Béisbol Hall of Fame

“Through their talent and hard work, Dominican baseball players have crossed over into mainstream American culture. I am intrigued and fascinated that such a relatively small country has contributed to our national pastime with such an abundance of talent.” —Freddy Rodríguez Hutchinson Modern & Contemporary is pleased to present Freddy Rodríguez: Béisbol Hall of Fame, the first posthumous exhibition of work by Dominican-born New York-based artist Freddy Rodríguez (1945-2022). The exhibition features twelve works from Rodríguez's Baseball series in a range of media: from works on paper and paintings, to neon sculpture and installation. Created between 2003 and 2008, Rodríguez's Baseball series commemorates the astonishing achievements of Dominican baseball players in United States Major League Baseball. He was in awe of the Dominican athletes' transformations into legendary icons and symbols of American pride. The works in Béisbol Hall of Fame celebrate the likes of Carlos Gomez, Vladimir Guerrero, Pedro Martínez, David Ortiz, Alex Rodríguez, Alfonso Soriano, and Sammy Sosa. Rodríguez stated, “Through their talent and hard work, Dominican baseball players have crossed over into mainstream American culture. I am intrigued and fascinated that such a relatively small country has contributed to our national pastime with such an abundance of talent.”[1] The works in Béisbol Hall of Fame celebrate the likes of Vladimir Guerrero, Pedro Martínez, David Ortiz, Alex Rodríguez, Alfonso Soriano, and Sammy Sosa. While Rodríguez depicted some of these players in silhouette—derived from photographs that he culled from The New York Times—he represented others by name alone, or evoked their talent and celebrity through inspiring statistics. Together, these works visualize a slice of baseball history. Born in Santiago de los Caballeros, Dominican Republic, Rodríguez moved to the United States in 1963 at the age of eighteen. Over the course of his career, Rodríguez received numerous grants and fellowships, such as the Smithsonian Artist Research Fellowship (SARF), 2016; the Joan Mitchell Foundation Fellowship, 2007 and 1995; the Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation Grant, 2000; and the New York Foundation for the Arts Fellowship, 1990. The artist’s work can be found in prestigious public and private collections, including the Bronx Museum of the Arts, New York; El Museo del Barrio, New York; Guggenheim, New York; Jersey City Museum, New Jersey; Museo de Las Casas Reales, Santo Domingo; National Portrait Gallery, Washington, DC; Newark Museum, New Jersey; Queens Museum of Art, New York; Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, DC; Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, among others. Hutchinson Modern & Contemporary was founded by Isabella Hutchinson in 2020. HM&C specializes in modern and contemporary art of the Americas, with a focus on Latin American and Latin diasporic art. Through our exhibitions and online Study Rooms, we aim to augment the visibility of work by our artists and foster critical engagement with their practices. 1 - Freddy Rodríguez, “Artist’s Statement” America’s Pastime, Portrait of the Dominican Dream: Works by Freddy Rodríguez. Curated and edited by E. Carmen Ramos. The Newark Museum, 2006. p. 4