Celebrated artist, renowned designer and SVA BFA Illustration faculty member Edel Rodriguez's body of work is eclectic and versatile. It includes children's books (nine so far, including his latest, I Am!, published earlier this month), covers for Time and Newsweek, illustrations for The New York Times and Playboy, posters for PBS, and much more. But Rodriguez—who was born in Havana, Cuba, and, in his own words, "fled despotism" at the age of eight—has dedicated the bulk of his creative energy these past several years to combating what he sees as American authoritarianism in the age of Trump.

Described as "America's Illustrator-in-chief" by Fast Company, Rodriguez's political illustrations under the current administration have been relentless and unsparing. He's created widely noted anti-Trump works for Time, Der Spiegel and New Statesman, among others, and many of the similarly caustic designs he's made for social media were shown in London last year in his ominously titled exhibition, "Hell Is Empty."

Whether it's an artistic response to COVID-19 pandemic, the Black Lives Matter movement, or the latest political scandal, Rodriguez has dedicated his popular Instagram and Twitter accounts to his spins on the political discourse or news of the day. When Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg passed away recently, Rodriguez unearthed an old portrait he had created of her, and repurposed it for a get-out-the-vote campaign that is currently consuming most of his social-media efforts. And though Rodriguez has been busier than ever in these final days before the election, we checked in with him to talk about his work and the state of things.

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