Edo has won twice the Pedro León Zapata Award granted by El Nacional newspaper to the best cartoonist in the Venezuelan press (2005 and 2008). In 2007, he was awarded the “Gold Pen Prize” as the best cartoonist in the 1st Graphic Humor Exhibition of the Ibero-American Arts Fair in Caracas. He has published a series of books called HUMOR-ES EDO, volumes 1, 2 and 3, consisting of a selection of his most outstanding works released in the Venezuelan press.
The Significance of Caricature in Visual Communication
Caricature is a type of visual communication which carries the message with exaggerated drawings. It is the briefest and sharpest way of stating a criticism. From the very beginning, it aims to address the audience to the lacking and improper parts of society. Any subject which concerns human kind can be subject of caricature. With modernism, subject has became as important as object. As an art branch of modernism, caricature has became a medium, which all the hostility and insurrection found voice in. While the purpose of art has been discussed repeatedly, caricature’s is brief and clear. Its goal is to wake people up with a sledge hammer; and it is very successful in reaching its goal. It does not fear to be like or disliked, it is very honest in its manner. It is like a naughty boy of graphic arts; who can assault anything he wants. Caricature is rebellious, rough, and destructive. However, it never looks irritating because of the cleverness it holds. Sometimes caricature uses naiveness as a barrier; and strike from back of it. As Spanish caricature artist Vasquez De Sola mentioned, “Caricature is the most gentle way of saying God Damn”.
