UTSA alumnus Rodolfo Choperena explores color through abstract photographs

Rodolfo Choperena and his photographic and video works

By Holly Gordon
Volunteer, UTSA Art Collection

(Dec. 8, 2011) -- UTSA alumnus Rodolfo Choperena creates photographs and videos with bright colors and sharp contrast that make the pieces appear more like paintings. Featured in the UTSA Art Collection and a recent fotoseptiembre exhibit at the Blue Star Contemporary Art Center, Choperena's innovative works invite the viewer to take a closer look. The images are not immediately recognizable as photographs with streaks of saturated color more akin to gestural, abstract expressionist paintings.

He manipulates the photographic images using long exposures and subtle movement of the camera to create colors that seem to run, undulate and bleed as if painted. With no digital manipulation, Choperena relies solely on his unique use of the camera and meticulously staged scenes to achieve his arresting images.

For the artist, the images are studies of primary colors and their interactions, which create new colors. In the Blue Star exhibit, one large black-and-white panoramic photograph was actually a color photograph of black-and-white objects that produces an image of black, white, grey and everything in between. The photographs play on the viewer's perception, bringing new colors within the synthesis of other colors.

Shadow plays an important role in the producing color and "expand[s] the texture of my work," Choperena said. His "hue-shift" projected video, "Chacras in the Snow," employs shadows to bring about unexpected colors. The original subject of the photograph is a landscape covered in snow strewn with shirts, an orange Buddha head and a green shopping bag with each object producing a distinct color.

Interestingly, the snow reflects the color of the sky, and as Choperena manipulates his camera and exposure, the bands of color that represent the snow and the sky mirror each other as their hues shift through the spectrum. This shifting process is brought to life by video, and the result is pleasantly serene.

Choperena is drawn to the colors of his native Mexico and its festivals, often using vibrant textiles to add a sense of texture to his photographs. The use of such textiles and his deep affection for color communicate a sense of his identity as a San Antonian and more broadly as a Latin American.

"Color kills me," he said. He cites the San Antonio Central Library and the Museo Alameda as examples of significant injections of color, which combine to create a unique cityscape. Choperena believes that San Antonio embraces color in a manner unlike other Texas cities.

"We're not shy about [color]," he said. "I think there is an innate predisposition for color in countries around the same latitude as Mexico, and I think that's no coincidence."

He links this predilection for color to heat and spicy foods native to such places. It is certainly no coincidence that such vibrant colors infect the works of Rodolfo Choperena.