BIOGRAPHY

Native of Alicante (Spain), Rafael Blanco is a visual public artist fascinated with identity, human expression, and diversity. As a result, these core elements are often represented throughout his work. Trained as a classical studio painter for more than 15 years, Blanco had his first encounter with public art in 2014. Since then, he broke away from the studio and transitioned to the creation of site-specific large-scale mural installations.

Blanco has painted murals across the US from California to New York, and from Texas to Illinois. He has participated in numerous street art festivals and mural competitions, as well as produced commissioned work for cities like New York NY, Tampa FL, or Denver CO among many others. 

Blanco attended Florida Southern College (2000-02) and graduated with a BA in Studio Arts from Saint Mary's College of California (2002-04). After receiving his MFA in Painting & Drawing from the University of Nevada, Reno (2010-2013), he worked as a full-time university professor at Feather River College (2014-19) and Elmhurst University (2019-23), where he taught Drawing, Painting, Art History, etc.

Lately, he has expanded his work to public speaking, where he has been advocating for the amazing potential of public art while engaging all types of audiences, including High School and University students, as well as a participating as a guest speaker at TEDx Elmhurst University.

Blanco currently lives in the outskirts of Chicago with his family and continues creating large-scale murals around the country.