Blog: Celtic Design Symbols

Recognition as the design winner of the New Mexico Centennial Logo was as exciting as it was humbling for Ryan Rodriguez, a 2009 graduate of the Art Center Design College in Albuquerque.

To commemorate the 100th year of statehood for New Mexico, Rodriguez designed his winning logo of a Native American pot when the New Mexico Centennial Steering Committee offered a contest to students at the college.

In designing the 2012 centennial logo, Rodriguez began his elaborate development process.

Logo design requires a unique process, Rodriguez said, because it takes specialized research. He began by reviewing symbols as old as humanity and following these symbols from their origins to how they are used today.

"I am astonished by the emotions elicited by simple shapes," he said. "It takes a responsible designer to understand and configure these shapes into forms to speak effectively as loud as the words that accompany them."

Rodriguez's learning of portraiture and abstract painting cultivated and sharpened his knowledge for such a design process that comes from an early interest in illustration.

"Having experienced the rich culture present within Albuquerque's day and night life was all the inspiration I needed to get started in shaping my Native American pot," Rodriguez said.

Designing his logo for New Mexico's 100th birthday became a moderately intimidating feat to undertake.

"It has since encouraged me to raise my personal standards in design," Rodriguez said.

Rodriguez plugs his talents into a more marketable field related to his learning of illustration by pursuing logo design.

"Logo design is an avenue I enjoy as it is the antonym of my own personal style," he said. "The shape of the pot felt very New Mexico, carrying a timelessness that reaches back into history and out toward the future at the same time, much as the commemoration of New Mexico's centennial will be doing."

"In my work, I have never been bestowed the grandeur inherent in designing for the state."

Rodriguez describes his work as three dimensional combination.

"I approach most design work with something illustrated, painted or built to be photographed," he said.

Adorned with jagged undulations to show New Mexico's pulsing movement into its 100th year, Rodriguez's Native American pot is bordered with a serified font that signifies the continuation of this movement. This continuing movement, he says, implies a significance for those who are proud to live here.

"All of which is less than subtle," he said. "What is important to me is that New Mexico residents can identify with my design in a certain lasting humbleness that will ideally carry all of us through the next 100 years."

Having a few minor freelance jobs since graduation, Rodriguez hopes to find a job somewhere in New Mexico.

"I hope to work with a company where I can use my passion for design," he said.

V: Everything. Art is the way a chef cooks and arranges his food, the way a gardener gardens, the way someone will tell a story about a walk through nature, from the way you raise your kids to the way you arrange the furniture in your house. Anything you do that provides you with a ‘feeling’, or provides others with a ‘feeling’, is art. There are so many people who do and make things that we never know exist in this world. There was a guy in Manhattan that used to write poetry on the sidewalk every week with chalk. I never saw him do it, but for five years I read his work, even looked forward to finding the next one. Also, when I lived in New York there was a story about a woman who died, and in her house, they found one of the most amazing art pieces. She had taken plastic pipe, about 10 inches round and begin painting a history of America on it. It was a mural of the nations time line. As it grew, she added pieces of pipe. She started this in the 50’s. This tubing worked its way around her entire house, sixty or so feet of connected tubing, like a snake, around her entire place. The mural had all the great moments in history, the Civil Rights Movement, Vietnam, Presidential Elections and the moon landing. They moved it into a museum. It was one of the most amazing things I’ve ever heard of, and yet, no one knew it existed for over 50 years. Around the same time, a famous artist filled an entire gallery with 14 inches of dirt and called it his masterpiece. You had to look into the gallery, from the street, to see it. It was hailed as genius. It looked like a huge mess to me, but it brought in people by the thousands. It’s all art…whether or not you want it anywhere near your home….well, that’s another story.

LS:I have noticed your art has a humorous bent.  What motivates you to use humor in your work?

L.S:I also know you are a published author. Please tell our me about your books.  Did I hear you were working on a new book?  Can you tell me about it?

During my painting ‘heyday’, when I lived in Portland, I was also a cartoonist for a local paper. My art slowly started to blend the two. I started painting things that made me chuckle or just outright laugh, but I wasn’t yet sure how to blend the two. That’s when I discovered the German Painter Michael Sowa. He is a classically trained painter, with amazing talent in realistic work, who incorporates humor into his paintings. I loved the various reviews of people who didn’t like his work, they thought he was ‘ruining’ his ‘gift’ by adding humor to his work. Another side of it were fans who loved his work, because it finally made art interesting to them. The more I experimented with the idea, the more pieces I started to sell. It soon took over, almost every piece I produced had some joke in it, be it something outright in the painting itself, or in the title. Some of them are just jokes for myself and the public is none the wiser. In this last show, I drew a man, walking through an Italian town in the early morning. Nothing is funny about it but the title, written in Italian, which translates to….’Made the Doughnuts’.  The hardest part is trying to remain just ‘normal’ enough to appeal to people, because ultimately, survival is the name of the game…so selling because almost impossible when it falls too much into the ‘weird’ category. It’s also a fine line between what I find amusing and offending others. Religion is a very touchy subject. I caused quite a controversy in Portland when I did a religion-themed cartoon, the newspaper said they received tons of letters, which apparently they enjoyed because they asked me to do more. I suppose even bad press was good press to them. This last show I did a painting of a Zombie dressed in a habit ‘Zombie Nun Enjoying a Latte’, I wasn’t sure how it would be received, but it was loved. The owner of that painting is actually a real, life NUN! I couldn’t imagine a better seal-of-approval than that. I’m currently working on a piece that makes me pause as well, it’s a picture of early morning and Jesus is sitting on the edge of his bed, stretching. It’s called ‘The Second Rising of Christ’…I still get a bit anxious when I’m not sure how public reaction will be, but in the end, I’ve got to do what I’ve go to do.

The Books

The first book I published was in 2007. It’s a travel memoir of a backpacking trip I did through Europe with a friend, right after college, in the mid-90’s. It’s called It Doesn’t Matter Which Road You Take: A European Travel Story. The book is just an account of our travels through 14 countries during a 3 month walkabout. It’s less an educational tour and more about the fact that he and I are horrible travelers, thus, we consistantly made idiotic mistakes. It’s also about, how being such horrible travelers, the amazing luck we had as we wandered aimlessly, the people we met and the adventures we had. I originally submitted it to a travel website and it became the most popular piece on their site. By the end of six months I was on seven other websites and by the end of the first year I was on 13 different travel sites. In 2007 I went through a publishing company in Maryland who publishes mostly for online stores like Amazon and AbeBooks.

My second book I published in 2009. I didn’t want to go through the previous publisher, so I chose Kindle, (Amazon Kindle is a software and hardware platform to display e-books and other digetal media. And amazingly Amazon e-book sales exceded print sales for the first time on December 25, 2009).The Kindle has gained much popularity since Oprah featured it on one of her ‘favorite things’ episode, and the book is also available to download to iTouch and iPhone. I was actually in the process of writing two other books when the second one came to be. The two books I was writing had bits and pieces of experiences I had while living in Manhattan during and after 9/11. Eventually I put down the other two books and wrote this one, ‘Einstein’s Shutter,’ and told the story directly about those years. The book actually covers a ten year period, from Portland and the beginning of a relationship and my emergence into Buddhism, to Manhattan, the events of 9/11, a death of a friend and the eventually ending of the relationship. It’s a strange mix of memoir, historical, romance, humor, travel and the story of New Yorks slow rise from that day in September. The reviews have been wonderful and I hope to someday consider publishing it in book form.
Currently I am working on two pieces. The first is a screenplay called, ‘A Thousand Paper Cranes’, the story which is too complex to try and explain here. The other book I’m working on is called ‘iQuit‘, a humorous account of all the jobs I have had (around 35) and the freakishly amusing people who were usually the reasons why I quit those jobs. Both are coming along slowly as I am a huge procrastinator. As for painting, I’m currently starting a series of paintings that are Picasso-esque in their ‘look’…and humorous to boot. We’ll see how that goes.

LS: Vince how does your artistic life blend in with your massage therapy?

V:When I originally starting writing books and painting, one of my intentions was being able to provide people with not only an escape, but perhaps, a feeling of calm, peace, laughter or just contemplation. When I left New York I was driving cross country, looking for a place to live, wondering what was next. I had spent about ten days on the road, driving down the East Coast, visiting Elvis in Memphis, hanging out on the Mississippi and cruising around the heartland. The only place that mildly appealed to me was Albuquerque, but not enough to make a commitment. As I rode into Arizona I developed a kink in my back from the constant sitting and driving. When I reached Flagstaff, I booked a massage, something I’d never had before.