Miguel Rodez

Visual Artist

Copyright Miguel Rodez 2010 - 2018

All rights reserved. (c)

Artist Statement re Portrait Series

Influencing future generations: When I arrived in the United States as a teenager, a cultural revolution was taking place in the country. While young men burned their military draft cards to protest the war in Vietnam, women burned their bras to protest against gender-based discrimination. Youths my age chose idols to look up to. Practically all of them chose famous musicians, sports figures, or controversial politicos. However, my interests lay the visual arts. Therefore, I idolized 20th Century artists. I owe my knowledge of painting to my visual analysis of their work. Therefore, when deciding on painting subject matter for my portrait series, I felt compelled to pay tribute to those whose legacy taught and inspired me. This indebtedness to their legacy is what motivates my current series of 20th Century masters, often blending certain aspects of their work with my own style. (I also paint portraits of other people, but influential 20th Century artists is the key to my artist portrait series).  For example, in my portrait of Salvador Dali, I chose to allude to hiss persistent preoccupation with his own mortality by creating an idealized paradise that he would find appealing, as it is drawn from themes Dali utilized in some of his most famous paintings.

Artist Statement re Flower Series

It is in my nature to seduce a viewer's gaze through color, line and form, which is exactly what flowers do to lure other species to carry their pollen to its intended destination.  Once enthralled through visual stimuli, the viewer’s  eyes are invited to linger and the mind is welcomed to wonder about of the possibilities that my work engenders.   It alludes to the irony that exists in a society that exalts freedom of expression while repressing sensuality, which society deems naughty and something to be hidden.  The pieces are not meant to be vulgar.  Instead, I blend nature and human sensuality in a subtle orchestration, hoping that, through this botanical marriage, the viewer may consider the irony of society’s expectations regarding gender roles, heterosexuality, bisexuality homosexuality, etc. The pieces are are created in a way that appeal to the senses with much attention paid to composition and richness of color.  The result are pieces that are just as comfortable making an insightful visual statement at the main hall of a museum as they are serving as an heirloom in the living room of a family with children. My paintings, Bumper Crop and Kissing Magnolia are representative paintings of my botanical series.

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Although I utilize various media (drawing, installation, painting, photography and sculpture) when creating artwork, my best known work consists of figurative paintings where I employ a texturing technique where the results resemble oversized brush strokes.  Others notice my inclination to utilize the tondo (round) format.  One series that I am working on consists of portraits honoring Twentieth Century masters; another series consists of provocative sensual flowers, and yet another relates to an idealized quest for personal freedom.  

Artwork description

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I was born in Cuba in 1956, at Casablanca, which is a small neighborhood consisting of a mix of Spanish colonial and victorian architecture and where a prominent Spanish fortress with an iconic lighthouse is perched upon a hill that overlooks Havana Harbor. In November 1969, I immigrated to the US with my family and settled in New York City at the Borough of Manhattan. After living there for about 3 years, we moved to Union City for a few months, and then, we relocated to Miami In 1973. Except for my studies at Indiana University and multiple trips lasting a few months at a time to various countries in Europe, Asia, and the Middle-East, I have resided in Miami ever since.

I consider myself to be an autodidactic artist, as my artistic education consisted of studying the work of great masters until I was about 16 years old.  I then applied to three top art magnet schools in New York City.  After being accepted by all three of them, I chose to attend the High School of Art and Design in New York City’s Upper East Side. Unfortunately, I was able to attend that school for only part of one semester.  A few years later, I did take one course in figure drawing, but by this time, I was already proficient in the subject. That training took place at the University of Miami, at Coral Gables, Florida, where I majored in History (including Art History) and minored in both English and Philosophy.  The foregoing studies helped to inform my artwork, which has been exhibited at various galleries, international art fairs, museums, and other cultural institutions. This includes, among other venues,the Coral Gables Museum; the Frost Museum’s Sculpture Garden; The Palace of Fine Arts, Dominican Republic; Florida International University’s Green Library; and,the Milander Center for the Arts. 

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Being a community-minded individual, I have been quite involved in the arts in various ways.  For a period of six years in the decade of the 1990s, I served as a Member of the Board and later as Chair Person of Miami’s 12-member Art in Public Places Trust (a quasi-governmental entity that commissions artists to create public art for Miami-Dade County with a multi-million-dollar budget). I have written multiple articles regarding art, culture, and other issues for the cultural magazine Herencia (Heritage); for the Cuban American Bar Association’s CABA Briefs Magazine.  I served on the editorial board of the Dade County Bar Association’s DCBA Bulletin newspaper.  I have also curated about 30 art exhibits at various cultural institutions.

Miguel Rodez Brief Biography 

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I learned to paint by studiously observing the work of master painters; by dutiful practice; and, by conducting self-directed research.  By the time I was 16 years old, I applied to three of the top American art magnet schools located in New York City and was accepted to all three of them.  I chose to attend the High School of Art and Design at the New York's Upper Eastside, a brief walk from the Museum of Modern Art, but for personal reasons, I was only able to take only introductory courses at said school for only part of one semester. Thus, I received only a basic introduction to the artistic process which was something that I had already accomplished, Not being able to complete what I had started left me quite distraught, as my dreams of pursuing a formal Fine Arts education were dashed in an instant.  I did take a course in Figure Drawing at the University of Miami, in Coral Gables, Florida, a few years later, but that too was an introductory course. However, I did earn a Bachelor of Arts in History from said university, which Degree included taking courses in Art History, which were quite edifying.  In light of the experiences that I underwent, I consider myself an autodidactic artist. My determination to never stop learning and to always give the best of myself is the reason that I have managed to succeed by achieving what I have set out to accomplish.

Artistic Development

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07/21/2017  

20th Century Masters: Basquiat, Chagall, Dali, Kahlo, & Picasso

Compositum Musicae Novae

Coral Gables Museum, 285 Aragon Ave, Coral Gables, FL 33134

03/04/2015  

Purim Mask Exhibit: Exhibited a mixed media sculpture, Medusa              

Jewish Museum of Florida, 301 Washington Ave, Miami Beach, FL 33139 

02/03/2012

Art in the Breezeway, Coral Gables Museum Plaza

Exhibited: sculpture Lucky Link

Coral Gables Museum, 285 Aragon Ave, Coral Gables, FL 33134

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01/06/2012  

Art in the Breezeway, Coral Gables Museum Plaza

Exhibited: Velocity sculpture, drawings, paintings, and photography

Coral Gables Museum, 285 Aragon Ave, Coral Gables, FL 33134

08/31/2010  

International Art Fair [FIART] Exhibited giant sculpture “Lucky Link”

Dominican Republic’s Palace of Fine Arts      

Avenida Maximo Gomez, Santo Domingo 10204, Dominican Republic

Museum Exhibits

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03/09/2019  

Painting Provocateurs, Exhibited 8 large format (78" x 78") portraits 

Sardiñas Gallery,

St. Thomas University

16400 NW 32nd Ave, Miami, FL 33054

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07/21/2017  

20th Century Masters: Basquiat, Chagall, Dali, Kahlo, & Picasso

Compositum Musicae Novae

Coral Gables Museum, 285 Aragon Ave, Coral Gables, FL 33134

07/28/2016   

Large format portraits and sensual flower paintings

Florida International University, Steven & Dorothea Green Library

11263 SW 8 Street, Miami FL 33199

05/16/2015  

Visual Poetry Project: Exhibited monotypes.

Bird Road Art District, 4229 SW 75 Ave, Miami FL 33155

03/21/2015  

Spring forward: Exhibited Sensual Flower paintings.

Bird Road Art District, 4229 SW 75 Ave, Miami FL 33155

09/20/2014  

Power Portraits: Exhibited large format paintings: 

The Painter; Joaquin; Avraham, and Alexis

Bird Road Art District, 4229 SW 75 Ave, Miami FL 33155

05/17/2014  

Unveiling Joaquin: Exhibited large format painting and photographs

Review by Art Historian & Art History Professor Vivian Donnell Rodriguez

Bird Road Art District, 4229 SW 75 Ave, Miami FL 33155

03/15/2014  

Imagine Liberation: Exhibited 24 paintings, Acrylic paintings on paper

Bird Road Art District, 4229 SW 75 Ave, Miami FL 33155

12/15/2012  

Primal Connection: Exhibited monotypes and Primal connection painting.

Bird Road Art District, 4229 SW 75 Ave, Miami FL 33155

11/17/2012  

Imagine Liberation: Exhibited acrylic paintings on paper

Bird Road Art District, 4229 SW 75 Ave, Miami FL 33155

02/11/2012  

Miami Design District Art Walk: Exhibited acrylic paintings on paper

Majestic Properties, Miami Design District, 35 NE 40 St. Miami FL 33137

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05/06/2011  

Imagining Liberation: Exhibited acrylic paintings on paper

Domingo Padron Gallery, 1518 Ponce de Leon Blvd; Coral Gables, FL 33134

Solo Exhibits

Portrait of Joaquin Estrada Montalban, acrylic on canvas, 78" x 73", Miguel Rodez Artist