About Rodney Durso

My work is a mix of many things, and is created in a number of ways. Sometimes it’s created viscerally — with brush in hand — through physical movements fueled by loud music, emotion (and caffeine), and at other times it’s more of a meditation, working slowly and in a deliberate and organized manner. Either way, the work pulls from moods and feelings, with influences and ideas from music, advertising, architecture and design.

As I start each piece a story organically unfolds, and the work comes to life. My work thrives by not having the rigid, practical constraints of my former design practice, and instead I find a balance that allows me to work free-form and unstructured, using nonsensical bits of text, signs and symbols, blobs of colors, pieces of collage and scribble without purpose other than to elicit a feeling.

I am a graphic designer by trade, and was founder and creative director of Stormhouse Partners, a branding and design agency based in New York. In 2006, while working and teaching as an adjunct professor at Parsons School of Design, I rented a studio in West Chelsea thus began my transition into painting and fine art.  

 I am also the Founder and Board President at ArtBridge, an arts organization that gives emerging artists unprecedented exposure by exhibiting their work on construction scaffolding and fencing.