- Art
- Poughkeepsie NY
- 2017
Born on a family farm in upstate New York, Justin Suarez is an artist who brings together the rural and the urban. Celebrating wildlife, he paints flora and fauna flawlessly over concrete and brick. The animals he paints come to life as the viewer is drawn into the world of the painting. With over 15 years experience, he has painted murals across the US, and his work has been exhibited around the world. Justin Suarez brings the intensity of a raptor to his artistic endeavors, as well as his work as valued handler of birds of prey at Wild Wings Animal Sanctuary outside Rochester, NY, he is able to capture the majesty of the natural world through his explosive graphics and remarkable technique. He also works well with humans, with a rich history of collaborating with other artists on a vast array of murals. He is responsible, punctual, a master of logistics and a born team player.
In the fall of 2015, Suarez co-founded Roc Paint Division, the City of Rochester’s Youth Mural Arts Program.” Roc Paint is just that and yet so much more. Under the leadership of local artists, Justin Suarez, Lisa Barker and Sarah Rutherford, Roc Paint Division’s mission was to beautify the city’s R-Centers through mural arts while providing employment and training opportunities to young developing artists. What developed through the initial 13-week pilot program in 2016 was nothing short of phenomenal. A team of seven youth created murals at 6 of the City’s R-Centers. The murals were unified by their common theme of growth, chosen in part to acknowledge the major role that the R-Centers play in the lives of the young people who spend time there during their formative years. The project not only provided the seven youth with work experience, it resulted in breath-taking artistic depictions of youth, energy and hope that glow like beacons from the corners of the community that they shine from.