Andrade began his artistic studies with Sergio Fingermann in 1977. With four other artists, he founded Casa 7 studio in 1982, which held exhibitions at MAC-SP and MAM-Rio. The artist collective also participated in the Grande Tela at the 18th São Paulo Biennial in 1985. Since then, he has held regular solo exhibitions in galleries in São Paulo, as well as in Rio de Janeiro, Curitiba, and Salvador. In 2010, he took part of the São Paulo Biennial with the series Night Matter. In 2017, he inaugurated Rodrigo Andrade: Painting and Matter (1983 to 2014) at Estação Pinacoteca in São Paulo, and other versions of this exhibition was shown at Oscar Niemeyer Museum in Curitiba and Iberê Camargo Foundation in Porto Alegre, in 2021. In addition to painting, he also works with metal engraving, as shown in Mato, onde e ruína for Paragon Press, London, in 2016. He has published three books: Rodrigo Andrade, CosacNaify, 2008; Resistencia da matéria, Cobogó, 2014; and PinturaPaisagem, Martins Fontes, 2021, in addition to the catalogues for Pinacoteca, MON and Iberé Foundation.