Meet the Artist is our new series where we invite you to get to know the creative minds behind the work. Each edition pairs an in-depth editorial Q&A - a chance to explore the artist's background, process, and inspiration - with a Happy Hour where you can see a featured collection of their work and connect with the artist. Because the best way to experience art is alongside the person who made it.
Event details here.
Written by Jake Bryer / Co-Founder of Austin Art Garage
This year, we set a goal to improve our artist advocacy by shining a spotlight not just on the finished work, but on the artist themselves. Their inspirations, motivations, background, favorite color, and the reasons they make art in the first place. Kicking the series off with Gerardo Rodriguez, I headed towards his home studio for our first Q&A.
Upon my arrival, I was greeted by Gerardo, his partner and business manager Carly, and their furry baby Bodhi, a small white dog with an untrusting disposition of my presence. Carly handed me doggy snacks to make friends with the little guy. Not sure if it worked. She was holding him the rest of the visit with his watchful gaze on me - treating his guardian duties with the utmost professionalism. Good boy Bodhi!
They guided me to the second floor where a makeshift living area was thoughtfully converted to a multifaceted creative workspace packed with in-progress paintings, art supplies, a desk and a workstation surrounded by personal mementos and plants, lots of plants.
I took a moment to take in his personal space as I’m always fascinated how artists surround themselves with items of inspiration. I first noticed a collection of five Zilker Brewery beer cans with custom monster designs Gerardo created for limited edition releases and then I turned and paused when I saw an Emmy Award. I jokingly asked where he stole it from, but then realized it had his name on it. He explained it was from a reality television series he worked on as a camera operator following musicians around Los Angeles. Wow!
We moved to his desk and he pulled out his sketch portfolio dating back to his college days at American University in Washington D.C., which prompted my first question...
When did you know you wanted to be an artist?
All my life, I think. As a kid I was very creative– always drawing and coming up with characters, coloring books, making doodles in my notebooks at class, and taking pictures with my disposable camera. Although I did want to be a veterinarian at one point, it was mostly because I loved animals. I never really saw myself as having a regular job. I didn’t know exactly how I would make art a career, but I guess by avoiding having a regular job and focusing on practicing art and being okay with some years of struggle, I slowly became the artist I am today.
Where did you grow up?
I was born and raised in Guaynabo, Puerto Rico, a town next to San Juan. I now realize that growing up on the island gave me a lot of fuel and inspiration to be who I am. The beach is my favorite place to be, my love of nature and animals comes from where I grew up, and having amazingly talented friends and family and seeing other successful Puerto Ricans motivates me to keep growing as an artist.
What’s something in your childhood that inspired you creatively?
When I was around 8 or 9 I remember seeing on tv how animators at Disney made animated movies. Seeing the process of how they drew each frame blew my mind and made me realize I could do something like that one day. For the longest time I told my mother I would work at Disney. Seeing that led me to pursue creative arts in college, and I studied graphic design and film as well as taking art and photography electives.
Have there been significant influences from childhood that you didn’t realize until later in life?
My mother owned a fabric store so from a young age I was surrounded by all types of colors and patterns. She used to let me help by drawing outfit patterns around the store. Both my parents worked for themselves, so that also showed me that I didn’t need to work for someone else and helped me have the confidence to face the challenges that comes with being self-employed.
Speaking of childhood, what’s your favorite cartoon?
I don’t have a particular favorite, but I think the most iconic is Wile E. Coyote and Road Runner. That is actually the stories I envision behind my art– the monsters are the roadrunner and the cowboys are like the coyote. Not serious, a little silly, a lot of fun, and no matter what happens to the cowboy, he’s always back in the next painting.
Why monsters?
I’ve been doodling monsters, weird creatures and characters since I was little, but I never really thought much about it or took it too seriously. When I started doing art full-time, I experimented with a lot of different things, including going back to photography and video. I was trying to figure out what would stick, what my style was, and what would resonate with people. One day I took a random photo while on South Congress, doodled a monster on the image, wrote “Hello Austin,” and shared it on my Instagram page and #MonstersinAustin (back when hashtags were still a big thing). That post got more of a reaction than anything else I had shared, and it made me realize that maybe the monsters were my thing. So I ran with it! Since then, I’ve been developing that idea through photography, illustrations, and now paintings. My monsters have evolved over the years, and I’ve gotten to create whole worlds around them. Even when I move into new themes, I still bring in those monster-like elements, and at this point everything I draw has kind of become a monster in some way. Rocks and mountains have one eye, my cowboys have horns, plants feel animated and monster-like— everything is alive in a way and everything can be a monster. I feel like I can paint anything, but that monster aspect will always be there. There are endless opportunities and possibilities for these characters across different art forms, and I have a lot of ideas for future monster projects beyond canvas.
What’s your favorite part about being a visual artist?
Two things come to mind: one is hearing how much my paintings impact people and how it makes them feel. For the longest time I didn’t have a way to share my art, so it was just me and maybe a few friends or family who I showed. So when people see my art and react and tell me what they see or like, and to see how meaningful it is to people, makes this job a lot more important. My work seems to bring up good feelings in people and they recognize the inspiration and reflection of childhood cartoons, books, and movies they enjoyed when they were younger. It helps people reconnect with that part of themselves I think and feel some joy. My other favorite thing is meeting families whose kids love my art and share how much I’ve inspired them to keep creating. Sometimes kids will show me their drawings and their own renditions of monsters and cowboys. I even have a little clay monster in my home studio that one little boy made me! I remember when I was a kid I didn’t get to meet any living, successful artists, so to be able to experience being on the other side now is something amazing and very meaningful to me.
What is your approach to making art?
I love making art and sharing my work. I have learned that it's a balance of doing your passion and treating it like a business and seeing what people want or are into. I think that approach has extended my art career and allowed me to paint and be creative every day. I also study and observe current artists I admire and see how they do their thing and try to learn from them.
Expand a little on your process.
A lot of my process I think comes from my graphic design and film background. In those projects, you have to put a lot of preparation into each project you are making before you start producing or printing anything– everything needs to be perfect, no errors. Before you shoot a scene everything must line up, like lighting, actors, sound, composition, etc. So for me now, when it comes to making art, I treat it the same way. I sketch a lot of different ideas, from the sketches I pick which one interests me the most, then from there I refine the sketch on my iPad, play with different colors schemes, placements, and characters. Once everything looks good and the drawing is clean and I can see how the finished painting will look, I then start the actual painting on canvas. But I always have to see the finished product on paper before I start the canvas.
How do you deal with rejection?
I have definitely learned to see it as “this was not for me” and believe that another, better door will open next. I try not to spend too much time worrying about it. Rejection makes me want to do better, and I am pretty good at being able to move on and not waste my time.
Do you listen to music while painting?
Yes! Music is my number one source of motivation and inspires me to get in my painting mindset. It makes me believe in myself. Lately I’ve been listening to a lot of Bad Bunny, Gorillaz, and Khruangbin. I like a lot of different things; it doesn’t have to be any specific genre to be inspiring to me. Turning on good music is like turning on a switch in my head for my ideas and motivation to start flowing.
What’s the perfect sandwich?
Any sandwich is a perfect sandwich in my opinion! When someone asks me what my favorite food is, I always say sandwiches. It's good for breakfast, lunch, or dinner. Best sandwich in town: Wanna BLT at Bouldin Creek Café.
What’s a new skill you recently picked up that changes your work?
I recently bought a rigged tattoo gun on Etsy that can hold my ink pens so that is something I’m experimenting with. I noticed one of my favorite black and white artists using a tattoo gun to paint very fine details and wanted to give it a try. So right now I’m playing around with a lot of black line work with limited splashes of colors. I’ve always loved painting and creating with only black and white, so I’ve been enjoying the challenge of the new tool and a simpler color palette.
If you won the lottery jackpot, would you still paint?
I would definitely still be painting, just from a house on a beach! Maybe I would do fewer projects and take more time or paint larger formats. But I can’t imagine ever not creating.
Curious to learn more? Check out Gerardo's current collection and get the chance to chat with him at our upcoming Happy Hour!
Comments will be approved before showing up.
