Diego Rodriguez-Warner (b. 1986, Managua, Nicaragua) lives and works in Aurora, Colorado. He studied under Cuban Minister for Fine Arts, Lesbia Vent Dumois in Havana in 2008, earned a BA from Hampshire College in 2009, and received an MFA from the Rhode Island School of Design in 2013. Rodriguez-Warner’s unique hybrid of painting, carving, and tromp l'oeil examines power structures embedded in art history. Drawing on sources ranging from German Expressionism and American Pop Art to French Impressionism and Japanese ukiyo-e woodblock prints, he creates elaborate, boisterous compositions that deliberately upend and question the aesthetics of colonizing nations. Through this strategy, he creates monumental history paintings for the 21st century that reflect on how the complexities of cultural exchange, representation, hypocrisy, and isolationism shape American culture. Rodriguez-Warner is a recipient of the Toby Devan Lewis Fellowship (2013) and the coveted Joan Mitchell Fellowship (2020). Rodriguez-Warner has exhibited nationally and internationally, with presentations in Berlin, Denver, Havana, Los Angeles, New York City, Marfa, and Miami, among other cities. In 2020, his work was featured at and acquired by the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville, Arkansas. His work is held in public and private collections worldwide, and he has participated in numerous solo and group exhibitions at major institutions, including the Washington Pavilion (South Dakota), the Museum of Contemporary Art Denver, Museo de las Américas (Denver), and the Gallery of Contemporary Art, Colorado Springs.