EDITORIAL Watercolor ILLUSTRATION

MISHA 2024 - FESTIVAL CLAP MARCIAC 2024 - FRANCE

I remember that evening in 1980, in front of the old TV set at home, watching the ceremony in awe. I especially remember the farewell to mascot Misha, who ascended to heaven in the house from the animated film "UP." It wasn't a farewell, but a "see you later." This time, the bear has changed a lot in 44 years. Yes, nothing stays the same. This drawing is the second for the group exhibition at the CLAP Marciac 2024 Festival. The theme for these 20 years is All Fired Up! It ties in with the passage of the flame through Marciac on May 18, the 1st day of the Show, and the Olympic year.

Steve Bell and The Windsor Tapestry by Leonardo Rodríguez, 2023

This is my piece in the collective exhibition of

Steve Bell, called: "Windsor Tapestry"

"42ème Salon International de la Caricature, du Dessin

de Presse et d’Humour" 2023!

Saint-Just-le-Martel, France.

Reel on Instagarm

THE LAST RELAY

This year 2024, the CLAP Marciac Cartoon Festival coincides with the

Olympic torch passing through the site.

I still remember the Tokyo 2020 opening ceremony which at times had a near "pre-post-war" feel to it with the COVID-19 theme still present. For me it was the first major world event without my mother, with all that that entailed. But here we are in 2024 with old conflicts turned into new wars, as if that wasn't enough to put us through.

This year it is the turn of the city that welcomed me 24 years ago in this old Europe of which I feel part. For this year's Marciac festival, we were asked for drawings alluding to the Olympic theme. For me, it was inevitable to relate it to the war theme? Could it be that we already have a "world war" for quotas? It seems that it is slowly measuring its steps in slow motion.

One of my two drawings represents an anonymous carrier pigeon as in the times of the "Great War", that war of those new machines and the old empires. This carrier pigeon rolls up her sleeves with her olive branch to arrive in spite of everything to that last relay of Paris 2024.

In this war of flying drones, this messenger has no choice but to be one more warrior... in one more war in this "little blue dot" in space.

"From Russia with love" Vladimir Putin and War in Ukraine
Instagram

Watercolor caricature of Vladimir Putin driving a war tank an threatening the dove of peace dove with two bags. This image reminiscent of the gentleman stopping the tank in Tiananmen Square protests,1989

Peace failure
Instagram

watercolor caricature of a strange peace dove with a Nevile Chamberlain looking trying to stop the war over a sea of blood

"The big...Head"
Instagram

watercolor editorial illustration of Vladimir Putin as the Chaplin's Great Dictator. Putin is playing with his head as the terraqueous globe that also looks like an atomic explosion

Boris Johnson and Brexit
Instagram

Watercolor caricature of Boris Johnson sinking with a Boat called Brexit. He's holding back the UK yellow star of the Eupean Union.Leonardo Rodríguez-caricaturista en españa

Emmanuel Macron Paris wins. After several months of hesitation, Emmanuel Macron chose the capital to host the future House of Press and Satirical Drawing...Instead of Limoges or Saint-Just-le Martel.