BJacob Reyes


Born in Monterrey, Mexico, Sebastian knew at a young age he didn’t fit in with his traditionally conservative catholic family. At school, he was teased for his feminine and androgynous approach to fashion and music. He loved Madonna and found solace in American pop culture and embraced the “Martian Boy” nickname he received from his classmates.

Yet as an artist with a passion for fashion and music, Sebastian didn’t initially have the support of his family who saw his queer identity as a sin, a life that would lead to promiscuity, drugs and unfulfillment.

But through his creations, the former little brown boy isn’t holding back. He’s embracing the feminine fashion and the peace of self-acceptance. In one painting, the subject is in a tub, surrounded by the items defined by his life. And he’s at peace.

To read full Article Behind Our Brown Eyes: An Interpretation of Latin and Queer Art - GLAAD


 

 


Armando Sebastián, el pintor mexicano que destaca en la escena artística de Dallas

by Wendy Perez

Sus obras se exhiben en el AT&T Discovery District como parte de una muestra en honor al Mes de la Herencia Hispana

Los cuadros que pinta están llenos de colores y símbolos mesoamericanos, con expresiones del arte popular en donde suele abordar temas de identidad y género, con un interés marcado en la poesía, la vulnerabilidad y el cuerpo humano.

 

Read Full Article

 Armando Sebastián, el pintor mexicano que destaca en la escena artística de Dallas (dallasnews.com)





Armando Sebastian donated his painting "Boy Charro No. 2" to the arts fundraiser supporting Beto O'Rourke's campaign for governor. Sebastian celebrates his Mexican heritage in his art with bright colors reminiscent of Mexican folk art.

 

by Elizabeth Myong/KERA News

 

 

Art and activism come together at Beto O'Rourke's Dallas fundraiser | KERA News





Music, Mythology and Madonna

 

by  Blake Bathman

 

Touting an impressive three solo exhibitions this year alone, Dallas-based visual artist Armando Sebastian is dominating the DFW art scene. Sebastian’s work captures a dense collection of inspiration, from Mexican folk art to Madonna, in unique and engaging portraits. “Serenade,” Sebastian’s current exhibition at Cluley Projects, features the artist experimenting with the connections between music and his work.

I had the opportunity to speak with Sebastian about “Serenade” and the many sources of inspiration for his work. Focusing on his career, this interview peeks into Sebastian’s curiosity and idiosyncratic character.

(Interview edited for clarity)

 

To  read the entire interview go to ink



https://utdmercury.com/music-mythology-and-madonna/





Ciervos en primavera / Parallel Universe

 

 

By Leticia Alaniz 

In Parallel Universe / Ciervos en Primavera, Sebastian applies his deep understanding and connection to the art of Leonora Carrington.  In this scene, a powerful act of his imagination depicts a divine world with a sense of time-related to the here and now, but also eternity.  His space and dimension for creation are open and boundless.  It brims over and you’re pulled in.  It's a different world with an alchemy of symbols. It's a scene that invites the viewer to step back and let you observe details and small moments.  Glorified in the power of color to awake love and passion, there is a boy hidden behind an evergreen garden of perfumed blossoms begging for pollination.  Drawn by his sense of smell, his masked, peeking eyes are oblivious of a hungry, black, serpent eating a fawn and his defeated mother.  In his harmonious garden, he stands tall like the obelisk at the distant hills and he is master of his paradise.  The scene is framed by a theatrical red curtain, perhaps a symbol of palpitating blood, he’s in another mysterious dimension, unbeknownst to him that the viewer is observing his world.  

 mando Sebastian is deeply connected to his Mexican roots.  Culture plays a major role in his work.  He carries with him a sketchbook so that wherever he may be, he can doodle ideas that come to mind.  His love of music such as boleros, ballads, and electronic music, poetry, coffee, and chamomile tea nourish his senses while he works.  His process for each piece usually starts with the burning of incense, a shrine of objects, and a collage or inspirational board that fills his studio with artistic energy.  He’s mostly inspired to work in the early dawn hours, but he also works at night.  His studio is his sanctuary.  
Sebastian’s hope for his extensive body of work is to transcend time, language, and cultural boundaries.  He hopes to reflect on human experiences and to record the expressive mind that will live on.

 

To read the entire review go to 

 

https://leticiaalaniz.blogspot.com/2020/07/armando-sebastian-vestiges-of-mystical.html?fbclid=IwAR1ZXiuhQTcJkVuqiJs9HD55o2FkonKSvtRHpk5amAKN1_inGG8kwFEWDrw


 

READ
Find out how local artists respond to DMA artworks that resonate with their own work.

Los Amados / Live in Harmony    2020 Mixed media on wood panel

 

Find out how local artists from Arttitude respond to DMA artworks that resonate with their own work.

 

https://blog.dma.org/2020/06/12/pride-of-place-dallas-artists-respond/



El Soñador

 

By Sara Lopez

 

El artista posee un espíritu que rebasa su contexto, a través de símbolos es como puede expresar esa enormidad de atmósferas imaginarias, que dan lugar a múltiples posibilidades de escenarios y personajes en donde sublima sus fantasías y sus deseos. Sin embargo, el ser creada de forma tan personal, no aleja a la obra de arte de la importancia que esta puede adquirir para la generalidad, pues cuando es profunda y valiosa, dota a toda una cultura de identidades alternas, tal como es el deseo del artista al crearla, multiplicar por medio de su obra, las posibilidades de la realidad.

 

Armando Sebastián es un artista generoso, al abrir sus más
recónditos mundos interiores y convertirlos en exquisitos lienzos, pintados de
una manera armónica y rítmica. Con su pintura, recrea sus recuerdos
transformados en los sueños de una época juvenil que dejó profunda huella en su
vida, y en la que él logró conocer y liberar su espíritu, para acercarse al
concepto de lo que su arte podía expresar, más allá de los sueños. La
satisfacción como creador se encuentra en llevar esos elementos oníricos a la
realidad en su pintura, acercándose al objeto anhelado por medio de su proceso
creativo, el pensamiento y la representación pictórica. 

 

Como pintor, Armando Sebastián posee cualidades únicas, un
lenguaje propio con el que ha podido generar una fuente abundante de imágenes
exuberantes, que traen a la realidad su imaginario personal y su constante
búsqueda espiritual. Artista multicultural, poseedor de un origen enraizado en
su cultura mexicana y también un hombre de su tiempo, elige elementos que la
posmodernidad nos permitió rescatar, que formaron parte de culturas ancestrales
y tradiciones ceremoniales. Su obra pertenece a la contemporaneidad, pues
conjuga sus recuerdos con el tiempo presente, inspirado en su iconografía
particular que nutre la forma en que su lenguaje interpreta la influencia de lo
que lo rodea con su imaginario. 

 

Su composición es ágil, colorida y posee una frescura que
deleita al espectador, a la vez que logra cautivar la atención y la posibilidad
de viajar hacia un recóndito lugar que se encuentra en la psique de cada quien,
recuperando ese lugar oculto en nuestra mente que se asemeja al paraíso. La
combinación de colores en su paleta, fuertemente influidas por el arte popular,
se tornan elegantes en la simplificación de la composición y depuración de
elementos, que adquieren una poderosa atracción hacia el objeto central que
representa un enigma a descifrar. En cada uno de sus personajes Armando logra
construir una narración de una parte de su interior, de todo aquello que lo ha
formado y lo han dotado de una visión cautivadora, visión que enriquece al arte
de nuestro tiempo, que dota de nueva vida a la tradición pictórica
latinoamericana y que logra derribar fronteras culturales, obsequiando a todos
la posibilidad de contemplar la parte más mágica que palpita en el arte. 

Sara López

UANL Monterrey México