NYC Artist JULIO COTTO

JULIO COTTO is a Puerto Rican multimedia artist, actor and writer originally from the projects and tenements of the South Bronx. At age six, he moved to the South East, where he spent the next three decades in Miami, Greenville and Charleston. Julio has no formal training, but was born into a family of artisans. As a young boy, he watched and drew alongside his grandfather, oil painter, photographer and photograph retoucher, Abednego Rivera. As a teenager he was apprentice to his uncle, multimedia artist, Efrain Frencci Rivera. From ages 15 to 23, Cotto inked and lettered several comic books for Bugged-Out Comics, painted carousel horses, illustrated greeting cards and worked as a graphic artist and sign painter in Greenville, SC. He moved to Charleston, SC in 1998 to work on his comics and begin painting. Since 2001 Cotto has shown his works all over the Low Country and the South East. The Latin artist has participated in over one hundred art shows over the past thirteen years, including Charleston Contemporary 2010: Influence, Yo! What Happened to Peace? and all Belle Muse Eros Shows and Kulture Klash Festivals. The Cartoonist wrote and illustrated comic strips for several publications in the Low Counrty. Julio has been voted ‘Best Local Visual Artist’ 2004, 2006 and 2008 by Charleston City Paper readers. In 2005 he received two Silver Addy Awards for his cover of Barfly magazine. In 2008 the artist moved back to Greenville to paint murals for Liquid Highway and to be with his family. A year later he moved back to Charleston to show new work and begin his acting career. In his is last years in SC, Cotto signed and showed with SCOOP Studios and Matthew Campbell Galleries. He also worked as an actor on Army Wives and several indie films. The highlight of his career, the actor states, was speaking at Pecha Kucha 10 Charleston. Bill Murray was in attendance. To further his acting and art careers, Julio moved back to NYC on Christmas Eve 2011. He has worked on White Collar, Blue Bloods and was featured on Inside the American Mob and Lifetime’s Anna Nicole Movie. Julio’s first NYC Solo show opened in May of 2014 at Greenpoint Gallery. He dedicated the milestone exhibit to his mentors and heroes, grandfather Abednego Rivera 1925-1998 and uncle Frencci Rivera 1962-2014. The Latino artist is currently showing several paintings at The Drunken Horse in the Chelsea Art District in Manhattan. Julio has donated his time and art to several charities, nonprofits and private fundraisers including Stoked Mentoring, Camp Create, Sidewalk Chalk, My Sister’s House, Hunger Hurts Greenville, Low Country Aids Services, Susan G. Komen Foundation, MUSC Children’s Cancer Research Center, Waves for Development, Surfrider Foundation and ASPCA. Cotto lives and works in Brooklyn, NY.

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