Isaac Cuevas Ruelas

Your description mentions that your art is “a mix between childish, degenerate, and spiritual.” Could you elaborate on how these three elements coexist in your creative process?

The way my creative process coexists between childish, degenerate, and spiritual is the way I create and what I create. The way I create is like a child — giving no care of the end product, just creating for the fun of creating. I like to use childish tools like crayons, colored pencils, and markers. I don’t like to take myself too seriously. My degenerate side is always present when I create as well — I typically drink or smoke to get myself loose. I find myself not caring as much when I do. And my spiritual side is in what I create — I believe everything I create is spiritual and has a higher purpose. Sometimes I can get in my head and think they are silly drawings, but something within me tells me there’s a higher purpose for my drawings. Sometimes I imagine the cavemen who were staining the walls of their cave being made fun of by their peers and being told to hunt instead of doing their “meaningless” paintings.

You mentioned that you started creating art after your brother passed away. How does his memory influence your work today?

His memory influences my painting in almost every way. Before he died, my sister and he used to pick me up on their days off — they would sip on wine and paint with me. I remember we would try to paint some Bob Ross paintings — they never turned out great… but those were my first memories of painting and creating. My brother Jesus was a weird dude; he had very mystical and ambiguous paintings hanging up in his house that he would create. I take inspiration from those every day. He also dabbled in making music — something I have really gotten into these last few years.

Isaac Cuevas Ruelas | Divine Insanity | 2024

Many of your paintings have both innocent and mystical tones — like a child discovering something sacred. How do you balance light and darkness in your imagery?

I think that’s just a natural balance of light. I have this conversation a lot with my friend Fabian — we always discuss how without light there is no darkness and vice versa. But in my paintings’ case, I tend to view life through a cartoonish lens. For me, nothing is real — life is an illusion. Or maybe that was just my brain’s way to deal with most of my trauma.

Isaac Cuevas Ruelas | Flowers In The Garden | 2023

Some of your works reference Aztec gods and indigenous spirituality. What role does your cultural heritage play in your artistic vision?

My heritage plays a huge role in my work.

I am Mexican American, so you will always see images of the Virgin Mary, Aztec mythology, and other Mexican iconography — because that’s what I grew up with.

Before every meal, I pray and bless myself because that’s what I was taught.

I love my culture — its people, its food. My favorite part is that everything is colorful: from the sauces in the food, to the colors of the bricks in the houses, to the flowers of the traditional dresses — everything is a splash of color and very beautiful.

Isaac Cuevas Ruelas | Reek Of Good Vibes | 2023

Your color palette is extremely vivid and expressive. Do colors hold symbolic meaning for you?

Yes, I really enjoy colors. Like I mentioned before, it could be because of my culture, but I think that eyesight is a beautiful gift that allows us to see color — one of God’s most beautiful mysteries. I think if someone’s gonna paint, why would you want your paintings to be bland? Color is where it’s at.

Isaac Cuevas Ruelas | Virgin Mary | 2023

In your creative journey, what comes first — emotion, concept, or intuition?

It all depends on the situation. Honestly, sometimes I have a concept in my mind, but when I go through to actually making it, it always changes and becomes something I’ve never seen before. Sometimes I draw a line and see where I go from there — I really have no blueprint. I just create for the sake of creating. I do like keeping things simple though — well, simple enough.

Isaac Cuevas Ruelas | Eve | 2025

How do music and clothing design influence your visual art — do they share a similar emotional language?

Yes, I think my music and art share similar tones — each piece being so different from the other. There is no genre that you can put all my work under, except that I made them all. They all have different flavors and concepts that I was feeling at the time. My clothing is also another “love letter” to my other older brother Ceaser, who would take me on his trips to Las Vegas to make custom pieces. Everything I make and am today has been passed down to me accidentally from my brothers and sister.