{"id":50272,"date":"2017-02-14T20:20:52","date_gmt":"2017-02-15T01:20:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.gayfriendschat.com\/socialblog\/the-artist-who-drew-trump-beheading-lady-liberty-is-a-cuban-refugee\/"},"modified":"2017-02-14T20:20:52","modified_gmt":"2017-02-15T01:20:52","slug":"the-artist-who-drew-trump-beheading-lady-liberty-is-a-cuban-refugee","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.gayfriendschat.com\/socialblog\/the-artist-who-drew-trump-beheading-lady-liberty-is-a-cuban-refugee\/","title":{"rendered":"The Artist Who Drew Trump Beheading Lady Liberty is a Cuban Refugee"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Artist Who Drew Trump Beheading Lady Liberty is a Cuban Refugee<\/b><\/p>\n

\"Credit:<\/p>\n

Credit: Courtesy of Edel Rodriguez<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s pretty hilarious that in 2017, a drawing<\/em> is making the world go nuts.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

That\u2019s what artist Edel Rodriguez says about his cover for Der Spiegel magazine<\/a> that broke the internet last week.<\/p>\n

But to be fair, it\u2019s not just any drawing. It\u2019s a cartoon of President Donald Trump, standing in the pose of a Jihadist warrior. In one hand, he holds the severed head of the Statue of Liberty, which is dripping blood onto the floor. In the other hand, he grasps a bloodstained knife.\u00a0Der Spiegel\u2019s online version even has an animated version of the image<\/a>, with the blood dripping from Lady Liberty\u2019s head.<\/p>\n

\"Edel<\/p>\n

Edel Rodriguez\u2019s cover for Der Spiegel magazine on Feb. 4 sparked worldwide controversy. Credit: Courtesy of Edel Rodriguez<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

The image sparked fierce debate online and in the press.\u00a0Germany\u2019s Die Welt<\/a> daily said the cover \u201cdamages\u201d and \u201cdevalues\u201d journalism. Another paper, the center-right Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung<\/a>, wrote that equating Trump and terrorism is too simple.<\/p>\n

The artist, Edel Rodriguez, disagrees: \u201cI don\u2019t think you can be subtle about what\u2019s happening right now,\u201d he said. \u201c I think we were subtle [\u2026] during the primary. And because of that, because the media treated it as sort of a show and wasn\u2019t very serious about it, we have the president that we have right now.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rodriguez started doing Trump covers last year.\u00a0 When it looked like the Trump campaign was in a tailspin, Rodriguez drew covers for TIME magazine that showed Trump\u2019s head melting into a puddle, like the Wicked Witch of the West.<\/p>\n

\"Edel<\/p>\n

Edel Rodriguez\u2019s \u201cMeltdown\u201d illustration of Donald Trump for Time\u2019s cover is shown here. Credit: Time magazine<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

After Trump won the election, he drew a cover for Der Speigel featuring Trump\u2019s head as a fiery sun hurtling towards planet earth.<\/p>\n

\"This<\/p>\n

This is Der Spiegel\u2019s cover artwork for an issue themed around \u201cThe End of the World,\u201d which came out on Nov. 12, 2016. Credit: Courtesy of Edel Rodriguez<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Rodriguez is already brainstorming for his next cover:\u00a0\u201cI can have Trump sitting on the Statue of Liberty\u2019s head like [Auguste Rodin\u2019s] The Thinker. And all that\u2019s in his mind is a Twitter bird!\u201d<\/p>\n

Or in case the president does a 180 on his political views, Rodriguez says, \u201cmaybe he\u2019s on the statue and he\u2019s sewing the head back on and we\u2019re all good again. \u2026 Or if he gets impeached, I have an image for that.\u201d<\/p>\n

But he\u2019s not giving spoilers on that one.<\/p>\n

Rodriguez compares Trump to a schoolyard bully. And, he says, just like with any bully, people\u00a0have to fight back.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I was a kid I would go outside and get in trouble with someone,\u201d he says. \u201cThey might punch me, and I\u2019d come home crying, and my dad would say, just go out there and punch them harder next time. That\u2019s how I grew up.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rodriguez spent his childhood in Havana, Cuba. He came to the United States as a refugee when he was 9 years old, on the Mariel boatlift in\u00a01980<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Rodriguez says his experience as a political refugee informs his reaction to Trump: \u201cGrowing up in Cuba, I saw firsthand how people behave in a dictatorship. How they\u2019re afraid to talk. So when I\u2019ve been here [in the US], and I\u2019ve seen people do that, it jogs my mind.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rodriguez says he started making political art to warn people, saying, \u201cHey, this is very serious! this is very important! Pay attention, pay attention, please pay attention. Part of it is that I\u2019ve been there and I\u2019ve seen what could happen.\u201d<\/p>\n

This article first appeared on PRI The World<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

The post The Artist Who Drew Trump Beheading Lady Liberty is a Cuban Refugee<\/a> appeared first on Towleroad<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\n<\/a> <\/a> <\/a> <\/a> <\/a> <\/a>\n<\/div>\n

\"\"
\n<\/p>\n

The Artist Who Drew Trump Beheading Lady Liberty is a Cuban Refugee<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n