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2020 Season

You make my heart smile but you also make my eyes cry

Thalia Rodgers

On View

Jan 21–Mar 14, 2020

“Being me is one of the hardest, most amazing things I've ever done.”

This January, Omaha-based artist Thalia Rodgers opens The Union for Contemporary Art’s 2020 exhibitions series with You make my heart smile but you also make my eyes cry.

“Being me is one of the hardest, most amazing things I've ever done,” says the painter and digital artist. “This exhibition is a never ending series of gifts to myself and a journey to learn everything I can learn about myself.”

Rodgers’ world swirls with color and psychedelic forms. Figures emerge from chaotic voids. Fierce and joyous energies wrestle for place within the frame. Visions. Vibrations. A strange and urgent naturalism.

“There are a lot of places and imagined, dreamy landscapes in this work because I have been thinking a lot about our precious earth and where I want to go next in her . . . Almost everything I do within my work is because it's satisfying.”

Join us for an Opening Reception with the artist from 11am to 1pm on Saturday, January 25 in The Union’s Wanda D. Ewing Gallery.

About the Artist

Thalia Rodgers is an artist based in Omaha, NE. She loves eating good food, making Trillers, and Tik Toks, tweeting, posting on her Instagram, browsing the web, crying, and laughing. She received her BFA from The University of Nebraska-Lincoln. She has won the Dan and Barbara Howard Award for Creative Achievement 2 years in a row, and the Wendy Jane Bantam Outlook Award. She wants you all have a great day and to have lots of fun :)

Download “You make my heart smile but you also make my eyes cry“ Exhibition Activity Guide

Developed by The Union's Youth Engagement team, exhibition resource + activity guides serve to provide educators, families, and alternative learners with accessible resources and engaging content to further explore topics and themes within past and present Union exhibitions.

Download Guide
Half gallery view of Rodgers' exhibit with a large unframed canvas handing from the center beam. Canvas is painted is an abstract collage of bright colors, including a small self portrait of the artist peeking out from behind a cloud.

Thalia Rodgers - View of 5 paintings hanging on white gallery wall, all are made on unframed canvas in sizes ranging from 3 to 5 feet wide and as large as 4 feet tall.

Thalia Rodgers - Full gallery view of the exhibit, with a large unframed canvas hanging from a ceiling beam in the middle and multiple other large paintings on the walls. The back corner contains an installation of dozens of small works on paper.

Thalia Rodgers - Abstract painting of figure holding $20 bill; headless figure sits in bottom right corner

Thalia Rodgers - Abstract, watercolor marker and pen on unframed canvas. A sunset fills a corner, a jaw with clenched teeth fills the middle frame, and a painting within the painting of a vaguely human figure huddled in a room fills another corner.

Thalia Rodgers - Detail of two paintings on canvas. The first is a smiling Black woman with eyes closed floating in water, the second is a bright collage of abstract forms with a self portrait of the artist peeking from behind a cloud.

Thalia Rodgers - 2 vertical paintings on unframed canvas. On the left, a brown background with notebook-style lines. In spray paint, collage, and acrylic paint is an animal-like figure with a red face. Painting on left is a dream-like nature scene.

Thalia Rodgers - Two paintings on unframed canvas. Left contains a collage of abstract objects, a brick wall, notebook paper, and a female figure in black underwear. On the right: painting of a notebook page with abstracts shapes bleeding between the line

Thalia Rodgers - Assemblage of several small works on paper and notebook pages. Paint, colored pencil, watercolor, and pen are the mediums. All are abstract, playful, colorful. Some contain figures, others include words.

Thalia Rodgers - Detailed assemblage of several small works on paper and notebook pages. Paint, colored pencil, watercolor, and pen are the mediums. All are abstract, playful, colorful. Some contain figures, others include words.

Thalia Rodgers - Several small works assembled in a corner of the gallery. Work is on paper and notebook pages. Paint, colored pencil, watercolor, and pen are the mediums. All are abstract, playful, colorful.

Thalia Rodgers - Unframed canvas painting hanging from beam in center of gallery. The work is an abstract collage with the words "Forever Work" visible as well as a horse and a vague nature scene at the bottom.

Thalia Rodgers - Three paintings hung on white gallery wall. The work mosts clearly in focus is unframed canvas with strips of green fabric sewn to the bottom. Painting include a face sticking a tongue out and a devilish looking face with red eyes.

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