Carlos A. Zapata
Artist Statement
Product marketing, or promoting a service, for the sake of it, has never been what my designs are about. Storytelling is always part of my strongest concepts. As an artist, if a design tells you something that connects with emotionally, it did its job properly. If you can sell something attached to that emotion, that’s where capital and artistry can go hand in hand. Presenting a story, however, is the only way to make an audience care about what you offer. To me, giving a human value to your product or service is the only way to cause an impact, and make your art an unforgettable memory.
Tales of the marginalized, tough subject matters, political relevance, forgotten historical individuals, dark historical events, folklore, & children’s tales have been the most inspirational stories to me. Anything outside of my backyard has melted in my designs more than things close to home. The farther my work reflects society outside of my comfort zone, the better I feel about my designs. I tend to have more of an international-aligned appeal in my art, with an emphasis on cinematic storytelling and European sensibilities.
Whether it is working at a publishing company, a music label, a production company, or an indie gaming studio, anything that resembles working with storytelling, is my goal. A place where my designs can play an important role to show audiences new worlds, new experiences, new possible realities, is what I aim for. Being experienced in writing my own stories, critiquing others’ works, and journaling all my observations in all forms of entertainment, I can say without a story, you cannot be an artist. I am not a multimedia artist, or just a production designer: I am a storyteller first, an artist second.
