Welcome to my page kind soul. It’s an honor to host you and share my gift with you. My name is Armin Utreras and I am a self-taught South American artist. Art is my passion and is part of what defines me as a person.
I discovered art at a very young age thanks to my parents’ encouragement and immediately felt in love with it. For instance, I can recall being 4 years old and sketching the human anatomy while looking at my grandpa’s medical encyclopedias or drawing insects and other mesmerizing wild creatures after a trip to the Amazon basin.
I was born and raised in the city of Quito, the capital of Ecuador, a hidden gem known for its rich biodiversity. This gave me the opportunity to study different ecosystems and master the picturesque silhouettes of life; from the tiniest particles up to the vast landscapes of the cosmos and beyond! I was a student of nature and art was my diary. At 8 years old I made my first art show at “Mozarte”, an independent art academy; it was around the same time that I discovered oil painting and I found it magical.
During my teenage years, other fields caught my attention such as alien worlds, parallel realities, higher dimensions and the quantum realm. I have always kept an ardent curiosity to understand this reality and everything that transcends the human experience. Art was a constant meeting ground for my imagination and the perplexing laws of science. Around 15, I invested a great deal of my time painting extraterrestrial fauna and flora, It was a time in which I allowed my creativity to flourish into a promising rose.The world is truly a miracle and I wanted to share as much as I knew of it through my brushes.
However, this rose didn’t come without a few horns. Growing up in my country, I cultivated a menagerie of beautiful moments which I still cherish but also battled some sturdy giants. As a child, I was shy and an oddball, definitely an easy target for bullies and during my teens I struggled with an eating disorder that almost killed me. Depression decided to visit me and I became acquainted with mental illness early on in life. Art never left my side, even in those gloomy chapters of my tale.
I currently reside in Chicago, IL. It’s been 13 years since I moved to the States at the age of 19 and it’s been quite a ride. I tried different Universities but they didn’t work for me; I dropped out of Cornell College in 2016 and moved to Chi-town to become a full-time artist. Despite my drop-out ideology, I continued studying on my own terms. One subject made room for another which opened more windows to others and eventually landed on spirituality. I believe we are all connected and each of us are divine with the potential to mold this reality into the most beautiful work of art our hearts can perceive.
During my time in America I continued polishing my artistic works but the echoes of a wounded mind never vanished and my depression worsened. I would later meet other menacing demons, one called alcoholism and the other addiction. I guess I was seduced by unhealthy emergency exits as a way to bury the torments of my soul. I wonder if the darkness behind my art is a way of exorcising those shady forces? I had hit bottom, multiple times actually and it’s a daily struggle.
Regardless, our greatest glory lies not in never falling but rising every time we fall.
Painting has been my therapeutic healer and my bridge towards paradise. A firm believer of the limitless potential art has on the planet and in the hearts of every man, woman and child. I’m here to serve. It’s my pleasure to invite you on this creative quest and bring out the best of your creative side.