My name is Gregory James Bustillo and I am a Spanish/Indigenous artist
who suffers from schizophrenia, OCD, ADHD, bipolar disorder, anxiety and
depression which affects my creative process. An example is that I will
work on one drawing for a while then get a spark of inspiration and create
a piece from found objects, then later go back to the drawing. The artworks
created have connecting themes of individuality, materialism, vanity, and humor.
A part of this body of work explores male nudes created in combination of a digital
& handmade drawing process. The male nude drawings exist by my relationship with
technology, moving towards the future and escaping the mutations of the past. I don’t
see nude muscular men in my daily life, although I wish I did. When I see a muscular man
I feel safe and a feeling of comfort, depending on the size of his muscles. I subside the
fantasy by creating the drawings. I reference Robert Mapplethorpe, Tom of Finland, and the
ancient male nude statues in Rome, although their approach to the male nude is different
from mine, with my focal points on line and color. I see the commonality in their work and
mine shows the beauty of the naked male figure. In the other portion of my body of work I’ve
created magnets, photographs, found objects, and drawings in prismacolor pencils, graphite and
sharpie. For the designer shoes, their creation comes from sadness. In 2021 I was classified as
a school shooter, sent to mental hospitals, suspended from Texas State University, and misinformation
was spread about me, which follows me to this day. The designer shoes helped me walk through the toughest
part of my life. These drawings and pictures of my empty pairs of shoes give some insight into who I am,
what I like, and where I plan to go. “You can tell a lot about a man by his shoes”. The artworks created
recall Marcel Duchamp, David Hammons and Andy Warhol with similarities in content. I believe that this body
of work provides a spectacle for the viewer and allows them to respond with humor, shock, compassion and
appreciation.
Gregory Bustillo
