by Gabe McGraw
While the world feverishly streams, texts, tweets, threads, and ‘likes’ every natural disaster, nasty little secret, and human experience imaginable; mad genius Adrian Castillo spends up to 14 hours a day locked away in his mother’s spare bedroom. He’s feverishly contemplating new ways to communicate the ramifications of this mind-altering information age.
A few years ago, in some local coffee shop, Adrian and I were casually discussing reptilian shape-shifters or maybe it was transhumanism and I glanced over his shoulder to see what he was working on. I had never seen anything like it. The highly saturated colors and complex imagery seemed to evoke some deeper meaning. So what does it mean?
On a quest for answers, I prepared to journey into the mind of Adrian Castillo. Early one sunny afternoon with coffee and digital recorder in hand, I rang the doorbell at his mom’s house. He answered the door in his flamingo print PJ’s still wondering why the hell anyone would want to interview him. Not necessarily a formal interview, we purposed to talk about anything except girls and food and let it go from there.
The contents of Adrian’s room communicate the contents of his mind; electronic components reassembled in strange configurations, a goat mask, physics and anatomy books, colorful micron pens, three dimensional collages, hundreds of intricate pencil sketches–all adrift in a sea of empty ‘cup-o-noodle’ containers.
Is Adrian just another pseudo graffiti artist regurgitating the familiar iconography of our predictable pop culture? Look at his work and decide for yourself. He doesn’t have a regular day job or a backup plan. This is much more than a hobby or a way to meet women. Adrian is betting everything on the future and his interpretations of it. Historically, truly progressive art (not purely for aesthetics or entertainment) has been shown to precede great leaps in thought or change of paradigm (worldview).
We are no longer separated by oceans or languages. We can access any kind of information, anytime, anywhere using our high-speed wi-fi connections. We can travel to any city on planet Earth within a day. We can use one thin piece of plastic to purchase everything we might want or need. We really do hold the world in the palms of our hands today. So what?
Adrian summarized his goal as an artist with these words, “Through drawing, I desire to share my wonderment and suspicions at the dawn of this new and powerful age. Perhaps by exploring this paradigm shift and the effects of such changes on the organic being using imagery, I am able to discuss concepts we’ve yet to develop words for. I create in hopes of highlighting the subtle nuances of life that might answer the deeper questions of who we are and where we are going.”
Does Adrian cater to your wallet? Hell no. Does he want his art to be recognized and appreciated? Hell yes. Does he have a website or facebook page? Maybe someday, but right now the main focus is to get his work on the walls of some local venues. If you’d like more information, if you have a venue or are interested in acquiring signed limited edition super high quality poster sized prints, you can email email Adrian directly at a.castillo.art@gmail.com