Meet RJ Mello | Muralist

We had the good fortune of connecting with RJ Mello and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi RJ, how has your background shaped the person you are today?
My background continues to influence my artistic career as I navigate bringing cultural elements into my pieces. Story telling is my craft, while paint and graphic design are my mediums. The priority of my career is to tell traditional stories through a modern-day lens. I am a queer person who group up in two distinct homes with their own separate traditions. My early adulthood has been focused on finding my identity in a modern world while paying respect to my ancestors and their traditions, my art is a direct reflection of that journey. Every individual can relate to trying to find themselves while staying true to their families, it is through surrealist portraiture that I can explore the complex identities of myself and others.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
I began painting seven years ago, and as corny and repetitive as it is, practice is really what got me here today. I was encouraged by an old friend to paint one piece a day for an entire year, that year resulted in more growth than any year since, I highly suggest all artists to take on that challenge. That year taught me what can set you apart as an artist is pushing yourself even when you are not inspired. As artists we always wait for the perfect moment to create, but it is in those creative blocks where we can really work on our technique.
These past seven years have taught me so much and I will never say it was easy, but I will always say that it was worth it. Every time I gained more confidence in my work I would come across the challenge of getting it in front of people. I know there are some people who are great at working social media and boosting online support, I am not one of them. I have always been an individual that creates opportunities in person, by constantly talking to my community and finding areas where they may need art. Sometimes that looks like a mural instillation and sometimes that looks like a speaker panel. My greatest challenge has always been finding my audience, after the end of each project I have to take a breath and find new people to connect with. I believe I have gotten where I am today because it is rare that I ever say no, when I see an opportunity, I take it. That might look like walking into a coffee shop and seeing that they hang up local artists work so I ask how I can be a part of the rotation. It may also look like asking fellow artists for collaborations or donating mural work in order to bulk up my portfolio. There is no shortage of opportunities for artists, the unfortunate part is there is a shortage of accessibility. I have found the only way I can get around this and continue to find my audience is by fighting really hard to make opportunities accessible, continuing to ask people how I can be involved.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
Every time I travel or have someone coming to visit, I always look on Instagram for a while first. I’ll find a few artists I am unfamiliar with a few months before the trip and find out when they are vending or performing. Being able to spend time with smaller artists makes any trip feel so much more intimate. You get to support the community and generally you can buy a really unique souvenir. I would do this same thing if my friends were to come visit me here- the goal in travel should be to find small communities and create intimate moments.
Beyond that if I could build the ultimate week it would consist of several movies at home and some sort of reservoir trip. The ocean feeds my soul, and I think makes everyone feel a little lighter, unfortunately we don’t have that here in Colorado, so a reservoir or a hot spring is the next best thing. Good food, good company, and a little bit of water therapy is the best I can offer.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
All my family are reluctant to show praise or support through words. My parents have never prioritized verbal celebration but rather have pushed me to be a person that heavily prioritizes action. This is how my dad has always supported me. He has taught me that there is more meaning in showing up for the ones you love than just praising them. He is a man of a thousand thoughts and few words. When I began my most recent mural, he showed up, he saw my stress and the tight timeline and came to lend his hand at painting. When I decided I needed a website for my business, he created my account and figured out how to implement ecommerce. I will show up to his house and he will have pens and notebooks and random accessories with “Mello Artwork” scrawled across them- we don’t really talk about them, but he shows me, and we smile. My dad’s mind is always on others and his actions speak so loudly to that.
Alongside my dad is my stepmom, a woman I have gotten to grow up watching continuously teach herself new things and find new passions. Early on when I started painting, she asked me to paint a portrait special for her – she expressed how hard it was to find paintings of women that looked like her. This was my first painting request, and I think about it every time I paint a portrait today. It was in that moment that she taught me how important art was, how meaningful it could be to try and tell people’s stories through paint. After this I had several more people bring ideas to me, and I grew a sense of spirituality in my art – realizing that I could be the vessel that brings another person’s vision to life.
The last person I feel compelled to shoutout was my freshman year dormitory resident assistant, Everton. After I had painted just a handful of paintings, he was the first person to tell me I had something special. He encouraged me to really take my craft seriously and to be proud of it. He believed in me so much so that we made a deal – he would buy me canvases and paints in exchange for paintings. It is only because of this that I so quickly grew confidence in my art. He made supplies accessible to me and allowed me to dream of a world where I could be a full time self-supporting artist.

All of these people are the reason why I am an artist today. When I first started creating art as a kid it was often dismissed, I never thought I could nurture my talent into a career. My dad, my stepmom, and my RA all changed my mind. They all saw what I could do long before I did – and they created a world for me in early adulthood where I could explore what it is to be an artist.

Website: https://melloartwork.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mello.artwork/

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

Image Credits
All images taken by me accept the main photo of me in front of the mural, that is taken by Binta Zang