismo trend. This was when new artists questioned ideas about identity.

Maldonado often paints the female body. This makes her art part of Feminist art. She uses women's bodies to comment on society and politics. She also explores questions about her own culture. Her repeated use of the female body shows her thoughts. She cares about how society sees and treats women. Many of her works look at ideas of female beauty. They also show how hard it is to meet impossible standards.

Maldonado is interested in traditional crafts. She sometimes uses papier-mâché dolls in her art. She uses these dolls to talk about how women's roles are limited in society. She often uses black and white colors. She also uses ochre, which looks like earth. Red is another color she uses, which means blood. Together, these two colors in her art mean "body and spirit."

Rocío's Education and Travels

Rocío Maldonado was the oldest of eleven children. She found her love for art when she was ten. Her father did not support her art dreams. But her mother did. At age 12, she joined the Instituto de Bellas Artes y Educación (INBA) in Nayarit.

Later, she studied Interior Design. This was at the Women’s University of Guadalajara. At 24, she went to La Esmeralda Art School in Mexico City. She still wanted to learn more. So she went to the National Art School in Xochimilco.

To improve her skills, Maldonado moved to Stockholm, Sweden. She lived there for about eight years. She kept trying new things with her art. In Sweden, she started to be inspired by figurative art. This happened while she was at Konstskolan Basis.

After Sweden, she traveled again. She went to India and then Israel. In 2010, she stayed for a long time in Barcelona, Spain. In Spain, she went back to school. From 2011 to 2014, she studied at Escola Massana. From 2014 to 2017, she was at Artes Aplicadas al Muro. Today, she lives in Sant Cugat del Vallés, Spain. She creates art from her own workshop in Mercantic.

Famous Artworks

Soldadito de Plomo (Little Lead Soldier), 1984

Soldadito de Plomo is a painting made with acrylic on canvas. It is about 46.3 x 38.2 inches. This artwork shows one of Rocío Maldonado’s papier-mâché dolls. The doll in the painting is very large. It is in the middle of the canvas. Two smaller male figures are also there. One is a farmer, and the other is a soldier on a horse. In this painting, Maldonado uses the doll to show that "women are like toys to be controlled."

Las Dos Hermanas (The Two Sisters), 1986

Las Dos Hermanas is made with acrylic and collage on canvas. It is about 71.5 x 55.88 inches. This artwork shows five items. These are a doll, a vase with white lilies, a human heart, a single red rose, and a white sculpture of a head. The painting's title suggests two sisters. But instead, viewers see a human-sized doll and a sculpture of Aphrodite. Aphrodite is the Greek goddess of love. Putting these two images together makes people think about ideas of beauty. It also questions what is considered sacred or not. The doll also shows the idea that society sees women as objects. It suggests they have no control over their own lives.

Éctasis de Santa Teresa (Ecstasy of Saint Theresa), 1989

The artwork Éctasis de Santa Teresa is an oil painting on canvas. It is about 29.5 x 37 x 5.5 inches. Here, Maldonado paints her own version of Bernini’s sculpture, Ecstasy of Saint Teresa. She only paints Theresa's head. This is to highlight her expression. Along with Theresa’s head, Maldonado also painted male torsos. These are in a classical style.

Art Exhibitions