Rasta Asaru Escott EL
Artist Statement and Bio
Rasta Asaru Escott EL was born and raised in Los Angeles, California where he currently resides and creates.

His inspiration came to him in elementary school where he found himself intrigued by the various elements, textures, and colors of materials. During this curious time he began to mimic these objects on paper while teaching himself how to sketch and draw.
Rasta’s creative desires continued into high school where he advanced from sketching and
drawing on paper to graffiti art. As a graffiti artist, his unique blend and arrangement of color complemented with his abstract design, gained him respect and notoriety among his peers.
After high school, he was offered tutelage at Otis where he would get his first interaction with fellow artist. His experience at Otis, although short, was a memorable one. “From the opinion of one of my instructors, I was informed that I had been creating wrong. His statement allowed me to analyze my work and the work of others. I began to notice the differences of my work compared to the other students work, and saw that most of their work was of the same styles; even the manner of color was the same. I, coming from a graffiti background, felt like my creative freedom was being taken away from me.” From then on, Rasta began to embrace his freedom to create and continued on his own.
Rasta then came into contact with a fellow artist named Greg Chaney. Greg taught Rasta the steps of sculpture over the telephone. From that telephone conversation, Rasta created his first bust and continued his artistic work in the medium of sculpture.
In 1995, during an Art Festival, Rasta met fellow artist, Charles Dickson. Charles, being taken away with the talent of young Rasta, offered him an apprenticeship at The Dickson Studio. During his apprenticeship at The Dickson Studios, Rasta learned how to breakdown and manipulate materials to their breaking point. Since 1995, Rasta has assisted Charles Dickson in creating multiple large sculpted works ranging from 10 to 14 feet tall. These works such as, “The Slave Hole” (currently installed at Watts Labor Community Action Center, WLACC), can be seen around the city of Los Angeles.
Rasta primarily works with metal, bronze, Lucite, wood, and ceramic.

For me Art is the ever eluding dream of memories in time, it is in that instant of the moment that I have awaken to find myself creating the images from the dream. In simple, I am creating what was told to me by my ancestors in resemblance of their dream. I remember what others forget. --- Rasta Asaru Escott EL

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