An artist who used his talent to cope with the coronavirus pandemic is now documenting history with his art for a new series he's called the "Covid mask subway drawings."
"The subway has been a subject of mine for several years now," Rodriguez, 24, told CNN. "Faces are a thing that I'm so used to capturing on the subway and now most of them are covered up with the Covid masks. I think it's interesting to capture this devastating moment in time with art. It'll reflect 2020 when I look back on them in the future. It'll be interesting to capture the different types of masks people wear and how they wear them."
One of Rodriguez' Covid mask subway drawings. Credit: Courtesy Devon Rodriguez
A native New Yorker born and raised in the south Bronx, the full-time artist stayed in the city throughout the coronavirus pandemic. He became familiar with the endless sound of sirens, and eventually mask mandates and social distancing regulations, two things that don't come naturally to most New Yorkers.
After being quarantined inside his home for months, painting and drawing until mornings bled into nights, Rodriguez was grateful to be able to go back out and document today's reality up close and personal.
With just music flooding his ears, he draws silently without interrupting his subject to perfectly capture "real life raw humanity," he says.
"When I'm drawing, it's like a meditation. As I'm rendering their forms and clothing I'm pondering things like what do their body language say about them? How does the way they present themselves describe their psyche?" Rodriguez said.
"I've been drawing and painting people on the subway since 2011, but I stopped a long time ago" he added. "I started back up because of people wearing masks and how different the subway looked. The pandemic added a whole new dimension to the work. It changed the entire portrait of the subway."
It was on August 10 when he found himself sitting in front of a man wearing a mask that he decided to start drawing again, this time illustrating an entirely different world than his last subway drawing years ago.
"Feeling like I'm capturing a moment in history with my art is very fulfilling. And the fact that I've received such a huge response to them is amazing in itself," he said. "Drawing, painting and creating in general always helps me feel like myself. As long as I have a sketchbook, an easel, some paint and some brushes I'll probably be fine."
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September 01, 2020 at 07:37AM
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Meet the NYC artist chronicling the coronavirus pandemic by sketching people wearing masks on the subway - CNN
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