‘Freak folk’ and Baroque: North Philly’s Daniel de Jesús is all about creating and fostering art in Latino spaces

Daniel de Jesús is the definition of a successful multidisciplinary artist. They are a painter, cellist, violinist, composer, visual artist, and educator. And, now, you can add art curator to that list.

De Jesús is the curator of the Taller Puertorriqueño exhibit “Arcanas: Neocolonial Retablos Inspired by Tarot,” by Puerto Rican-Irish artist Patrick McGrath Muñiz, which runs through Oct. 21.

The show features 30 artworks inspired by the technique of Baroque painting incorporating figures and icons from the tarot, Spanish colonial iconography, and pop culture. The collection reflects McGrath Muñiz’s experience of living in a world affected by the onslaught of digital communication and information, climate change, social inequality, and the global pandemic.

On Oct. 5, de Jesús will moderate an artists talk about the use of allegory and iconography in art with McGrath Muñiz and Philadelphia artist Li Sumpter, something the musician knows a lot about since their own music explores those elements.

At 41, they owe their success to an ability to go beyond the known.

“I don’t see why you have to focus on just one interest. I think it is not fair,” they told The Inquirer. “My brain can’t just live in one creative space. I need to flex all those other creative muscles as much as possible.”

De Jesús’ artistic versatility made itself evident when they were a child. By the time they were in fifth grade, they were drawing comic books and putting on little plays around the house. When they turned 12, they officially started playing the cello, which became one of their great passions.

“I just kept living this dual life engaged in the visual arts and music. I couldn’t decide,” they said. “I couldn’t make a decision like which one to do. So I just did both.”

Their musical skill was so extraordinary that they were recommended to study with the renowned Vivian Barton Dozor, a Curtis Institute of Music graduate and cellist for Opera Philadelphia and the Philadelphia Orchestra. De Jesús studied with her for several years.

“I just kept living this dual life engaged in the visual arts and music. I couldn’t decide.”

By middle school, de Jesús already had a robust artistic portfolio that helped them get into the High School for Creative and Performing Arts. After high school, they attended the University of the Arts and graduated in 2004 with a bachelor’s degree in fine arts with a concentration in illustration.

But a few years later, it was their musical talent that led them into the rock star life they had long dreamed about.

For six years, de Jesús traveled the world as a member of the band Rasputina, playing gothic, modern folk, and so-called freak folk music. However, they didn’t find fame as entertaining as they thought it would be.

“I wanted to be a rock star living in Los Angeles and tour,” they said. “Then I started to realize that my own health and my own care became more valuable than whatever idea I had about being a rock star.”

They began holding solo art exhibitions — their paintings incorporating Latin American Baroque, medieval and Pre-Raphaelite elements — in Philadelphia, while traveling to perform music at venues such as the Park Avenue Armory in New York City and Millennium Park Theater in Chicago.

In addition to performing with orchestras and rock bands worldwide, de Jesús has released nine music studio recordings of their own music. Like the visual art they create, de Jesús’s music fuses baroque, classical, and neoclassical elements in pop and rock.

La Dolorosa was their first album in Spanish, inspired by their anthropological studies of colonial Latin America and the representation of virgins as a symbol of identity in countries such as Mexico and Puerto Rico. They describe the album as a process to delve into the categories that exist within the term Latinidad and how the diaspora identifies itself.

Although de Jesús was born and raised in North Philadelphia, they are proud of their Puerto Rican roots.

“Philadelphia is a city that has given me an incredible education in the arts.”

De Jesús also uses literature to inform their compositions. “Sonetos de Amor Oscuro” by the Spanish poet Federico García Lorca provided inspiration to release an album with the same title.

But it was the album Kyrie — which means “Lord have mercy” in Latin — which was their emotional catharsis, according to de Jesús.

They took as their muse the Gospel of Mary Magdalene, which resulted in nine songs full of mysticism and spirituality and loaded with personal experience. Before this catharsis, de Jesús says they went through a period where they felt their songs were deeply rooted in their “experiences of repression.”

“When you’re a gay and queer person growing up, you experience the world of repression,” they said. “With Kyrie, I’m asking for mercy for myself and becoming a new person.”

“Philadelphia is a city that has given me an incredible education in the arts,” de Jesús said.

While that has found expression in the art they create, it doesn’t stop there. De Jesús is also focused on paying that education forward.

In August 2021, de Jesús became the director of music education and community outreach for Artistas y Músicos Latinoamericanos (AMLA) at Esperanza, a nonprofit organization that has been developing young talent through music education since 2006.

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During their first year at AMLA, de Jesús prioritized efforts to increase teacher salaries and expand educational programs. They added a Puerto Rican cuatro class and a songwriting class inspired by social activism. They also teach a violin class at AMLA, and the Latin Music Education program overall serves more than 80 students from private schools and after-school programs.

De Jesús’s teaching experience dates back 18 years when they were an educator at Taller Puertorriqueño as part of the Young Artists Program. There, they helped children develop their visual arts skills and prepared them for college or careers after high school.

De Jesús has done much for the arts, but more is to come.

One of their many projects ahead is writing the goth, rock, and punk opera of their dreams. But above all, their greatest accomplishment would be having their own business to teach other artists how to manage their own careers — something that they had to learn the hard way.

“In Philadelphia, we have an incredible wealth of talented people. [The city] is filled with hidden gems of people who are doing really amazing work. I just think that the resources for giving them a platform is the part that we’re struggling with,” they said.

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“I think a lot about how as artists we don’t learn about business. I’m learning about certain things that I wish I knew when I was in my 20s.”

In the meantime, de Jesús will continue their multidisciplinary career, fusing their work as an independent artist and their daily commitment to making music education more accessible for Latino communities in Philadelphia.

Click here to hear de Jesús’ music, or hear them perform live at the Philadelphia Museum of Art’s Friday lounge series on Oct. 6.