| Code | DS/UK/547 |
| Person Name | Rodney; Donald (1961- 1998); Artist |
| Dates | 1961- 1998 |
| Dates and Places | 1961 Born in West Bromwich, England
1980-1981 Studied an Art Foundation Course at Bournville School of Art
1981-1985 Studied Fine Art at Trent Polytechnic, Nottingham
1985-1987 Completed a Postgraduate Diploma in Multi-Media Fine Art at the Slade School of Art, London
1998 Died after a long battle with sickle-cell anaemia |
| History | Rodney was born in 1961 in West Bromwich, England to Jamaican parents. He studied for a BA in Fine Art at the Trent Polytechnic, Nottingham between 1981 and 1985. At Trent, Rodney met Keith Piper, a close friend and collaborator. Rodney and Piper founded the BLK Art Group alongside other black artists in 1982, an organisation which created art of a strongly political nature.
Rodney’s identity as a black man was a crucial focus of his work, which explored topics such as race and representation. Rodney worked across a number of artistic mediums, including sculpture, installation, painting, and digital media, and was known to appropriate existing images from the media popular culture to explore sensitive topics. Rodney’s inspiring work has left him with a legacy as one of the leading figures in black British art, and his works continue to be displayed in numerous galleries.
Rodney suffered from sickle-cell anaemia for much of his life, and he often explored his experience of the illness within his art. In his famous work ‘In the House of my Father’, a small house is created using Rodney’s own skin, which had been removed during one of Rodney’s many operations. The piece therefore explores both Rodney’s identity, and the effects of a chronic illness. Rodney died in 1998 from sickle-cell, but is remembered through his impactful art. |
| Activity | Posthumous Exhibitions (Selected)
2016 Reimagining Donald Rodney, Vivid Projects, Birmingham
2008 Donald Rodney – In Retrospect, Iniva, London
Solo Exhibitions (Selected)
1997 9 Night in Eldorado, South London Gallery
1991 Cataract, Camerawork, London
1990 Critical, Rochdale Art Gallery
1989 Crisis, Chisenhale Gallery, London
1986 The Atrocity Exhibition & Other Empire Stories, Black Art Gallery, London
1985 The First White Christmas & Other Empire Stories, Saltley Print and Media, Birmingham
Group Exhibitions (Selected)
1982 The First National Black Art Convention, Open Exhibition of Black Art, Wolverhampton Polytechnic, Wolverhampton
1987 True Colours
1992-1993 Trophies of Empire, Arnolfini Gallery, Bristol
1984 An Exhibition of Radical Black Art: The BLKArt Group, Battersea Art Centre, London
1995 Care and Control, Hackney Hospital, London
1994 Truth, Dare, Double Dare, Ikon Gallery, Birmingham
1996 Body Visual, Barbican Centre |
| Relationships | Keith Piper, Friend and Co-Founder, BLK Art Group, 1982 |
| Source | “Donald Rodney: A Practice Unfolding”. Art and Artists, Tate. Accessed July 8, 2024. https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/donald-rodney-3076/donald-rodney-practice-unfolding. |
| “Donald Rodney: Visceral Canker”. Spike Island. Accessed July 8, 2024. https://www.spikeisland.org.uk/programme/exhibitions/donald-rodney/. |
| “Donald Rodney”. Art and Artists, Tate. Accessed July 8, 2024. https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/donald-rodney-3076. |
| “Donald Rodney”. ICF. Accessed July 8, 2024. https://www.internationalcuratorsforum.org/people/donald-rodney/. |
| “In the House of My Father’: Donald Rodney, 1996-1997”. Art and Artworks, Tate. Accessed July 8, 2024. https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/rodney-in-the-house-of-my-father-p78529. |
| Buckman, David. Artists in Britain since 1945. Art Dictionaries Limited, 2006. Found on “Donald G. Rodney”. Artists, Art UK. Accessed July 8, 2024. |