Freddy Rodriguez (1945 - 2022)

Freddy Rodrguez was born in Santiago, Dominican Republic in 1945 and moved to New York City in 1963, at the age of 18, where he studied painting at the Art Student League, and the New School for Social Research, and textile design at the Fashion Institute of Technology. On October 10th, 2022, Freddy Rodriguez died of ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease.

He received a Joan Mitchell Foundation Grant, was a Gregory Millard Fellow in Painting, and served as a New York State Council for the Arts Artist in Residence at El Museo del Barrio.

Rodríguez's work has been purchsed by the Bronx Museum, the Queens Museum, el Museo del Barrio, the Newark Museum, the Smithsonian American Art Museum, and the Museo de Las Casas Reales in Santo Domingo.

One of Rodriguez's most recognized work, is the Flight 587 Park Memorial in Rockaway Park, New York. The memorial also features a quotation, in both Spanish and English, from Dominican poet Pedro Mir.