We recently connected with Devin Urioste and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Devin, thanks for joining us today. Do you feel you or your work has ever been misunderstood or mischaracterized? If so, tell us the story and how/why it happened and if there are any interesting learnings or insights you took from the experience?

I believe that as a Black and Latino man, my work is often characterized as being political or eluding to a specific social justice meaning or message, especially in the country we live in. Even though my work is about the empowerment, justice, experience, and resilience of my culture and community I think that when people view a piece about black and brown cultures that they think it automatically has a political meaning. I am often only asked to do shows for black history month or events that are related to the social climate of the world. At first this was great because my work absolutely speaks to these topics and issues, but at a certain point in time I realized that my work and identity are way more than these topics and issues. I think that as Black and Brown artists we should have the right to express who we are as human beings without being pigeonholed into specific intersections of our identity. We can just exist.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

I am born and raised in Denver CO. I originally started my journey as a creative as a vandal. I grew up writing graffiti and actually was not interested in being anything more until I met other graffiti writers who did more than graffiti. After 8 plus years with a spray paint can I decided to pursue painting murals and got my foot in the door. I am thankful for the community of folks I am connected to for helping me get my foot in the door. As I began to pursue murals I also began to explore canvas and gallery work. I used to always set up at first Friday’s on Santa Fe with my boy Ratha and got a taste of what it was like to also sell canvas.

Soon after that I began putting together my own pop up shows and then eventually actual gallery shows. My first show was at Alto Gallery and then my first solo show was at a gallery/studio a local artist Rochelle Johnson used to run in the La Alma neighborhood. From then on I have explored and experimented with collage, realism, and just mixed media art work in general. I do not know how to explain it really haha.

My work now lives in a few different realms. I have continued to paint large and small scale murals, while at the same time have been refining my collage style for the gallery. A new medium I have entered is the digital design and specifically digital collage animation. My style changes as my interests in art change. I am constantly inspired by new things.

Any resources you can share with us that might be helpful to other creatives?

I believe that folks grow up with the idea that a successful artist is just discovered off of the street, becomes famous, and that is it. I believe that folks also have the idea that becoming a full time artist is not obtainable. I wish that I knew that most opportunities are public and you can apply to them. I had no idea about the application process of being an artist and that I could have begun my journey in applying for opportunities a long time ago. I also did not know that being able to live off of art is obtainable, but that does not mean you are rich.

The resource that I would give to past Devin is a simple Google search, “Denver Call For Artists.” You never know what you will find try it.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

I come from the graffiti culture and the graffiti culture is very close minded. There are so many rules about style and just painting in general. I had no idea that it was okay to try different things until I met other writers who did more than graffiti. I would want to unlearn the lesson that it isn’t okay to step out of the box.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://instagram.com/goodlooksvol.1