Artemio Rodriguez

Artemio Rodríguez was born in Tacámbaro, Michoacán, Mexico in 1972. He came to the United States in 1994 and lived for a time in Los Angeles, where he began the work that would ultimately become the acclaimed Lotería series. After years of working in Los Angeles and the San Francisco Bay Area, Rodríguez founded La Mano Press in Los Angeles in 2002, an artist-run center dedicated to the promotion and appreciation of printmaking. While La Mano continues to operate, Rodríguez has since returned to Mexico, where he established a new press and now teaches his techniques to a new generation of Mexican artists.

Although he has experimented with a variety of mediums, Rodríguez has always considered printmaking his true artistic home. Deeply inspired by traditional Mexican woodcuts and the graphic legacy of artists like José Guadalupe Posada, his work bridges folk traditions with contemporary themes. His bold black-and-white prints often carry satirical, political, or socially reflective undertones, while at the same time celebrating cultural memory and everyday life.

In addition to producing individual prints, Rodríguez has created numerous illustrated books and portfolios that expand his visual storytelling into the realm of literature. His work has been widely exhibited in both Mexico and the United States, and he is recognized for reinvigorating the practice of relief printmaking for contemporary audiences. Through both his art and his teaching, Rodríguez embodies the role of cultural transmitter—preserving the historic power of the woodcut while adapting it to modern narratives and concerns.