Underlying Arturo Rodríguez’s work is a scaffolding constructed of his life experience: in 1971 he was first transplanted from Cuba to Spain as an impressionable teen, then again as a young man to the New World metropolis and hub of Caribbean and Hispanic culture – Miami. The uprooting exposed him to the entangled complexities of the human condition across time, place, and cultures, and incited a lifelong curiosity.

In Madrid, he discovered the Prado Museum and was enraptured. Diving headlong into the affair of his life’s work, the masters in its galleries educated and influenced him; he drank deeply from the fountain of their inspiration. In this genesis, a yearning to connect to the source of all artistic energy – to channel it- brought forth the artist within.

In 1973, his family settled in Miami, where he completed high school and studied life drawing very briefly at Miami-Dade Community College. It was at this time that Rodríguez came in contact with the great music of the United States: blues and jazz. This music, with its element of both grief and improvisation provided the artist with important elements that would develop in his work.

During the 1980s, Rodríguez continued to travel throughout Europe, revisiting Spain to study again the works of the 17th century Spanish masters and of Goya, and Italy, where the painterliness of the Venetians (Giorgione, Titian, and Veronese) also provided significant lessons.

He now lives and works in Miami, Florida.