“Please believe me when I say that I am DEEPLY saddened to inform you
that no, I am not the leader of an underground prostitution bribery ring
run by sacrilegious gangsters. But, I can assure you that if I was, the
gang members that I would have running such an elaborate operation
would be very respectful of the Catholic church.”– Leanne Rodriguez as quoted in The Houston Press (John Lomax) Art Attack/ 9/7/12

Elrod is “…a self-taught mixed media artist, special
effects makeup student, glitter enthusiast, kitsch fanatic, lover of
obese animals, connoisseur of burritos and all around good citizen.”

She’s in San Francisco; I like her work, Google can’t find her bio (mysterious=?), she’ll be in Neopopstreetfunk 4 on November 16th at Gallery M Squared in Houston. A rather humorous jackass really dislikes her work (see “Did Elrod Rodriguez Trade Sex for Facebook Votes to get in Neopopstreetfunk? One Outraged Local Thinks So.”), which was enough to peak my interest.

Current and upcoming shows / galleries are posted on her blog at mexakitsch.blogspot.com

#25 Borrachita

Dear Prudence

Pancha Villa

Pray For Our Sinners

avemaria

…now and at the hour of our death

Gold Lowrider

zombiegirl

Elrod organized El Travo Collabo beginning in 2009, a series of collaborative panels sent back and forth between fine artists, illustrators,
wall scribes, body inkers, stencilists and “imaginists” in the USA. The panels are prepared and sent
out by Elrod in San Francisco: the first artist has 2 weeks
to do their part of the panel and ship it off to the next artist on the
list. This circulation continues until
the panel is completely covered and a new one goes out in its
place.

 Original Panel, completed June 2009: featuring Elrod, CrashnBurn McGurn, Forest G. Stearns, DANEE123, Oscar Padilla, Tony Van Groningen

Panel #1, featuring Albert Ramos, Lindsey Chesus, Paul Mendoza, Ryan Martinez.

Panel #3, featuring Gian Norte, Forest Stearns, Sarah Holbach, Elizabeth Amento

Panel #5, featuring Jen Oaks, Janelle Cuba, Erin Hamilton and Corrin Duran

Panel #4, featuring Ed He, P. Dilla, Eddie Shiffer, Kevin Sechelski

Unfortunately the El Travo blog hasn’t been updated for a year now, so I have no idea what the current status of the project is- but there’s some cool shit there anyway along with links to a lot of great rising artists.

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Online Resources:
Elrod’s Mexakitsch blog

EL TRAVO COLLABO

Leanne Rodriguez interview on fatbol.com
Art-by-Elrod (Facebook)