July 16, 2025

Artist to Watch

SCOTT CARRILLO AZEVEDO

NB: When did you first pick up a paintbrush? What was your first painting like and how has your practice evolved since then? 

SCA: I was 16 and I bought a cheap oil kit that was probably just full of wax filler and I painted the Madonna in the Meadow by Raphael. I saved that painting from my mother’s garage. I didn’t speak to her for about 10 years, and when we started talking again I went into her garage, and found it. It was sliding between a toolbox and another box, almost being poked through. I waited for it for 10 years, and when I found it I just took it and that’s the first painting you see here as you enter the studio. 

I remember when I was a child, I wanted to be a Renaissance painter, and back then you’d print out a photo and draw it, I literally squirted the paint onto the canvas and moved it around like frosting. I had no idea what I was doing, but I was obsessed with painting. Painting has always been a thing for me, but it’s also a curse because my mind wants to paint like a Renaissance painter.  

NB: Can you walk us through your painting process? Where do you begin, and what materials do you use? 

SCA: Yes, I primarily use oil. I used to paint on panel, then I switched to canvas panels. Panels are cumbersome and heavy, and they take the paint differently. I like canvas better now. 

I start with an underpainting, the way an old master would. I used to use burnt sienna, and now I’ve been getting into neon acrylics for underpaintings, but mostly I just go with my intuition. 

There’s a lot of floral elements, movement, drapery, shadows, hands, arms, and limbs that tend to appear. I create worlds that act as the underpainting. Then I add the architecture on top, merging two worlds, becoming symbolic of who I am as a person. I really feel like it helps me break out of wanting to paint so realistically or Renaissance-like. It’s also a unique visual language that is now my own, and I don’t really see it elsewhere. 

NB: What are the spaces in your paintings? Where do they come from? Are they real or imaginary? 

SCA: Well, when I was about 25, I started painting landscapes in Sonoma County. I kind of had to, just to get out of poverty. I poured wine for about 10 years; it was the biggest industry I fell into through my art. So, when I wasn’t able to stay in school, I started painting landscapes. 

First I would just take photos, but then I started creating places by blending real places and photos with my imagination. I think it makes them more interesting because a lot of times, if you’re copying photos, where is your artistic eye or lens? 

I think that’s my lens—to make it unique to what I am producing. More recently, I use American Home magazines from the 1940s, 50s, and 60s for compositions to speak to what I’m trying to say with this work: That I’m American, I’m brown, and I’m queer. 

The history that was there then, which you don’t see in these magazines or in popular culture, was very diverse. So, I’m trying to heal the past through these images and also just being proud of being American and who I am, along with what I have experienced. I had a professor once say some people won’t be able to handle my work because there’s a lot going on in it – but I think that’s a strength. 

NB: Can you expand on the idea of family and identity and how you explore that through your work? 

SCA: My grandparents on my father’s side were from Mexico, so I’m a third generation Mexican, although just recently, when I did a residency, I learned they were actually born in Ontario and Burbank. So, they turned their back on their culture, their heritage, and so did my mother’s side. Both my parents were fully assimilated; they weren’t taught Spanish, and I wasn’t taught Spanish. Growing up being brown and feeling so American inside, and so sort of washed out, was really interesting because people would just see the brown, they would see the black hair. It just put me outside of society as a child, as young as 6. So, what I’m trying to do is sort of heal that side of the family on both sides, and also show that I’m proud of both heritages. 

NB: Fantastic. Tell us about your most recent solo exhibition, “The American Home,” at Albertz Benda in LA. 

SCA: Yes, this is still kind of surreal because I was in a master’s program right before I was offered my most recent residency. During my masters, a professor in the hall singled me out among all the other white students in the lobby and said something like “I need you to open my door, room 109.” And I was like, “I’m not the janitor.” Then he just said, “Oh,” and walked away. In my mind I thought “Well, that’s not just an ‘oh.’ You singled me out because here in Connecticut, it’s no different than other places.” So, I said, “Screw that,” and I dropped out to pursue my residency. I just thought at that point “All I have is my talent and painting.” 

For four months, I worked on these paintings, trying to build a portfolio for my new MFA application, and It got to a point where I was ready to jump off a cliff; nothing was lined up. All I had was this work because I basically said a big “F you” to the world. I didn’t want to be treated that way – and that’s what I’ve always done—I’ve just said, “No, that’s not who I am. That doesn’t define me. And I’ll show you.” Then somehow, all that work paid off. It was just like the universe literally opened up the tidal waves and was like, “You are coming through, you are ready.” 

Still, it wasn’t just overnight, these paintings are years in the making—all this emotion and waiting for this to come out. I feel like it was just like wielding a wand, and I was just the one who happened to be holding the wand. I feel really grateful. I’m always trying to get to the point where I can be just an artist and it’s always pivoting, sort of saying no to jobs, and looking really bad on paper because I’m always trying to get to some kind of goal that is really unachievable in this society. There are so many talented people. I’ve been an art teacher before, and the kids are so talented. So, it’s not a matter of there not being enough talent, It’s almost like fate or luck meeting preparation. 

You have to hang on, and if you really want it, I feel like in some way, you manifest it.

NB: Are there any future projects or exhibitions that you’d like to share? 

SCA: Through my first solo show at Albertz Benda in LA I was offered a solo with the Long Beach Museum of Art, and that will be next summer. Later this year, I’ll be at Untitled Art Miami, and then Felix or Frieze in LA the following year. There’s a New York Solo Show at Albertz Benda that will coincide with the museum show. 

There’s a plan, I’m going to be busy.