We recently connected with RLo and have shared our conversation below.

RLo, appreciate you joining us today. Learning the craft is often a unique journey from every creative – we’d love to hear about your journey and if knowing what you know now, you would have done anything differently to speed up the learning process.

I learned to produce the work that I do by experimenting with stylistic and fundamental influences across a multitude of medias and disciplines within the arts. While studying all of these different ways of making art, I took on to a journey of finding myself through my work and dedicating large amounts of time to it. No matter the medium, my foundation is drawing but rather it often yields to more painterly and sculpture techniques.

Knowing what I know now, to speed up the learning process, I would say to let go of the idea of perfection. Also I could’ve practiced fundamentals with more discipline. With that being said I feel like the most essential skills to my work are my fundamentals in drawing, because they free me to choose when to break away and abstract the process and subject matter. This gives birth to my creative choices.

The biggest obstacle in terms of learning more was being too stuck in my head to take action. Too much time thinking about how execute without putting in any actual practice.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

My name is R-Lo and I am self taught artist raised out of southern tier NY. I specialize in charcoal drawings ranging in scale from small to life-size works. I recently broke into the art world and started a committed career journey in art wrapping up a full year residency at The Millworks in Harrisburg Pennsylvania. This set in motion the first public viewings of my personal work ever and sprung me into my first gallery exhibition at Maryland Art Place (MAP). Through my work I strive to capture the essences of ideas, thoughts, and feelings. My pieces have garnered visceral reactions that I believe honor the work, speaking to that of making a connection or making the viewer feel something. My goal isn’t to spell it out though, I want viewers to critically think and formulate their own narratives on top of what I have presented. I want to bring life to each piece whether it be through abstraction or a clear expression or, everything all at once. Each artwork is an identifying moment of who I am and who I was. For the work to exist in all facets of experience , intimately personal to me, viewed through a lens, or interpreted by a stranger is the goal. Moving forward I’m looking to create and share with the world, leaving a legacy of work to inspire and experience.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

For me most rewarding thing about being an artist is just creating. Being able to make things. For me it’s images; seeing the end results of the journey. Finding out more about myself as I create and how the work relates to the world around me.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

My story of resilience comes in the form of time. I’m first generation Latino American, born of a Puerto Rican mother and Nicaraguan father. Pressures external and internal to go to school, get a degree and have a high paying career were consuming. I wanted to make sure their sacrifices were honored, but I also wanted to be an artist making what makes me feel fulfilled. Pushing myself to actualize and take action to get my career in motion took up until these past 2 years. Getting up out of this indecisive, fearful rut alongside all pressures to be someone for anyone other than myself was the best thing I could’ve done. I’m 30 and just getting my feet wet. But it was years of doing the work leading to this point.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: 7.s_rlo

Image Credits
Jon Ferreras