Dustyn Bustos

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Dustyn Bustos, direct descendant of the Apache leader and medicine man Geronimo, is an imaginative self-taught painter and leather artist. Each design is sketched by hand, every layer of paint laid down with a steady hand, and each stitch is laced with care. You won’t find mass productions here. Dustyn may create similar designs, but every step in the artistic process is done by a skillful hand on every piece.

Dyslexic, colorblind, and left-handed, Dustyn struggled with academics, but very quickly found his passion in art. Drawing since his childhood, Dustyn started painting at age 14. His inspiration started with a drifter/artist that became a friend and mentor. Most of the friends Dustyn surrounded himself with were older artists/mentors.  

Painting on metal evolved from Dustyn’s passion for motorcycles – both building them and riding them. At a young age, Dustyn began building his own motorcycles and traveled thousands of miles on them. His skills as a painter and also as a leather artist grew as he used his artistic skills on his motorcycles – painting the designs on the tanks or custom designing the leather seats and other accessories.  

Evolving to portraitures was a means to demonstrate his skills far beyond the graphics of motorcycle painting. The vibrance and contrast in his work is generally achieved with 4 or fewer paint colors. Using fewer colors is a method of compensating for his colorblindness. Despite the use of only a few colors, Dustyn’s portraitures are amazingly photo-realistic.