PURPOSE
The shimmering allure of the animated texture illuminating the silver screen. The sexy shadows of German Expressionistic nightmarish Noir. The electrified futurism and explosive angst of the Berlin art & design aesthetic. The emotional intellectualism and advanced society of the highly artistic Weimar Republic. The power, strength, and overwhelming heights of New York skyscrapers and its angular architecture. The soft yet ferociously penetrating gaze of the flapper’s wavy hair, magnetizing eyes, makeup, and bee-stung lips. The mind-blowing invention of wireless communication and all it's syncopated dancing rhythms from Harlem, New Orleans, and Chicago bubbling out of thin air. The forgotten diversity of pioneering souls often neglected or ignored by the modern retro circles that appreciate this beautiful era.
ELECTRIFIED DECO = ELEKTRODEKO
ME
Here’s a story about a once-hopeless romantic goofy introverted guy too shy to talk to girls who ended up making a career painting them. That miraculously transformed into a living as a full-time fine artist during the infancy of social media.
I was born and raised in the skyscraper capital of the world, New York City.
I was truly an everyday tourist in my own hometown, always looking up at the details of old geometric buildings while blindly stumbling into complete strangers on their way to work as Kraftwerk inspired Electro-Funk music filled the smoggy NYC air. I grew up painting, sculpting, and animating. From my toy robots as a kid to current artificial intelligence, I’ve had a fascination with all things robotic, machine-like, and architectural. Yet I had a searing fire for beauty and aesthetics. You mix that up with a passionate romance for the bygone eras of the 1880s to the 1960s and all its emotional subcultures, you end up with "ELEKTRODEKO", a gumbo soup culmination of everything above that electrifies the lifeless soul. Pain into paintings. Visual medicine.
-Santiago-
• Clients include Columbia University, Target, Marvel, Levis, Hasbro, Coors, Heineken, Mattel, and many more.
• Past works featured in Inked Magazine, Digital Arts Magazine, Spirit Magazine (Canada), and more.
• Bachelors of Fine Arts from Fashion Institute of Technology (NYC)
• Portrait artist with works and commissions hanging in over 400 homes spread all over the world.
• 25 Years as an Illustrator Graphic Designer in the graphic arts.
• 12 years as a Fine Artist
• Superpowers: Empath. Wannabee historian & historic preservationist.