Conversations with Henry Beltran

Today we’d like to introduce you to Henry Beltran

Henry , we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
I started off 10 years ago making custom dioramas for displays, adding my own style and often times graffiti. I worked to make the pieces as realistic as possible and little by little started adding to my pieces with ice machines, payphones, fire hydrants, etc. Soon after I started focusing more so on the smaller add ons and started making replicas of iconic LA items like the payphone and fire hyrdrant but also the bus benches, newspaper dispensers, etc. I now try to recreate a lot of these iconic pieces and also work on custom items and figures adding my own twist to them as my own form of art

I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
It’s been a pretty smooth ride for the most part. I’ve always been intrigued by art so a lot of it came pretty naturally to me. The only thing I would consider an obstacle is that I’m a perfectionist. Each piece comes out different in one way or another so there were always certain parts to each piece that I struggled with because they didn’t look clean enough to me. I do a lot of research on the techniques I use for each piece in order to get a certain effect. Sometimes I spend hours looking into how to work with materials that I’m not used to using or getting a painting technique down before I apply it to the actual piece.

Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I am a miniature artist based in South Central Los Angeles, known mostly for replicating iconic pieces found in South Central LA. Although most of my work is based on my city and bringing back that 90s nostalgia, I also replicate pieces from other cities like New York, Chicago and other urban cities. What sets me apart is my ability to get my pieces to look just like the real thing. I strive to make every part of my pieces from the rust, grime and splatter to the graffiti and paint drips as real as possible and I feel like the practice and time that I put into my pieces shows.

How do you think about luck?
I believe that I did get some sort of good luck in social media. A lot of what I do with posts and videos has a reason and intention behind them. From the sounds and captions to even the time that I post. So while I did get lucky because social media is a thing, I put a lot of work into making sure I knew the in and outs that will give my video more exposure.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://Henrybeltranart.square.site
• Instagram: @henry715