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Speaking
with Edel Rodriguez you hear the recurring theme of
freedom. As a boy, the Cuban-born artist, illustrator, designer and
art director made his way to Florida on one of the first boats
leaving his native land. Freedom. He later broke with the
traditions of his culture by leaving home after high school to
attend college in New York. Freedom. He left his well-paid position
at Time after 13 years so he could devote his energies to
his illustration, fine art and family. Freedom means a lot to Edel
Rodriguez; he's seen first hand the consequences where there is no
freedom—where the words are always can't and
don't.
Rodriguez's first eight
years were spent in the tiny village of
El Gabriel, outside Havana. While he'll admit it was a typical
childhood in many ways, there were always underlying tensions that
told him something was not quite right. Survival was key. Finding
food was the family's primary activity of any one day; staying
under the radar and out of trouble while finding ways to barter for
the essentials were just a fact of life. But for a kid there were
still games to play. “We didn't have a lot of money, so we'd make
our own toys. There weren't many cartoons to watch on television,
we only had two TV stations and both were often filled with
military parades or political speeches.” The colorful revolutionary
posters and parades of his childhood all made lasting impressions
on this future artist.
Images of his
emigration in 1980 are still etched into his
memory. The four-member Rodriguez family arrived in Key West with
few possessions since the Cuban government had confiscated their
home, car, furniture, even their clothes. They moved in with
relatives in Miami, squeezing about 14 people in one house, until
they were able to rent an apartment of their own. Freedom came at a
cost.
One object that symbolizes him
best?
A pencil, I draw all the time.
Education and hard work were prized in the
Rodriguez family. “My
father was always telling me to study; he didn't care necessarily
what I studied as long as I studied,” says Rodriguez. His father
ran his own trucking business in Miami. “I'd go to work with him in
the summers, it was hot and we didn't have air conditioning in the
truck. He'd say, 'If you don't study, Edel, you'll end up just like
me.'” Within a couple of years in America, Rodriguez had learned
his new language well enough to become a spelling-bee champ. He
also earned top grades throughout his school years.
Art came naturally to Rodriguez, so he
quickly became “the art
guy”—the go-to person for every poster or school promotion. He read
AirbrushAction magazine and mastered the painting
tool to the point that he was once denied top prize in a
competition—the judges were convinced a professional had done the
work. He went on to compete in numerous art competitions and win
more awards, some of which came with cash prizes. While he loved
art he also excelled in math and physics, so he was naturally
attracted to architecture; but an internship during his senior year
at a Miami architecture firm changed that and left him undecided
about a future career in that discipline.
On the strength of his artistic talent
Rodriguez landed a full
scholarship to the University of Miami—a school he had always been
fond of—but after visiting the campus he was less than thrilled
with the art program. One of his high school teachers suggested he
look into New York's Pratt Institute, as it had both excellent art
and architecture programs. She introduced him to a former student
who was attending Pratt and encouraged Rodriguez to attend an
upcoming open house on Pratt's campus; it would mean his first
plane ride, which he could afford thanks to his art prizes. He
immediately fell in love with New York and the school, but going to
Pratt was not an easy choice to make. Leaving family for a new city
wasn't either. “My parents didn't have a lot of money. I knew they
were relieved when I got the scholarship to UM. I couldn't ask them
to pay for full tuition at Pratt. So I contacted the financial aid
office and just laid my cards on the table. I told them I really
wanted to come to Pratt but that I had a full-scholarship from UM
and asked what they could do.” As a result of a partial scholarship
and additional financial aid, he managed to take his first year at
Pratt at a substantial discount. While his parents eventually
supported his decision, his mother was so heartbroken to see him
go, she would not send him off at the airport.
The first year at Pratt exposed him to oil
painting, figure
drawing and sculpture, as well as type, design, production and
illustration. Painting appealed to him more than art direction. At
the end of the year he was selected as one of 30 students to
exhibit their work and earned a full scholarship for the remaining
three years.
On
design as a bridge:
I've been able to communicate with people in Japan, Egypt or Europe
simply because we have an interest in a certain font or era of
design history. To some degree, design can bring people
together.
Concentrating
on painting, his only experience in design came
from working on the Pratt newspaper. But again he was given almost
total freedom in the design and use of illustration, both areas
where Rodriguez excelled. “It was the era of David Carson, so our
layouts were always experimental. It was a hands-on experience
where I learned about publication design and I could also
contribute illustrations.” Armed with a meager portfolio of design
work, he impressed those around him with his tenacity and talent,
landing internships at Spy, MTV and Penguin Books.
Rodriguez has always taken advantage of
opportunities that move
his career forward. Before graduation one of his teachers mentioned
to the class that her husband was working at Time; Edel was
the only student who followed up on that lead. And nine months
after starting as a temp at Time he had a full-time job as a
designer. “When I first got to Time I had plenty of time on
my hands. I'd always come up with cover ideas and present them to
the art director and appreciated the feedback I'd get.” His bosses
took notice. At 26 he became the youngest art director to work on
Time's Canadian and Latin American editions. “It was a dream
job. I got to call up Brad Holland, Brian Cronin or some other
well-known illustrator and ask them to do a cover.” He was not only
responsible for the cover but also 10–20 pages inside each issue.
He soaked up the experience; he watched how each illustrator
approached visual problem solving, how they met deadlines,
presented their work and promoted themselves. In the meantime he
created his own illustrations on the side while working toward his
MFA at Hunter College—another source of freedom, freedom from want.
His backup plan was to teach fine art.
Rodriguez
remembers his first trip to the Society of
Illustrators. “I was blown away by the work I was seeing but I got
worried real fast when all I saw were Anglo names on the wall. I
thought in order to make it, I'd surely have to change my name.” A
few years later he would join his fellow illustrators on the
gallery wall, having won gold and silver medals for his editorial
work. No small feat considering the obstacles he had to overcome.
That's one of the reasons he is always open to speaking to
students. He hopes just knowing there's a successful illustrator
out there named “Rodriguez” will open up possibilities for young
Hispanic designers. His core belief is that if you want it, you can
achieve it—you just have to want it bad enough.
His advice to young designers:
Continue to study history. Stay on top of current events. Also, buy
a place as soon as possible, stop renting.
Today he enjoys quite a bit of professional
freedom. Having left
Time in 2008 he has more time to spend with his wife
Jennifer—they met their freshman year at Pratt—and his two young
daughters. He's free to move between illustration and fine art,
working on editorial assignments, book covers and writing and
illustrating children's books on one side of the studio,
concentrating on painting and sculpture on the other side. “Fine
art gives me the freedom illustration doesn't. With illustration
someone is giving you a deadline, a direction, the dimensions;
you're satisfying them. With fine art I really have no idea
where I'm going with it. It just evolves. I can work on it for one
day and leave it for weeks at a time. It's finished when I say it's
finished,” he says. But there's freedom even in his illustration.
If he feels the need to move in a different direction, which he has
done recently with his children's books, he doesn't feel the need
to stay true to who we think Edel Rodriguez is.
Living an all-American dream in a lovely
1875 Victorian home
outside Parsippany, New Jersey, with its sky-lit studio, backyard
gazebo, deck and in-ground pool, Rodriguez has come a very long way
from the village of El Gabriel. His life is proof that anyone can
do it. Talent is part of it, but the larger part is that you have
to want it bad enough.
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