Roberto Fuentes - June 2024

For June’s artist highlight, we would like to shine the light upon Roberto Fuentes ( @rdfpaints_ ).

Roberto is an artist from New Orleans that typically specializes in oil paintings. Growing up, he always would draw cartoons characters from shows he’d watch such as Dragon Ball Z and Pokémon. Over time he took a break and got into playing soccer and skateboarding. When he took an art class in school it reopened the door to his love for art. He appreciated the way this teacher conducted his class, because many of the technigues that they learned were put precisely in their activities. You would’t really notice you were doing a specific style until it was over. It wasn’t until about six years ago when he really decided to take things serious, and began to study other artists. He lists Picasso, Futura, Johannes Vermeer, Keith Haring, H.R Giger, and Alberto Giacometti as inspiration to his creative process to name a few. Roberto says that going in and out of interests works out well for him, because he doesn’t get too burnt out on one thing and can refresh himself to do something else with a clean slate. A good example was skateboarding and how it took him into skate designs or drawing. That would aslo take him ultimately into graffiti which all have a connection to one another.

His appreciation for drawing cartoons shine through his art as eyeballs and big smiles are a constant in his pieces. He is currently working on more lifestyle pieces like bags, lamps, planters and other things people can use. If you’re trying to find out more about his work you can check out defuentesart.com.

You can also head to his studio on 1170 Camp st Wednesdays and Sundays all day or Tuesdays and Fridays after 2pm.