132 Survey 10: Edel Rodriguez

2000-Present Technology and Tradition/New Horizons

Edel Rodriguez (1971-) is a Cuban American illustrator and artist best known for his magazine illustration covers. As someone who is fearless about voicing his socialist view, he believed that his artistic skills and his concepts could be used as a political propaganda as he emphasized that “my illustrations are like weapons, that’s what I’m fighting with.”

His immigrant background made a profound impact on his works as his earliest visual influences mostly came from Cuban military, revolutionary and nationalist imagery in his hometown. Rodriguez also has a long history working with Time magazine in particular. He won a scholarship at Time during his high school years and continued to work with Time for 13 years as a full time designer. At the age of 26 as the art director, he was also the youngest art director to work on the magazine’s Canadian and Latin American editions.

Arguably, Edel Rodriguez’s most famous work is his satirical cover illustration of Donald Trump. Either one likes his content or not, most can’t deny that his conceptual illustrations have a way to catch viewers’ attentions. The clean, minimalist style paired with the strong concept makes his works powerful and striking.