Julián Castillo is Caleño, likes fruit juice and waking up early to exercise. He is a tattoo artist and artist. He has earned several world records with his work and, recently, has been on the radar of the international press for his portrait of the Puerto Rican singer Residente, made with human blood. According to him, the idea is that blood is an excuse for art and not for war. At the time, Infobae presented details about his work. We interviewed him today.
How do you start in art?
It all started because I realized that I could draw well, a little better than the others. It was in the third grade. I don't quite remember how old he was. That's where I kept drawing. At school I always stood out for doing it right. When I graduated, at that time, I got a tattoo and I liked everything that entailed, so I decided to learn how to do it. I set up my studio and also started painting in the streets. It was the year 2010. I went out to paint at dawn and started to appear in the press. I don't know why. In 2017 I made the largest pencil mural in the world and achieved a record that no one had surpassed. I continued experimenting with different materials, crayons, markers. In 2019, we came up with the idea of blood. We did an internship at Universidad del Valle and realized that the blood was going to rot and disappear in a short time. I decided to add pigment for tattooing and acronal, to protect it from the rain and keep the color. With that we already had a formula and that same year I painted the first mural, which I really liked.
Where did the idea of painting with blood come from?
In that 2019 there were many demonstrations, marches, against many injustices. What we did was to couple those situations to work and liked it. We continue, the collective I work with and I, experimenting. In 2021 I was fortunate enough to make a mural by Luisito Comunica in Siloé. An influencer from Cali, El Traveler, visited my town and spoke highly of my murals. I thought it was a very pleasant gesture on his part and we talked about making the mural in Siloé. We agreed on the possibility that the youtuber could visit the site. Getting there was difficult, but being there everything flowed very well, despite the fact that there was a very tense atmosphere, especially in the lower part of Siloé. We did the play and Luisito arrived there. Since then, everything has been wonderful. People have known Siloam better and better. They think it's more interesting. Recently, relatively, I came up with this idea of blood, since Siloam is a place that is constantly threatened by violence. The intention of these works is to convey a message of peace, involving all people, famous or not, social leaders, ordinary people. What we want is for this to be known in many places.
What has brought about the fact that his works are being known in so many places?
We're doing really well. Yesterday, I even had an interview with Antonio García Villarán, who is a very important art critic in Spain. We talked about the possibility of converting these works into NFTs in order to promote them. The idea is to sell them and with the money raised to be able to work on projects that allow us to promote and improve the situation in Siloé. The idea is to offer a space, too, where the children of Siloé can gather to paint.
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