U.S. Marine brings street art to LIC
BY TAMMY SCILEPPI
What do Michelangelo,
Jacques Louis David, El
Greco, and ancient Chinese
art have to do with urban
skateboards and musical instruments?
Well, all have served as
muses for New York City
creative Rafael Colon’s remarkable
skateboard art, and
continue to inspire his entire
collection of unexpected,
hand-etched masterpieces,
which also include embellished
violins, guitars and
jean jackets.
The artist describes his
work as both visual and tactile
.“I’m inspired by everything
this world has to show
creatively. My style is all
styles,” said Colon, a former
U.S. Marine who was born in
Puerto Rico and raised in the
Bronx. “I studied the Japanese
woodblock print masters
and the Renaissance master
artists, like Michelangelo,
Da Vinci, Caravaggio, etc.,
and that’s how my style grew.
I also read books on art history,
as well as watched documentaries
and visited the
Metropolitan Museum of Art,
weekly.”
Mostly using mixed media
— including oil, acrylic,
markers and inks — to bring
those artforms to life, Colon
said he creates “masterpieces
of art history” by “burning
the images onto the wood to
create a sort of visual Braille
– as people can touch the
art.”
So, it’s no wonder he has
taken street artistry to a
whole new level! And art lovers
from Queens and beyond
have been flocking to his exhibits
to see what the hubbub
is all about.
There was a full house at
last week’s special event hosted
by MATTED LIC, located
on Vernon Boulevard, where
Colon’s solo show – a culmination
of all the artwork he had
created this past year – was
held in tandem with the 10th
anniversary of the store and
gallery.
Last year, MATTED LIC
had a group show with a robot
theme and Colon had two
skateboards on display (some
pieces sold).
“After I decided to do a big
solo show in the East Village
and had NY1 News do an interview,
MATTED contacted
me if I was willing to do another
show, and I said ‘yes,’”
he recalled.
Sitting at his artist’s table
in his apartment studio in
Spanish Harlem, Colon begins
his painstaking work
by sanding down the skateboards
and violins. Then, he
decides what he should draw
on his “canvases” and pencils
in the images freehand. Next,
using a wood burning tool
he burns the pencil images
into the wood and paints over
them with oil, acrylic and/or
ink and marker.
The result? An exquisite
dragon violin based on an
ancient 17th century Chinese
vase; eye-catching skateboard
art à la Jacques Louis
David, the French Neoclassical
painter who blended
Greco-Roman style with Enlightenment
philosophy; a
Michelangelo-like triptych
of that breathtaking Sistine
Chapel fresco, “The Last
Judgement,” and more.
Additional works include a
violin inspired by Czech Art
Nouveau painter Alphonse
Mucha; another skateboard
masterpiece that pays homage
to ‘painter of the spirit,’
El Greco; an original creation
channeling Swiss-born
painter H.R. Giger, who was
known for conjuring up that
iconic monstrosity – the oozing
xenomorph; remember
the alien species at the center
of the “Alien” film franchise?
Because Colon was also inspired
by stories of the ancient
past, as told to him by his Chinese
grandfather, as well as
his travels with the Marines,
some of his masterworks include
a series of skateboard
decks that depict intricate
Courtesy of Rafael Colon
Asian imagery featuring the
artist’s other muses: Samurai
warriors, Japanese Geishas,
and Peking Opera performers.
Having exhibited in Manhattan,
mostly, Colon has also
shown in Brooklyn and has
had solo shows in San Francisco
and a group show in Los
Angeles; he’s looking into a
future show in Miami.
Sometimes, amazing
things happen in surprising
and unexpected ways.
“I’m a self-taught artist
with no formal art training,”
Colon noted. “I started the
skateboard art seven years
ago because of an idea my
daughter had at the time.”
Tues. & Wed. $1895
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Served with Corn on the Cob
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36 TIMESLEDGER, OCT. 25-31, 2019 QNS.COM
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