Meet Jarred De Palo | Artist

We had the good fortune of connecting with Jarred De Palo and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Jarred, what is the most important factor behind your success?
HAVE FUN! Its a very simple concept yet can be very tricky to implement as an Artist. In the past I’ve been overly critical of my work and have put to much energy into worrying whether or not the client/customer would enjoy or buy my work. The more I pulled away from those ideas and just did art to do art without judgment I realized two wonderful things. One, I was enjoying my time in the studio much more without the stresses of negative self critique, which in return I started to develop new skills & techniques. Secondly, my art became much more fluid and as those skills grew so did my sales! I constantly remind myself to just HAVE FUN.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
My creative process is a blend of urban street art mixed with fine art collage work and detailed with hand cut paper to create exclusive compositions. After years of doing graffiti & street art I really wanted to figure out how I could channel this creativity into a career and my approach was to bring the streets into a gallery setting. My art is influenced by my geographical travels, graffiti, and the impact of situational experiences in my life. Visually you can see the urban influences of graffiti & street art in my work as well as ephemera, which I have always been highly interested in. I now have a very established style that is very noticeable in any gallery setting.
Born in Brooklyn and raised in Maui, the love of the mountains and art brought me to Denver in 2004.
Because of my natural creativity and eye for design, I decided to attend college and graduated
top of my class at the Art Institute of Colorado with a degree in graphic design. Working as a
freelance designer and meeting many of Denver’s talented artists, I started curating art shows in
2005. Almost 18 years later it evolved into an online magazine called 1/1 Magazine
(pronounced one of one) which I was the Founder/Publisher for 3 years. Fun fact! My name is Jarred De Palo butty alias is Mr. Depalakua. Growing up in Hawaii my friends decided I needed a Hawaiian sounding name and altered my last name to Depalakua and it stuck ever since.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
Mile High Vacation Itinerary- In no particular order this is a “MUST DO” list while visiting Colorado

Eats!
Welton Street Cafe!!!
Breakfast at El Taco De Mexico for the “Deluxe Breakfast”
Leven Deli for the Pastrami Sandwich
Thai Pot – Saucy Delight dish
Adelita’s has the best Sopes ever!
SuperStar for a la carte dim sum
North for the rigatoni bolognese
Kobe An LoHi for Shabu Shabu
& Hop Alley fro the WHOLE MENU!!

Drinks!
Death & CO
Ghost Donkey
Run For The Roses
Golden Moon

Must See!
RiNo Art District
Red Rock Amphitheater
Mount Evans
Glenwood Hot Springs
US Mint
Estes Park/RMNP
Sand Dunes
Maroon Bells
Minturn

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I have always been interested in art but I wasn’t always an Artist. I doodled as a kid and my mom kept ALL of my childhood classroom crafts bound in a binder for decades. Born in Brooklyn and raised in Maui HI, I moved back to Brooklyn in my late teens where I was exposed to the amazing world of NYC graffiti & street art. This was a life changing event to say the least, and I owe a major shoutout to my brother Daniel! Daniel and I walked every square inch of the 5 boroughs photographing and documenting graffiti from 106th & Park, Bronx Wall of Fame, Johnson Ave., 5 Points Queens, Canal St., SoHo, LES, ghost yards & inside the MTA tunnels just to name a few spots. I can’t give away some of the O.G. spots.

After years of photographing NYC(which in retrospect I guess I was already doing art as a Photographer) I became quite inspired to give art a shot professionally and enrolled into The Art Institute of Colorado. I’d also like to give a shoutout to some of the Artists I met and followed from my time in NYC. Seen, Yes, Cope, Dain, Swoon, Revs, Cost, Kaws, Bio, Willie aka Stay High 149, Cycle, Bast, Giant, Twist, Katsu, Scope(one of my mentors), Claw & Miss 17 to name a few. All of them played a huge roll in me becoming the Artist I am today. Thank you all for everything you’ve done for the art world!

Fast forward to today and I’d like to say thank you very much to Michelle Courier. Michelle owns Westward Gallery in Denver, CO. From 2019-2022 I was a resident Artist at Westward, as well as her Assistant Curator. Michelle taught me the ins and outs of running a fine arts gallery. From how to curate shows, select Artists, professionally hang art for openings, lighting and marketing & promotions for the gallery. She also guided me on one of the most difficult tasks for an Artist, how to price my work. I am forever grateful for my experience at Westward. Michelle you definitely get a huge shoutout!

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/depalakua/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jarreddepalo/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/depalakua/

Youtube: https://youtu.be/BPeWwtm0_Vw