By Dylan Hart
Brandon Santiago says that one day, he’s going to be a famous artist.
Santiago, 19, is a graphic design major and painter at USF St. Petersburg. Born in Jacksonville, he later moved to Palm Coast, a city of about 75,000 near Daytona Beach.
He displayed his work in front of the Student Life Center on April 11 “just for the pure enjoyment of art,” citing frustration with previous attempts through other channels. He played some of his favorite jazz tunes alongside the display.
Santiago said he enjoyed creating art as a child, and took a drawing class in his sophomore year of high school, but didn’t take art seriously until his junior year.
“I took this other art class and my teacher hated all of my stuff,” Santiago said. “I got mad. I thought, ‘I’m going to get good at this.’”
Now, Santiago is preparing to transfer to USF Tampa to seek a degree in studio art, citing a desire to leave the digital focus of USF St. Petersburg’s graphic design program to focus on physical media.
Under the guidance of Palm Coast artist JJ Graham, whom Santiago met at an art show he attended for extra credit, he strengthened his skills throughout high school.
“Graham didn’t tell me what to do, but he guided me,” Santiago said. “Now, that same teacher from junior year of high school likes all my stuff.”
Santiago takes a lot of inspiration from New York-based artist Jean-Michel Basquiat, to whom he feels a strong connection. Santiago is half-Puerto Rican and half-Jamaican, while Basquiat was half-Puerto Rican and half-Haitian.
“When I started getting into art, I was just tired of the same old kind of stuff,” he said. “I wanted something different, so I researched (Basquiat) and thought, ‘Whoa, his work is cool.’ If this guy could do all this stuff, I could do it too.”
Santiago also takes inspiration from 19th century French artist Paul Cezanne, who headed the post-impressionist movement alongside painters like Vincent Van Gogh. The style is realistic in structure and themes but has a blurry, abstract look that permeates through the paintings.
Santiago’s process is emotionally driven, and he finds that his mood heavily affects the end product. While he doesn’t like to go in with an idea and prefers to let his emotions push the painting along, he does mix West African and Asian themes into his art, including historical and aesthetic references. One of his pieces references the Atlantic slave trade.
He loves rap, jazz and reggae and enjoys listening to music while he paints.
“My art is very grand in ideas,” he said. “I’m not a one-trick pony. I can do various styles, but they all come from my emotions. The music helps that and the people around me help that.”
Outside of art, he says that his favorite pastime is simply sharing ideas with others — he prefers conversation to consuming media.
After graduation, Santiago hopes to join an art gallery. Eventually, he wants to own a gallery of his own. He spent some time in New York City last summer to participate in an art show and still looks back on the experience fondly.
“One idea I have is possibly moving to New York, because there’s a big art market up there and I feel like I could make it,” he said.
Undeniably, a move to the city would serve to strengthen his link to Basquiat.
But being an artist is more than just a dream for Santiago — it is a necessary reality.
“To be honest, I don’t know what I would do if I weren’t an artist,” he said. “I would probably be stuck — I wouldn’t have any means to express myself.”
You can see more of Santiago’s art on his Instagram @brandonjsantiago.
