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May 4, 2017 - 8:00 pm US Eastern
End
May 4, 2017 - 10:00 pm
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[popup_trigger id=”4865″ tag=”span”]Become a Member[/popup_trigger]Watch this special INTERVIEW and ARTJAM with Dela in the Visionary Arts Academy from May 4th 2017!
Dela’s earliest memory of drawing was around age 4, when he was mostly into comic book superheroes. As a teenager he moved to Puerto Rico, where he was surrounded by music, nature, green, and water. His drawings around this time turned to the beauty of sunsets, water, vegetation, music (salsa and reggae), surfing, sound, “and mostly, dreams and girls,” he says.
Dela began heavily drawing with pencils and pens all night, and not sleeping much, maybe 2-3 hours a night. He tried his first attempt at painting with his mother’s ceramic paint, and liked the results. At times he would go 2-4 days without sleep and feel delirious, which he says was fun! He started jotting down everything he dreamed, “I was getting very colorful dreams and started drawing them.”
After high-school, Dela was accepted to an art school in Florida. He decided at the last minute not to go due to the huge expense, but Dela still ended up moving to Florida. “I had to get a job. Worked for the mouse. I was still drawing but mostly I was influenced by tattoo art. I partied more and slept more.”
“Being on your own is definitely an amazing experience but I must say I had no guidance. I would draw and believed something would come my way, that I would be discovered. This never happened.”
After moving to a friend’s house with a massive wall, Dela asked if he could make one or two paintings. His friend said yes, and what started as two pieces became 24 pieces. While they were not all great, a passion for painting was born in Dela at that time.
In July of 2011, Dela moved to San Francisco, started selling small originals at Oakland’s First Fridays. After one year, he started live painting at Temple Nightclub. During that time, he met some of the most prominent visionary artists in the Bay Area. After this, he began touring the festival circuit as a live painter, gained a social media following, and has continued to develop and refine his specific style of visionary art.
