Your first collection serves as your introduction to your small world as an artist. It’s a tangible creation that shows what you’ve been doing when no one else is around. This collection is made up of my most meaningful work from the past 3 years during and after covid. They stem from memories that helped me cope during the bleak covid years, reflections that made me hungry to experience life again and new experiences that opened my eyes to what we all took for granted, which are the small everyday things we experience that make us happy. If something moved me I painted it, no matter how deep or how small the moment it deserved to be listened to. These moments felt like uncontrollable fever dreams that poured out of me and took shape on canvas. Similar to music videos for songs, the visuals that complement each painting are there to provide you with a setting that introduces you to the root of each fever dream. Thank you for coming & welcome to my Spanish fever dream.
A Spanish Fever Dream
June 3rd, 2023
Vancouver, BC
Franklin Studios
surf tangents
SOLD
Vancouver, 2020
Acrylic on canvas
24 x 36 inches
A painting inspired by an experience where I felt the most present and free in my entire life. High off of one of the longest stretches of grandparent love I’ve experienced —while living in Peru shortly after graduation — I spent two weeks in northern Peru in a little surf town called Lobitos. Here my cousin runs his non-profit organization where amongst many things I learned happiness comes from the little day to day things. Cold showers, stray dogs, organic food and some of the world’s best surfing a few steps away. This trip to Peru I focused on one thing and that was recovery through love and it served as a beautiful reflection during covid. I couldn’t experience anything during that time so I resorted to remembering the good times back in Peru with my loving family. Surfing was healing, Peruvian food was healing, family was healing and they were all the remaining pieces to my healing. They were my surf tangents and the blue was healing during the dark grey Canadian winters.
Visit EcoSwell if you are interested in volunteering in northern Peru. @ecoswell
endless northwest
SOLD
Vancouver, 2021
Acrylic on canvas
30 x 40 inches
A painting that came about during covid when I needed to find my own peace of mind. Everything around me was burning and the only thing I could control was my perspective and even that was a daily struggle with the isolation. Though I did find my peace of mind for at least a few hours a day with my solo bike rides to Jericho beach. Being outside in the sun looking at how the mountains and ocean meet gave me the perspective I needed. The ocean and mountains look like they never end from where I’m looking, but they too come to an end eventually. I may not see it, but if I just take it day by day I too will be left standing after every storm that hits. I too will be like my home, the endless northwest.
ambiguous romance
Vancouver, 2022
Acrylic on canvas
30 x 60 inches
A painting that came to life during a first date. An interaction that seemed so foreign during covid and one that I was analyzing in present time, something you shouldn’t do on a date by the way. It was this interaction that stayed with me and froze in time in my head for days. Two strangers coming together and chatting over some drinks and appetizers… Better yet, people are doing it all over the city and no one really knows what the other person is actually thinking. Is the date going well or are they rolling their eyes every time you look away. A truth you won’t find out until the drinks are drank and the stories are told. Will you get the kiss? Will her friend call to bail her out? Is a second date even in the play? A beautiful ambiguous romance.
a glutton's paradise
Vancouver, 2022
Acrylic on canvas
30 x 48 inches
A painting born in the french riviera, where I caught a glimpse of the most glorious Italian man my eyes have ever seen and luckily I snapped a photo. This man was the epitome of gluttony and he became my spirit animal that trip. Well fed, draped in jewelry, sun-kissed by the sun god himself and lastly enjoying a smooth bevy at one of the hottest beaches in Nice, France. Without speaking a word to this man, I knew his whole life story. A story that begins and ends with pleasure, brought to you by Italy. A place where pleasure is at your feet if you want to indulge. A place where you can sip on the world’s best wine and dine on the world’s best pasta; surrounded by the world’s most stylish people. I would call that beautiful country, a glutton’s paradise.
andalusian archetypes
SOLD
Vancouver, 2022
Acrylic, dripping, pastel on canvas
20 x 20 inches
A painting brought to you by aesthetic. The Spanish aesthetic that if you’re a history buff is also relevant in Peru. It’s the colours, architecture, weather and most of all the foliage. Palm trees feel like home and in this instance I was in Malaga, Spain walking the streets amazed by the palm trees decorating the streets in every size and style you can imagine. It was the closest I felt to being in Peru and surrounded by family even though I was thousands of kilometres away. I was experiencing in real time the feeling I longed for during covid, the feeling a 1 bedroom rental apartment can only dream of giving you. Sandstones, terracotta palettes and a vibrancy that Vancouver winters are a stranger to. These were the Andalusian archetypes that my soul was and is enriched by.
The Original Spanish Siesta
Vancouver, 2023
Acrylic on canvas
24 x 36 inches
A painting coming from a reflection during covid. A vivid memory that I cherish and formed me in many ways. Clearly, Spanish culture has a big influence on Peruvian culture; and as a Bustamante the influence is rooted in the name. One vivid memory with my grandfather growing up was watching the savage, but yet elegant world of bullfighting. He loved it, especially the dramatic violent ending. He was quite the dramatic actor and I think he mostly enjoyed that part because of how my grandmother used to cringe and complain about the cruelty of the ending. After years of marriage, love comes in many playful forms and I loved observing this dynamic as a kid. As violent and cruel as bullfighting may be, it’s quite a spectacle. Like Americans love watching grown men knock each other out in the UFC, the Spanish love seeing the bulls deliver a blow to the matador that finishes their elegant dance with the original Spanish siesta if we are lucky.
A Public Love Affair
Vancouver, 2023
Acrylic on canvas
30 x 40 inches
A painting celebrating new experiences and emotional responses that were nulled during covid. Where else can this take place other than in Amsterdam and more specifically the red light district. And no I’m not talking about any women of the night or taking part in any cheating. I went to a public sex show at the famous Casa Rosso theatre. Couples making love on a spinning platform in front of a theatre of strangers drinking beers is a wild and strange experience for anyone, but after spending 2 + years in covid isolation; it was a different world. The experience was filled with ‘oh my gods’ and gangs of laughs whenever volunteers got dragged on stage. To quote the lighting and producer of the show who was talking my ear off in between segments, “In Amsterdam, if you have a beautiful wife, you will never be out of a job.” This is a crazy world we live in where on one side of the globe they force you to wear masks in public while a plane ride away on the other side of the world you can pay to watch a public love affair.
The Llama
SOLD
Vancouver, 2023
Acrylic on canvas
19 x 22 inches
A painting serving as an ode to the great Pablo Picasso. A man who defeated the emergence of the camera with a creative perspective; a perspective that a camera could never replicate. There is no better example of his process than his famous ‘The Bull’ sketches where you see the transition of realistic bull renderings to the final minimal abstract rendering of a bull. He painted anything he wanted and was not bound to one style or to any public opinion; if he wanted to paint about his opinion on a war, he painted ‘la guernica,’ or if he wanted to paint prostitutes he walked by everyday, he painted ‘les madamme moisells d’avingnon.’ Born in Malaga, the bull was an animal that resonated with Picasso, so it was only fitting to choose a llama for my version of his famous sketch calling it ‘The Llama.’
The One with the Aperol Spritz
SOLD
Vancouver, 2023
Acrylic on canvas
12 x 24 inches
A painting that personifies the feeling of vacation with a still life of the best drink ever invented, the Aperol Spritz. The pinnacle of a summer drink reserved for the warmest of days surrounded by friends and family. The reason to get through the gloomy Vancouver winters because you know an Aperol Spritz is just around the corner waiting on a sunny patio kept fresh by the ocean breeze. They say you’re supposed to paint about moments or things that move you and well an Aperol Spritz is always the garnish to a memorable moment in my life. So yes to you Friends fans, this painting is the one with the Aperol spritz.
Cerveza, Coca-Cola, Fanta
Vancouver, 2023
Acrylic on canvas
24 x 24 inches
A painting that embodies my love for the latin culture; born on the beach in Malaga, but conceived in Peru and Mexico comes an ode to those selling drinks on the beach. A hustle that involves walking on sand all day in the scorching sun, usually in pants somehow, just to refresh those lucky enough to be relaxing. I love these interactions, that start with a couple no-thank-yous, but you know eventually it’ll turn to a yes. It’s door to door sales marketed by the sun and coated with a little bit of charm. Charm that is rooted by a catchy sales slogan that’ll repeat in your head for days to come. A slogan that wakes you up from your beach slumber to your most important decision that day.. to choose between a Cerveza, Coca-Cola or Fanta.