Today we’d like to introduce you to Shilo de Armas.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
Born & raised in H-town baby! I’ve been an artist since the day I was born, but was accepted to & attended the High School for the Performing & Visual Arts to get my real artistic journey started. But to some surprise, my career background is actually in business. Upon graduating high school a year early, I got my real estate license as soon as I could. We couldn’t afford college so I knew I needed to get out of school ASAP & make money.
Within 3 years of doing real estate, I was able to become an Airbnb Manager & Miami-based yacht charter manager as well. By then, I had flown my first helicopter in hopes of obtaining my pilot’s license, but that had to be put on hold financially. So I made my way into the mortgage industry for the next 3 years. This past year I got my life insurance license, & all along the way have been working in concert production on the side. When trying to get my life insurance license I was working multiple jobs, but none of them brought me peace. My art was suffering to say the least. I was in such an artistic rut & going through a lot of traumatic life events that I couldn’t control. I discovered that only God could bring me the peace & creativity I was searching for. With this realization came a breath of fresh inspiration & the opportunity to complete 3 murals at an upcoming restaurant called Maize on Memorial Drive in Houston, all in my own original designs. At 24 years old, I knew it was the perfect time to make my passion a full time career instead of lingering on the side. God is so good!
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
I’m a pretty private person, but without over-sharing, I wish I could say it’s been a smooth road but the bumps are what makes an artist need to create. Unfortunately, my bumps hinder my physical & mental capability of creating, with some recent traumas, health, family, & financial issues, but my faith keeps me inspired & sane during those times. I never once run out of ideas, so my brain is constantly a beehive of a million thought processes (so is the notes app in my phone), but my body is what slows me down. My recent traumas, health, family & financial issues all go hand in hand for me. My mental health affects my body far more than it should, then when I’m sick it affects my mental state, my family affects everything & everything requires money so it’s a hard balance to not let the cycle of life control me sometimes. True art can’t be rushed & I am very meticulous, so handling things correctly whether it’s timing of when to release certain work, when to have art shows, what products to sell & when, is extremely important & thought-out for me. My body has its own timing & my brain is light years ahead of it. It doesn’t make it any easier that all my ideas are humongous, so I couldn’t be more thankful that I’m now at the point of having an assistant & a manager to help me get things done. Becoming an LLC business with my amazing team has been the best step toward a smoother road in front of me.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
Every time I meet someone new & they ask what kind of art I do, I always laugh & say “How much time do you have?” This is why I release my work in “series”, because I can’t limit myself to just one medium. My longest ongoing series of 6 years is my “Body Paint Series”. It brings my artwork to life using the movement & dimension of the human body, meant to challenge your typical standard of beauty on a nude model. Lately, murals have been my bread & butter. Ever since I started painting I’ve always worked large scale, never planning out or penciling my design beforehand. My favorite thing is to just free flow whatever God puts on my heart on a huge surface with a huge brush. Nothing feels more freeing to me than large scale painting, except for sculpting.
My “Sleepy Head” series is a completely hand-sculpted papier-mâché on canvas series of androgynous faces, in a zen state of sleep, meditation or prayer. All of their eyes are closed, some have a slight smile but all are at peace. I’ve always had a thing for sculpting/drawing/painting faces by memory. That brings me to my copyrighted “Continuous Faces” design. This is my first ever digital drawing I attempted, inspired by the flow of checkerboard, lines, & my favorite inspiration, faces. I put this design on shower curtains to test launch how some home decor items would sell, & to my surprise it’ sold over 200. All of the work I’ve ever released foreshadows future series I’m working on. Everything has a story that never ends. I’m the walking version of my art, the way I dress, act, speak & how I present myself is very black & white, just like my art. Sometimes color makes an appearance, but that’s very dependent on what part of my life is getting color as well. That probably sounds cryptic if you don’t know me but it all connects in the end. I can’t wait to show everyone how all my previous work ties into what I’m cooking up now. It’s a completely different medium from anything else I’ve ever tried but is still very me. So stay tuned!
Let’s talk about our city – what do you love? What do you not love?
I am so proud to be from such a diverse city. I won’t bore you with how many different ethnic backgrounds are in my family, but I’ve always felt such a strong connection to this city for that reason. Each culture has such unique ways of self-expression & all of them tell stories in their own way. That being said, this city’s art scene needs some work. It is very biased. A lot of the money goes to people who already have it, who look a certain way, are from a certain area, or to the older more seasoned artists who have been doing this for decades. It’s time to share the spotlight. Everyone deserves to be seen & heard. Aside from money, it seems as though there is a “too cool” attitude in the air sometimes. Almost as though people are “too cool” to have fun or “too cool” to support smaller artists. The arts scene in Houston could be so much stronger if the same energy was put into it as the club industry gets, for example. The club/bar industry is funded by wealthy individuals who hire a team of people to bring a vision to life, which gets people from all around to come enjoy the colorful festivities, who then post about it which brings more people.
Unfortunately, it seems like everything is about appearances on social media these days, so wherever the best photo/video opportunity is, the more people support it. The art scene has those photos/video opportunities, however, less people will repost a flyer for a local art show than will post a cool new themed bar opening. I think if more people were to support their local artists regardless of how big or small they are, Houston’s art scene could easily be put more prominently on the map. We have so many different voices & stories that need to be heard. Again, it’s time to share the spotlight!
Contact Info:
- Email: art@shilodearmas.com
- Website: Shilodearmas.com
- Instagram: @Ms.Shilo | @Ms.Shilos.Art
- Other: https://www.instagram.com/p/CVg_0TJgUYM/?utm_medium=copy_link
Image Credits
Amil Velasquez
