Meet Marcel Santos | Artist

We had the good fortune of connecting with Marcel Santos and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Marcel, what led you to pursuing a creative path professionally?
That’s an excellent question, I can probably talk about that for hours… With the risk of sounding too cliche, you know what they say “If you do what you love, you’ll never work a day in your life” – take it from me, that quote couldn’t be more true.

But to answer your questions as to why I pursued an artistic career, it all comes down to one simple thing, I love art. It’s a part of who I am, and I simply have this great need in my soul to create. It’s almost like having a hole inside of you that you have to fill creatively… to put my thoughts and ideas on paper or a canvas, it’s quite literally what I live for. And if I’m not creating I feel a vast amount of emptiness in my soul, like something is missing. Even after I create, that satisfying feeling that comes with it, is very short lived. So I move onto different projects almost immediately after I finish a painting. Almost like no matter how much I eat, I never get full… It’s both a blessing and a curse that only artists and creatives will understand haha… I never saw myself doing anything else, I had no choice but to pursue a career as an artist.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
I’ve mentioned this on other interviews but one of the biggest compliments I’ve ever received was that, I don’t even need to sign my paintings. That just by looking at them, you’d know it was one of my pieces. I’ve heard comments like that a few times, both online and in person. Every time I hear that, it brings me such joy and pride that I can hardly put it into words. As an artist one of the most difficult things you can do is develop your own style. It took me a lifetime of painting to get to where I am today, artistically speaking that is. But if you want to know how it all got started…

It began for me when my parents took me to watch the movie “Who Framed Roger Rabbit” when I was just a kid. I was so mesmerized by the art in that movie, so obsessed with it. I would draw those characters daily, specially the character Jessica Rabbit. I was so enamored by her character’s artwork I would draw her every single day. I remember growing up all my friends in middle school would draw their favorite super heroes or video game characters, and I would draw Jessica Rabbit drinking martinis or singing on a mic… hahaha, you can say I was ahead of my time for my age. When I tell people this story and my obsession with that character, as they’re looking at one of my paintings, they make the connection almost immediately.

It was definitely not easy getting to where I am today. I hear the word “Up and Coming” a lot when people are talking about me and my art. But the truth is, I’ve been doing this for well over a decade. And this was my greatest challenge, putting myself out there. Before Instagram and social media it wasn’t as easy, I had to set up stations for live painting and drawing on board walks and parks… passing out business cards and flyers… Eventually I caught the eye of some gallery owners who loved my work, believed in me, and helped push my paintings to the public. Fast forward a few years later and here we are.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
I’m originally from Brazil so I get a lot of visitors from out of the country. We usually have to do the tourist thing very briefly, like checkout the Hollywood sign, the walk of fame and etc…

Once we get that out of the way I love showing people LA Nightlife. There’s one spot I love in downtown called “The Edison” on West 2nd St. I love their performances and how everyone is dressed, and over all their environment. I never go without taking my sketch book, because every time I visit The Edison Bar I come back with tons of ideas and inspirations for paintings. I also love taking my guests to comedy clubs and music venues around Hollywood. But of course it all depends on what my guests’ interests are.

A lot of my friends love the outdoors, so we always end up hiking. If you’re looking for a good place to hike I recommend Escondido Falls and Solstice Canyon both in Malibu. Followed by a visit to Nobu of course 🙂 – People that live in LA are lucky, there’s so much to do, we are absolutely immersed in culture, from Art Galleries to Museums (go pay a visit to the Huntington Library) – to comedy clubs, live shows and performances, Los Angeles is never short of things to do and fun to be had.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I’m a big believer that no one makes it alone. Everyone needs support to achieve their dreams. It’s very important to me to put this message out there for the readers… No one makes it alone. With that said, I wouldn’t dedicate this shoutout to anyone else but my parents. Growing up I had incredibly supportive parents, no matter how hard life got, or whatever we went through as a family, one thing never changed… their love and support. So here I am, many years later sending much love and a Shoutout (no pun intended) to my parents… To my father who’s an unbelievably talented Art Director, thank you for helping me with many of my projects, designing my logo and website. To my mother who, no matter what I wanted to do, always supported and pushed me, even when I knew there were times I didn’t deserve it… Thank you for everything!

Website: www.marcelsantos.com

Instagram: www.instagram.com/marcelartstudio

Twitter: www.twitter.com/marcelartstudio

Facebook: www.facebook.com/marcelartstudio

Youtube: www.youtube.com/@marcelartstudio4161

Other: www.pinterest.com/marcelartstudio

Image Credits
N/A – Images belong to the Artist.