Santiago from the United States
Hi, my name is Andres and I wanted to reach out to tell you about my brother, Santiago.
Santiago is making a breakthrough in the world of digital art and artists with disabilities.
Santiago is a 16-year-old, non-verbal artist with Down syndrome who is changing the face of what it means to be a modern artist.
This December (2022), Santiago launches his landmark art collection, ABSTRACTO by Santiago.
With the launch of ABSTRACTO, Santiago becomes the very first artist with Down syndrome and autism to release an NFT collection of 1,000 unique artworks.
Santiago is changing the face of what it means to be a modern artist.
The ABSTRACTO collection was created to share Santiago’s story and champion the Down syndrome and autism communities.
Santiago uses his art to express himself.
While Santiago is non-verbal, his art speaks loud and clear.
Santiago embraced what makes him different, Instead of looking at his disability as a weakness, he turned it into his greatest strength.
Santiago’s uniqueness is exactly what gives him a distinct artistic perspective, and what makes his art special.
We wanted to give him a platform to shine on his own and leave a legacy through his art.
While Santiago is non-verbal, his art speaks loud and clear.
To create the ABSTRACTO collection, Santiago painted over 200 paintings over the course of 5 months.
He used a diverse range of materials, including oil paint, acrylic paint, gesso, oil pastel, and charcoal.
Next, Santiago’s 200 canvas paintings were all scanned into digital format.
Then, following an algorithmic editing technique, different elements of the paintings were combined to create brand-new digital artworks.
As such, Santiago’s 200 physical paintings yielded 1,000 unique digital artworks comprising the complete ABSTRACTO collection.
He used a diverse range of materials, including oil paint, acrylic paint, gesso, oil pastel, and charcoal.
In traditional art auctions, artists get paid once for the initial sale of their creations, but NFTs now allow artists to earn residuals every time a sale is made.
Proceeds from the auction will be used to continue funding Santiago’s specialized, life-long care.
A portion of the proceeds will be donated to the National Down Syndrome Society and the National Autism Association.
Thank you for reading about my brother.
Andres
The best way to promote awareness of Down syndrome is for people with Down syndrome to share their own stories in their own words.
If you have a story or message that you would like to share with the world, please click HERE and complete the form. Remember to include a photo.
We will share your words, along with your photo, on the World Down Syndrome Day website and on our social media pages.
We look forward to hearing from you.
