Jorge "El Niño" Torrealba (b. 1990) is an NYC based, Venezuelan born illustrator and multi-media visual artist. Since arriving in the United States seeking political asylum with nothing to his name, he has exploded to become one of the most buzzing up and coming graphic artists on the scene today. Moonlighting as a standup at the Broadway Comedy Club in NYC, or collaborating with iconic brands like Pabst Blue Ribbon, Torrealba's inspiration comes from all around, and everywhere. His free spirit, and pure heart, focusing the lens of his art, allowing him to truly see people.

 

Born and raised in Punto Fijo, Venezuela in the beautiful peninsula of Paraguana. Jorge Torrealba is a cartoonist, plastic artist, illustrator with more than 10 years of self-taught experience, making cartoons. This Venezuelan guy takes the world of cartoons to the next level, being always recognized in any event he participates despite language barriers. He has more than thousands of cartoons, created in just minutes in both traditional and digital way.

 

From a very young age, He began drawing on everything He could, the walls of his house became his canvases, and it was his aunt who encouraged me to paint, when He was around 6 to 7 years old. His drawings weren't perfect, but they had a quirkiness, He always exaggerated everything I painted.

In elementary school, during classes, he was the kid who spent his time drawing every classmate and every teacher in the back of notebooks. He had a distinct way of holding the pencil, which he still retain to these days.

During childhood, Torrealba enjoyed observing people's faces and noticing the differences between one person and the other. He would use these observations as references when creating his own characters, making their features much larger than reality, as his young eyes perceived them.

With time, He became much more creative, and even though He was growing rapidly, He was still called by the nickname "El Niño" (The Kid) as He is known today.

 

In high school, I turned all my classmates into subjects of my satirical drawings. While many were initially offended, over time they discovered it was just his thing, and what truly impassioned him. Everyone used to tell him that his drawings were "ugly", that he drew them ugly, but the sense of humor is a significant part of himself and "El Niño" says it's one of the things that has always characterized him.

Torrealba never pursued a professional career in art. However, when he was around 15, he got enrolled in a drawing course. The teacher assigned the class a portrait as homework. "El Niño" quickly finished it, but when he showed it to the teacher, he found something wrong: too much nose, too much forehead, and so on. Torrealba spent a long period of time thinking until he realized it wouldn't work.

And it was that teacher who told him, "You can't make it perfect because you're a caricaturist. You were born with it. You see people differently, that's why you draw them differently." That day he discovered what was his talent, or at least the name of the profession that has always accompanied him. That day he also stopped attending his classes.

 

Over time, although he continued to draw as a hobby, El Niño had never seen it as the career he would get in the future. After trying out different paths like civil engineering and others, He stopped just "trying" and started to make his own path as an artist.

It's been over 12 years since Torrealba took the decision to embark on the world of cartoons, fully embracing the cultivation of his talents and expressing himself through conceptual cartoon art. He has practiced and perfected his drawings more and more, experimented with all kinds of materials, and explored different self-taught techniques of illustration and painting.

 

El Niño began creating caricatures for the public, participating in all sorts of events, celebrations, and malls in his city. Thanks to social media, more people discovered his art, and he got invited to different cities around his country. He had a famous "politic" in his work: "Discount for the ugly-people." and in response to the ongoing problems in Venezuela, he delved into political caricature as a form of protest. He created political and social satires that he shared through social media.

In 2015, He traveled to the United States to participate for the first time in ISCA (International Society of Caricature Artists) in Sandusky, Ohio and in 2016, I returned to participate once again in the largest caricature convention in the United States, this time in Arizona.

That year, He also made one of the most unexpected decisions of my life and became an immigrant to the United States, living in Miami, Florida, due to the serious problems facing Venezuela. Starting from scratch, He began creating artistic caricatures in restaurants in exchange for tips, showcasing his talent to the city's public.

In 2016 Jorge Torrealba moved to the city of Miami, Florida, achieving to win the “Legacy Through Art of the World Poker Tour Miami, 2017” award just his arrival. It has also been Recognized by the International Society of Cartoon Artists (ISCA) in 2019 for "The Most Innovative Technique", as also 2nd place in "Exceptional 3D Technique" and in 2020, with 1st Place, in "Exceptional Technique".

This artist also stands out for participating in "Humanitarian Clowns" and "Genes and Therapy Dogs", those are part of the foundations through which Torrealba keeps hope and energy for traditional caricature in him.

Jorge Torrealba has a documentary based on his life as a Venezuelan immigrant in United States, which led him to be awarded the EMMY awards, on December 12, 2020, in its 44th edition. This documentary already has the participation in 21 festivals, among which Jorge was awarded as "Best Visual Artist of the Year" by the Los Angeles Film Awards.

In 2021 he moved to Queens, New York. Where he participated in the first edition of  Venezuela Art Fest, a convention of Venezuelan artists to show the art pieces of each one of them. In there he exhibited a 24/7 canvas titled the "The Migrant Odyssey" where thousands of critics were able to appreciate and highlight his art in the Big Apple.

The artist who has recently arrived to New York City will have his own painting exhibition exclusively from his art pieces, showing a large part of his art and will incorporate new pieces to the "One Art Space" located in Manhattan, In August 2021 #DiscountForUglyPeople .

In august 2022 he starred the single show “Head Trip Torrealba". This show included a large collection of canvas, traditional drawing and even VR Art where people could get inside the artist mind.