DePaul Vera is a designer, illustrator, and color enthusiast living in Miami Beach. Born in Nashville, Tennessee to a conservative, single-mother home, Vera’s exposure to a limited worldview remained constant throughout his childhood. After settling in Cadiz, Kentucky where homophobic bullies, rich White kids, and right-wing Christian values surrounded him, he aspired to become an artist to explore his differences with such values. However, moving only 30 minutes away to pursue an undergraduate degree in drawing didn’t provide much variety; instead, Murray State University equipped him with the confidence and competence to continue his pursuit as a professional artist. From there he was fortunate to travel to Barcelona, Spain where self-acceptance of his sexuality and achieving dreams came to fruition. Now, after obtaining his graduate degree in visual art and design, Vera’s work is grounded in the pursuit of understanding desire through curiously exploring different methods of art making–ranging from drawing and silkscreening to archiving and collaging. The University of Nevada, Reno emboldened Vera to hone his voice as an artist to not only understand his own privilege but to question and challenge worldview perspectives.
