Miami, Florida

Emilio Héctor Rodríguez was born in Sancti Spíritus, Cuba, in 1950. His family moved to Havana before he reached the age of three. His encounter with art was in his early childhood, when he visited different museums in Havana and other cities in Cuba.  Since his early childhood he exhibited a precocious talent for painting and drawing. He started drawing and experimenting with oil paint and tempera at the age of 12. He began studying classical guitar at 18 and did so for 3 years. While a student at the Instituto Pre-Universitario de Marianao (Marianao Senior High School), he participated in several workshops sponsored by San Alejandro Arts Academy. Between 1969 and 1970 he worked under the guidance of Cuban painter Jesús Antonio Valdovino Diaz at a center for the visual arts run by Consejo Nacional de Cultura (National Council of Culture) located in El Vedado, La Habana.  In 1971 he enrolled in the University of Havana to study Pure Mathematics, but after two years he changed the field to Computer Science, obtaining his degree in 1976. After graduation he worked as a software specialist. In 1978 he began signing his artwork as “Emilio Héctor”.  He left Cuba permanently in 1981 and spent one year living in Paris where he had the opportunity to be in contact with art at large. He moved to Miami, Florida, in 1982, where he currently resides with his family. Upon arrival in Miami, he completed a series of drawings and started working as a computer analyst/programmer. He has been working for Miami-Dade County since 1984 until present. He began painting with acrylic guided by the experienced Cuban painter Dominica Alcántara in 2005 at the “Latin Quarter Cultural Center”  in Miami. Abstract painting became his last interest and passion. He has been painting abstracts since 2007. Emilio Héctor is very dedicated to his art and is actually participating in the workshop of renowned Cuban-American painter and professor Baruj Salinas at Miami Dade College. His work can be found in several private collections in Florida as well as in other states and countries of South America and Europe like Argentina and Spain. One of his works is part of the permanent collection of “Museum of the Americas” in Doral, Florida.