Robert Castillo

Robert Anthony Castillo Brea (b. 1992) is a multidisciplinary artist working across music, visual art, stone sculpture, and literature. A first-generation U.S. citizen, he was born in Kansas City to a Mayan-speaking father from Mexico's Yucatán Peninsula and a mother from the Dominican Republic. His work is driven by a desire to connect with the vast depth of existence and to inspire others to explore their own boundless potential.

Castillo's artistic foundation was built on music. After earning a degree in Jazz Bass with a minor in Environmental Studies from North Central College (Naperville, IL), he performed professionally across the U.S., Latin America, and Europe, composing and arranging for various ensembles. His contemporary jazz group, The Sextet, gained recognition with albums including In a Natural State, Blob Castle, and Among Friends, the latter praised by National Public Radio for its eclectic fusion of jazz, classical, hip-hop, and Afrobeat influences. Beyond jazz, Castillo has composed symphonies, produced electronic music, and DJs across genres.

In 2018, he expanded into visual art, challenging himself to create enough work for a solo exhibition despite never having painted on canvas. This dedication led to continued exhibitions and ultimately a master's degree in Artistic Production from the Polytechnic University of Valencia (Spain) in 2024. His thesis, Shadows of the Empire: The Impact of the Spanish Invasions of Abya Yala on Indigenous Identity, examines his connection to his indigenous heritage and proposes pathways for reconciliation.

His visual work spans Mayan iconography, geometric abstra-tion, portraiture, and plein air impressionism, incorporating diverse materials and techniques. In 2023, his second stone sculpture, carved from Carrara marble, was acquired by the Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art.

Castillo has also worked as a professor at Avila University (Kansas City, MO) and contributed to arts communities through organizations such as Cross-Lines Community Outreach and the Nelson-Atkins Museum's Friends of Art Council. In 2025, he participated in Danza de Color and Rutas de Esperanza, both Dominican-Italian cultural exchanges supported by the Dominican Embassy in Rome.

Glorified Ants is his first novel. The book emerged from his reflections on the long-term societal impacts of artificial intelligence, an area he found largely overlooked in mainstream discourse. Drawing inspiration from Isaac Asimov, Ray Bradbury, and Liu Cixin, Cas-tillo wove historical events, personal experiences, and researched data into a narrative exploring humanity's future alongside AI. While AI-assisted research helped refine technical details, Castillo remains committed to the irreplaceable essence of human creativity, a conviction reflected in the novel's exploration of what makes us necessary in a world shaped by our own creations.

From 2025–2027, Castillo is serving with the PeaceCorps in Guatemala in the Youth in Development program.