Isaac Pelayo

"BAD MAN WITH A PRETTY FACE" Painting 40" x 30" inch by Isaac Pelayo

2023

Isaac Pelayo is a head on crash collision between The Renaissance and Street Art. In a household where constant turmoil and violence were more apparent than most a young Pelayo met escape and peace within the confines of himself and his own creativity. Hispanic born in the heavy beating heart of Los Angeles on the seventh day of June 1996. Pelayo was caught in the crossfires of everything that surrounded him but art served as his only guidance. After dropping out of college Pelayo turned from his hyperrealistic pencil portraits to oil painting where his passions grew more immensely. As of today Pelayo’s work is most influenced and fueled by the crème de la crème of old master painters like Da Vinci, Caravaggio, Rembrandt, and Velazquez as well as graffiti artists such as RETNA, Shepard Fairey, and EL MAC. In 2017 his work caught the attention and landed in the firm grasp of renown rapper and collector Alvin “Westside Gunn” Worthy. He has created several album covers and artworks for the Buffalo rap moguls music label Griselda Records including his personal collection. Pelayo’s paintings are widely recognized and sought out from all over the globe. His collectors include Sean “Diddy” Combs, Westside Gunn, Benny The Butcher, Jeff Hamilton, Shepard Fairey, Jaysse Lopez, and Everlast of House of Pain just to name a few. Pelayo is often described as the coming of A New Renaissance. The juxtaposition between his meticulously rendered brushwork of classical style imagery and loose expressionistic careless drips with the use of oil paints, spray paint, and oil sticks create a dramatic atmosphere that is nothing less than a sexy intoxicating marriage of two worlds that don’t inherently belong. The motifs we see in his paintings feature a third eye accompanied by a smiley face which was also adopted by Westside Gunn on several projects during the 2020 Covid-19 pandemic which led to Isaac’s recent growing success.