Rodney Hatfield: Subliminal Release

After making a name for himself as a musician, Rodney Hatfield was ready to share his paintings with the art world bringing lyrical sensibilities and a diverse character driven lifestyle on canvas. For this particular group of paintings created for Hatfield’s upcoming one-person show at Susan Eddings Perez Gallery, he wanted to let the pieces tell the narrative, “the idea is to relinquish the idea of control and just to paint and allow the story to tell itself instead of me trying to tell a specific story,” explains Hatfield. With this simple idea, Hatfield has created a world of magic and wonderment, with a touch of whimsy that keeps himself out of the way of the finished work. Rodney continues, “There is an understanding in music where the blank spaces are equally important as the spaces with sound, and that applies directly to these paintings.”

The juxtaposition of the shy performer, the philosopher and joker, the visionary and the guy next door can all be seen when one takes the time to look beneath the surface of Hatfield’s work. His paintings are original and unique, figurative and abstract. Hatfield seems comfortable finding, discarding, and regaining a new personal balance point with each piece he creates.