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Peter Rodulfo (born 1958, Washington DC) is a British artist and sculptor who spent much of his childhood travelling across India and Australia, before settling in Norwich where he studied at the School of Art and Design (now Norwich University of the Arts) between 1975 to 1979. Following art school Rodulfo’s first solo exhibition was held in 1980 at the Margaret Fisher gallery in London, where he has shown regularly for several years. From that time he has continued to show both at home in the UK, and internationally in Europe, Asia, USA, and South America. In 2012 Rodulfo re-located to the Norfolk coastal town of Great Yarmouth where he is a member of the 'Yarmouth Six' group. He is also a leading member of the art movement known as the North Sea Magical Realists.
Rodulfo has travelled extensively including as an artist in residence at The Barony of Fulwood Trust Foundation Goiana, Brazil in 2004, and artist in residence at Shenzhen, China during 2012–13 and in 2016, Artist in Residence at The Barony of Fulwood Trust, Open For Art Project at Fundao, Portugal. Wherever he has been he has made sense of the past through his painting.
Rodulfo’s early art education came from his Father, Monty, who as a young man had wished to study art in Paris but, as a child of an ambassador, was expected to pursue a more traditional career in the army and ultimately intelligence services where he later advised the Australian, American and British governments on political issues in South East Asia.
However, Monty continued to paint throughout his life, inspiring Rodulfo with trips to the Ajunta caves in India and teaching him to paint. Now fifty years since his Father’s death in mysterious circumstances his inspiration for painting and world adventure continues. The family history on Rodulfo’s mother’s side is equally as intriguing. His Danish grandfather, Martinus Poulsen, having moved to London during the early part of the 20th century become a successful entrepreneur and owner of hotels and clubs including the famous Café de Paris established in 1924. The patronage of the Prince of Wales ensured the clientele included notables from Europe’s high society. However, on 8th March 1941 the Café was bombed killing at least 34 people including Peter’s grandfather and the 26 year old bandleader Ken ‘SnakeHips’ Johnson.
Rodulfo is a prolific painter employing a highly specific and identifiable technique, working predominantly in oils on canvas, but occasionally in the medium of sculpture, and, as in the case of the works displayed here, acrylics. Much of his work is loosely associated in the imagery and symbolism of Magical Realism, exploring themes such as love and loss, the erosion of memory and creatures, both real and imaginary. His art is thematically and, arguably, stylistically similar to the work of Paul Klee, Max Ernst and the British surrealist Leonora Carrington (1917–2011). However, his influences, along with subject-matter, style and imagery of his paintings remain broad and experimental. His work possesses a variety of meanings and addresses itself directly to both the viewers powers of association and imagination. In this exhibition Rodulfo’s work returns to being less a painter of dreams, or magical realist, and to a more naturalistic content and approach with colourful and highly imaginative paintings that reflect his recent travels to Trinidad and works that depict his candid, topographical observations of Great Yarmouth, including the lurid seafront amusement arcades, remote corner shops and quayside activity. Rodulfo’s recent visit to Trinidad was prompted by a story he was told as a child regarding his family being the only remaining Rodulfos in the world. With the expediency and global connectivity of social media to aid his ancestry investigation he was surprised to discover that his paternal grandfather was from Trinidad, and that today he has a large family there, descended from cocoa planters. This led to an invitation to visit and meet with extended family for the first time, including the offer of a studio space, and a show at the National Library in the Port of Spain where Rodulfo pursued a creative vision capturing both the vibrant colour and character of the island that references his seaside home town and his artistic and family relationships. The influence of these contrasting environments have created a compelling body of work that you see displayed here that provide the viewer with more than personal relevance.
James Steward
Ipswich Museums Manager
Peter Rodulfo was born in Washington D.C, USA, in 1958. His early years were spent in Australia and India before coming to England in the mid sixties. He was educated in Suffolk, before going to study painting at Norwich School of Art 1975 – 1979.
Since leaving art school he has exhibited all over the world in both solo, group and open shows.
Rodulfo has a prolific output in many different mediums, such as oil paint, watercolour, etching, bronze sculpture and assemblages. His work can be found in both private and public collections.
1978 Solo Show -'Rare Bird', Norwich
1980
Norwich 20's Castle Museum, Norwich
Solo show Margaret Fisher gallery, London
1981
Maddermarket Theatre, Norwich
Solo Show - Woodstock Gallery, London
1982
Solo Show - Margaret Fisher, London
Six Artists of Individuality, Ipswich
Norwich 20's - U. E.A., Norwich
1983
Norwich 20's - Caste Museum, Norwich
Manfred Schuler Gallery, Zurich
One Man Show - Christ's Hospital, Horsham
1984 School House Gallery, Wighton, Norfolk
1985 Margaret Fisher, London
1986 One Man Show - Kingsgate Gallery, London
1987 One Man Show - Arts Centre, Lowestoft Jablonski Gallery, London
1988
Men at Work - Contact Gallery, Norwich
Larger Works - Arcade Gallery, Norwich
One Man Show - Danlan De Bairead Gallery, London
School House Gallery, Wighton, Norfolk
One Man Show - Contact Gallery, Norwich
1990
Larger Works - Arcade Gallery, Norwich
Art'90 - Business Design Centre, London
Centre d'Art Contemporin, Rouen
School House Gallery, Wighton
One Man Show - Contact Gallery, Norwich
1991 Art'91 Business Design Centre, London
Royal Society, Birmingham Smith's Gallery, London
One Man Show - Village Gallery, London
1992
Royal Cliff, Pattaya, Thailand
Smith's Gallery, London
Mysterious Presence, Norwich
V.A.C. Hong Kong Museum, Hong Kong
1993
Castle Art Show ~ Castle Museum, Norwich
Touchstone Gallery, Hong Kong
1994
One Man Show - Heifer Gallery, London
Peterborough Museum - Heifer Gallery, Peterborough
Southwark Arts Festival, London
Miami Art Fair - Ho Gallery, U.S.A
1995
Art'95 "Savannah", London
Contemporary Print Fair - The Barbican, London
1996
Miami Art Fair, U.S.A
New Mill Gallery, Norwich
Heifer Gallery, London
Price Waterhouse, London
1997
Wrentham Studios - "Shock of the New"
Suffolk Polish Cultural Institute, London
Bergh Apton Sculpture Trail, Norfolk
1998
Wahrenberger Gallery, Zurich
Sculpture Trail, Burgh Apton, Norfolk
New York Expo, New York
1999 Heifer Gallery, London
2000
Kelburn Castle, Glasgow
Royal Academy Summer Show, London
2002
Solo show, Auditorio Ambrosio Orepeza, Venezuela .
Art of Imagination open show, Cork St. London.
Solo show Gallerie du Marche Montreux Switzerland.
2003 " Brave Destiny" New York and Florida
2004
Solo show flamboyant, Gioania, Brazil.
"Cor da Carne" Gioania, Brazil.
Solo show Brazilian art exchange gallery, Brasilia, Brazil.
2005
"Cor da Carne" Brasilia, Brazil.
"Landscape 200" Castle Open Art Show, Norwich Castle Museum. UK.
2006 Retrospective exhibition. Thin Cube Gallery, .UK
2007 Solo show "from Basel to Brasilia" Miami USA
2011 Two person show with Mark Burrell. The Playhouse Theatre, Norwich.UK
2012
"Outside the white cube" Open show Bermondsey, London
Open show. Radcliffe's and Newman's. London
"Vision and Reality" Norwich Castle Museum
"Race into time", with Stephen Vince. The Gallery, Cork St. London
2013 Solo show. Da Wang Cultural Highlands , Shenzhen, China
2014
Feng Lin Shan shui International art exhibition, Shenzhen, China
Divine, Define Feminine. London. UK
Great Yarmouth Library Norfolk
2015
133 Gallery Great Yarmouth Norfolk
Halesworth Gallery Suffolk
'Paint' Market Undercroft, Norwich Norfolk
2016
Casa Tua, London
Skippings Gallery, Great Yarmouth. Norfolk
2017 Yarmouth 6 & Friends. Skippings Gallery. Great Yarmouth
2018 Walking through Walls (solo). Skippings Gallery, Gt Yarmouth
2019 Solo Show National Library, Port of Spain. Trinidad.