Just as travelers use maps to give direction to their journeys, artists use maps to travel through the labyrinth of life to arrive at the Center.

As a self-taught artist, Mark Rodriguez entered into painting as a navigator without a map. Without any system guiding him, he could throw out the existing rules and make up new ones. Travelogue, his first solo exhibition in New York City, serves as a visual diary to this globetrotting Fresno-based artist.

An ancient map of the cosmos comes to a close as we approach the 2012 end date of the Mayan calendar. Artists are being called on to travel a dark sea voyage to retrieve the visions of what comes next.

The Mayans provided a clue in their symbolism of the “rebirth of the sun” on the longest night of the year. This is the moment known as the Winter Solstice, portrayed visually as the World Tree. The symbol is composed of three worlds: lower (unconscious), middle (present) and upper (super-conscious).

Spanish Map is largest of the oils on wood of Travelogue and the key to the other works in this mysterious series. Here the three worlds expand laterally, with the central figure composing the three vertically. Rodriguez is mapping the Self with a key revealing how the macrocosm is in the microcosm. Just as tracing the fractals on a landscape are a voyage into eternity, the internal passage to the Self is fathomless. The paintings of Travelogue are artifacts of this never-ending voyage. As in the manner of notable abstract art, they can be seen on multiple levels: on one level, they are paintings. On another level, they are maps. On still another level, they are self-portraits.

Paradoxically, the creator must travel into the lower world in order to reach a new cosmic vision. A dark olive ground in the paintings is the murky ocean of the collective unconscious serving as the unknown terrain to be traveled; yet, it also represents the human head where the senses need be awakened so we may learn to trust our instincts. The “islands” on this seascape naturally form what appear to be facial features -- nose, mouth, eyes – and patches of hair as borders. Standing out among them are bright red crosses, like markings of treasure on a pirate’s map.

What is the meaning of these crosses? Let’s examine the symbol so we can see where these maps are taking us. The red crosses reveal the four cardinal points of the compass. The four cardinal points form the World Tree, the Mayan symbol for the Winter Solstice. This is the world axis in which the world could be renewed in the cycle of the Great Round, just as a new cosmology is formed when the old expires.

How do we know when we have reached our destination? The same question arises for the artist. How to know when the work ends? A final painting in this series defines journey’s end. In this painting, anchors dropped vertically as descending crescent moons containing the ancient symbol of the Yod, known as the Finger of God in biblical painting.

This is the beauty of Travelogue. A voyage into abstraction results in a defining symbol pointing to a new cosmological map: the Yod formed between the planets during the Winter Solstice alignment of the Sun with the Galactic Center on December 21, 2012.

In undertaking the voyage bringing him to the Center, Mark Rodriguez reveals how artists have a dual role as guides and anchors to the Paradigm Leap. This human evolution is plainly marked, like treasure, by the Cardinal Crosses on his maps. Four points on a compass and we need only retain balance between them in order to embrace a new cosmology!

Lisa Paul Streitfeld is a critic, curator and novelist publishing a book about her 21st century art theory. Ms. Streitfeld’s credits include The New York Times and Sculpture magazine among other publications.