Michael A. Rodriguez is a New York City–based fine artist whose work explores identity, place, and everyday urban life through figurative oil painting. Using a warm color palette, expressive brushwork, and a semi-flat, illustrative style, his paintings often feature NYC “mascot” animals, such as rats, pigeons, and cockroaches, placed in humorous, narrative-driven scenes that reflect the culture, resilience, and contradictions of city life. Drawing from his Puerto Rican heritage, Rodriguez also incorporates culturally significant animals and symbols to explore themes of ancestry, memory, and storytelling. His practice is rooted in accessibility and engagement, using humor and familiarity as entry points for deeper conversations about community, belonging, and lived experience.
Artist Statement
My paintings are created using oil on canvas, featuring saturated colors with an undertone of burnt and raw sienna. I work expressively, balancing fast and slow brushwork, resulting in visible strokes and soft edges. My style is semi-flat and simplistic, centering on figurative compositions where animals take on a narrative role.
As a New York City artist with a Puerto Rican background, I use animals—rats, cockroaches, and pigeons—to symbolize the city’s spirit, capturing its culture through humor and storytelling. Additionally, I incorporate animals such as coquis and roosters as emblems of my Puerto Rican heritage, weaving in themes of history and identity. These characters embark on adventures and partake in shenanigans, reflecting both NYC life and cultural traditions. Through satire and narrative, my work connects to the art world by offering a playful yet insightful commentary on urban and cultural identity.
Teaching Philosophy
Art education aims to foster creativity, develop problem-solving skills, enhance cognitive abilities, and promote cultural understanding and appreciation. As an art educator, I believe in fostering an environment where students can grow and experiment with their creativity skills, critical thinking, and self-expression. I use art as a tool for storytelling, identity connection, and cultural exploration. My teaching philosophy centers on guiding students to develop their technical skills and a personal artistic voice.
The values and beliefs I bring to the classroom are to always try your best and not worry about perfection, to create a work of art that is meaningful for you, and to explore the endless possibilities art has to offer.
The goals I have for my students are for them to have confidence in their art-making skills, and that realism is not the only way of creating art. To create what is in your mind and what you are imagining, to create something meaningful to you based on your identity, I support my students in achieving these goals by teaching them a variety of art mediums and styles and focusing on different artists who create art in different mediums and styles, not just realism
I support diversity and inclusivity in my classroom by fostering an inclusive classroom where students’ diverse backgrounds and experiences can be supported and celebrated. My curriculum includes artists from a wide range of diverse backgrounds for students to be encouraged to explore their identities and diverse backgrounds in their works. This will empower the students to use their unique voices in the form of art.
I support my professional development as an educator by self-teaching certain art materials or mediums to better make myself capable of teaching them to the students. I also worked in my own art practice to build foundational skills that I could bring into the classroom. I even go to museums, local galleries, and participate in art shows to meet, research, and broaden my view of different artists from different backgrounds of different perspectives.
Welcome to my artistic world! / ¡Bienvenidos a mi mundo artístico!
Michael Austin Rodriguez
Michael Austin Rodriguez 