Sebastian Aravena vertseven.art

Artist’s Statement

“I’m an adrenaline junkie and animal lover. Plain and simple. My rush comes from descending down mountains, waves, and roads. I’m always willing to fight the climb, paddle, and hike to achieve “the flow.” The quest for adrenaline drives me. Nature gives me that fix. Waves, trails, slopes, and walls are nature’s gift. We need to keep it all alive and accessible. Through my images, I display the beauty that nature has given us, how we can keep it alive, and what we’ve done to hurt her.”

— Sebastian Aravena

About the Artist

In the Beginning

I was born Juán Sebastían Aravena Ponce de León to Bernardo Pablo Pio Aravena Echaurren (a visual artist who goes by Bernardo Echaurren) and Ana Maria Ponce de León Vergara (an entrepreneur) in Santiago, Chile. I have always gone simply by Sebastian. Both of my parents were in college when I was born, my father studying industrial design and my mother a dance student. On account of struggles as young parents, their marriage didn’t last and they divorced after three years. My mother later met a Chilean nightclub owner that lived in the United States. They moved with me to Miami, Florida and then later married.

Coming to America

While I was growing up thousands of miles away from my father, the long line of artists in the family was surely hard to deny. My father is an abstract and figurative painter whose subjects revolve politics and Chilean indigenous people. His father (and my grandfather), Héctor Aravena González, was an art professor, art historian, writer of “Historia del Arte”, and landscape painter. A cousin to my grandmother (my great uncle) was Roberto Sebastián Antonio Matta Echaurren (simply known as Matta) one of “The Surrealists” of the early 20th century in France. Many of my aunts, uncles, and cousins are also artists and architects living in Chile and the United States.

Education and the Real World

In junior and senior high school, I naturally always took art classes. One year (10th grade) of graphic design, three years (7th, 8th, and 9th grade) of 3D/three-dimensional art (ceramics, weaving, stained glass, jewelry making, and sculpture), three years (7th, 9th, 12th grade) of 2D/two-dimensional art, and three years (10th, 11th, 12th grade) of photography. In these six years, I always had two things in my backpack without fail: a sketchbook and a camera.

For college, I first attended New World School of the Arts in Miami, Florida where I initially majored in Drawing (with a minor in Photography). It was after taking a Photoshop class, that I then changed my major to Cyber Art. As a Cyber Art student I worked closely with Professor Jeremy Gardner. For Professor Gardner I built Digital 3D models of colonial Brazil for his passion project.

After five semesters (and two summers) at NWSoA, I then decided to broaden my knowledge of digital art and enrolled at Full Sail University in Winter Park, Florida where I received my degree in Digital Media. After graduation, I began a career at an advertising agency creating websites, digital presentations, and web apps. For the next two decades, I worked across various companies as an in-house designer and digital media developer in the Central Florida area.

Graphic Designer Turned Artist

Graphic design is creating attractive and identifiable images for companies. As creative as pieces may be in the end, the process is always the result of design-by-committee. Your personal view is lost very quickly and very little about the artist remains. In the twenty-plus years designing for large companies, I always had small projects that I did in my personal time. Projects like taking a picture every day for three years, filling sketchbooks, and constantly learning new art mediums. Then I decided to dedicate my full efforts on creating traditional art and photography for myself and others. I now create commission art for collectors, fans, friends, or anyone that likes my work and personal original artwork that without doubt reflects my own image and ideas.

Water Sports

One thing to immediately know is that when I pick up a new hobby I never drop others. When I was 8 years old, my step-father taught me how to windsurf. We would go to the beach every weekend and sail. The only problem is that we shared a single board. While he was sailing I would subsequently play on the beach. One day I saw some people skim boarding, so I soon built a skimboard myself and took it out the following weekend.

Then I saw people surfing. So, in 4th grade (with prize in hand from the Christmas Card drawing contest I won), I purchased my first surfboard. And with that, and some pointers from strangers, I’ve been picking up new hobbies ever since, and finding ways people can learn about the artist – that’s me! – as I share my love of sport through my photography, paintings, and drawings.

Land Sports

At the same time, I was always riding a bike. So much so that I eventually started racing BMX. I raced from age 8 to 13. In high school, I spent the days after school surfing and evenings skateboarding with friends. When the surf was flat (granted, that was most of the time in South Florida) my friends and I would build ramps for biking and skating. From small launch ramps, to quarter pipes, to a halfpipe on the side of my house.

When I graduated from college, I started mountain biking. My competitive edge took over very quickly and I began racing in South Florida, then throughout the state, then nationally. I raced while attending college and a few years after. Since then I have additionally been a competitive surfer, runner, paddleboarder, and triathlete.

“I can be paddling through over-head whitewater in Punta de Lobos or pedaling uphill for hours to the Continental Divide in Colorado, and I am at peace. In my art and photographs, I like to share both my love and concern for what makes my happy. Nature. From the beauty of landscapes to the horrific catastrophes that humans have caused on our collective playgrounds, I think knowing about the artist and what primarily inspires my art helps us all connect.”