From among the imagery created in the late 1980s, which questioned and made ironic the “revolutionary” state slogans, some of Rodríguez Cárdenas's proposals became iconic representations of his generation such as his self-portrait featuring him bare-chested, the skin painted like a brick wall, on which the words ”I am my home” are written; from his neck hangs a skeleton with a comic blurb that reads “I do not exist, only my intention”.
In Rodríguez Cárdenas's work, parody, humor and caricature tend away from coarseness, although they may confront the audience with what is vulgar in a society in crisis.
His work invites the spectator to question reality, to see beyond the world of the official word imposed by a system that had become senseless.
From the time after he went into exile in Mexico in the early 1990s until he finally settled in New York, he focused his art, without renouncing his previous commitments, on the artistic quality of his subjects, of this designs.
During the next few years, Rodríguez Cárdenas held solo exhibits at Obra Reciente, Galeria Nina Menocal, Mexico; D.F., Carlos Cardenas, Galeria Ramis F. Barquet in Monterrey, Mexico; About the Blue Wall, Fredric Snitzer Gallery, Coral Gables, Florida; ARCO 93 International Art Fair, Madrid, Spain; and Pinturas, Fredric Snitzer Gallery, Coral Gables.