Jorge Rodriguez-Gerada transforms common people into icons by rendering them in charcoal as urban murals. He delves not only in the identity of the neighborhood where he realizes his work but also in his own identity.
By questioning the controls imposed on public space, the role models that represents us in the public space and the type of events that are guarded by the collective memory he breaks preconceptions of where art is permitted, when art is needed and to whom it is directed.
The Identity Composite/Badalona project consists of 3D facial scans of 34 people, one person from each of the 34 neighborhoods of Badalona, Spain. These 34 scans were combined using an algorythm program to create a composite/average face. It was created for the IDENTITY(S) project that was developed by the Kognitif platform for the city of Badalona in July 2010.
EXPECTATION was a giant mandala in the likeness of Barack Obama made with 650 metric tons of sand and gravel created on a Barcelona beachfront administered by the Forum de las Culturas. It was created as a way to pray for change but also alludes to how all the outpouring hope could fade away like sand. Created before the U.S. presidential elections, this piece pointed to how the outcome of the election would affect the whole world.