About the Artist

Rodnie was born and raised in Edmonds, Washington. He graduated in 1977 from Princeton University with an A.B. in Political Economy. For nearly ten years, he built a successful career in international commodities finance.

Rodnie first explored his artistic side at Princeton where he performed with Triangle and The Tigertones (an a cappella singing group). While a banker, Rodnie began studies in New York in singing and acting. He ultimately left the finance arena to focus on becoming a Tenor concert artist. 

Rodnie has performed numerous solo recitals, specializing in Art Songs and Lieder. Performance highlights were a Croix Rouge (Red Cross) Benefit before Her Royal Highness The Grand Duchess of Luxembourg; a debut concert performance of a new orchestral/vocal work by composer James Berenholtz at the National Academy of Science, UC Irvine; and the debut of Berenholtz’ One Blade of Grass at San Francisco’s Randall Museum.

Ten years ago, Rodnie began to explore art, initially using Sharpies on multitudinous surfaces (paper, canvas board and canvases) with periodic forays to the roof to use spray paint on large Home Depot-type surfaces. He became more serious about art when he started studying privately with Rebecca Campbell, taking various painting and drawings courses at Otis, and studying privately with Bonita Helmer.  

With Rebecca, Bonita and Otis, he began working in acrylic on small and large surfaces.  He also commenced large hard-edge spray paint expressions on canvas.  He explored hard-edge acrylic geometrics on canvas.  Despite the onset of Parkinson’s disease, which affected his musical career, he has been able to make art. Many of the works grew out of a Brain Journey he has been working on since college.  Having been on this journey since 1978, he has expansed his brain and inner eye to see deeper and deeper into the mind, into the cell and into the building blocks of matter, as well as to see farther and farther out into the universe.  The deeper and deeper he peers into the ingredients of life, the more and more space he witnesses. 

Rodnie lives and works in both New York City and Santa Monica with his wife, Jean Smith.