Artist Biography

Adrian Navarrete was born on November 6th 1974 in Long Island, New York. He moved to El Salvador in 1976 but returned to the United States in 1982 due to the war happening in El Salvador. He eventually settled in Los Angeles where he went to public school but never graduated. With the determination he has carried with him throughout his life, he later went back and finished school.

Adrian was first inspired to become an artist by a painting his father, who was also an artist, did in 1973. He would become even more inspired through the works of such great artists as Salvador Dali and Michael Angelo. He could not afford art classes so, drawing from these and other influences, Adrian became a self-taught artist.

By the age of 15, Adrian was painting and selling portrait art. The success he found at an early age merely spurred him on to want to do more with his art. Inspired by Graffiti Art when he was 17, he was able to further add to his palette and style of art influences. During this time Adrian worked on "Global Village 92" in Riverside County, reconstructing different habitats of different parts of the world. In an effort to broaden his knowledge of art, Adrian read his first Art History book when he was 23 years old. The book, "Greek Times to Modern Times" gave him a better understanding of art styles and their origins.

More recently, Adrian has worked as an air brush artist at Universal Studios (2001-2004), he was commissioned to paint a mural for actor Will Smith's son Jaden, for his birthday in 2004 on 4, 4ft. by 8ft. panels and he has also done 2 murals inside the club "Forbidden City", located in Hollywood, California. He has had much of his work displayed in several Los Angeles area galleries and continues to work as a freelance artist as well as pursuing education in art. Adrian participates in a KCET event every year which is directed towards teaching kids to paint.