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It’s been said that people who tend to use the right hemisphere of their brain are more creative, while left-brain thinkers are more analytical and more logical. Using this somewhat dated argument, artists, writers and musicians are supposedly right-brain thinkers, while scientists and engineers fall under the second category.
If that’s the case, then Rodel Gonzalez is definitely a right-brain thinker. As one of the founders of the Side A band together with his brother Naldo Gonzalez, Joey Benin, Kelly Badon, Mar Dizon and Pido Lalimarmo back in 1985, Rodel performed with the band for close to two decades until he migrated to Hawaii in 2002.
Even before he became part of what would become the “Philippines’ premiere band,” he was already exposed to creatives as he comes from a family of artists. His father and grandfather were both artists and he grew up seeing them work on their respective paintings. He began drawing at an early age and always thought everyone around him was artistically inclined.
“My grandfather Felix Gonzalez and my dad Rick Gonzalez were prolific artists in their own right. I was exposed to art by watching them paint and started sketching when I was 6. Being that young, I thought everyone knew how to draw and only realized later on how special our family was with all of them being artists,” Rodel told the Inquirer in an email interview.
He would continue drawing and sketching even as the band’s popularity grew. In 2008, six years after migrating to the United States, he was accredited by Disney to reproduce the media giant’s iconic characters and scenes using his drybrush painting style.
That was 15 years ago, and this week—after a one-night concert with former and current members of Side A on June 1—he will frontline an exhibit of his works at the Sheraton Manila Hotel at Newport World Resorts on June 3.
