Delphin Starr (AKA, DelStarr)

Visual Art – Minneapolis

Delphin Starr’s Biography Born in Bujumbura, Burundi, 1994, moved in the U.S. in Minneapolis, MN with his family, in 2010. Delphin Starr Niyonkuru (aka DelStarr ) performs under the name of Delphin Starr because people can't pronounce his last name correctly. He is fluent in 3 languages (French, Swahili, and Kirundi) but realized that he often felt left out because English was a barrier, after he moved to the USA. As a newcomer, DelStarr yearned for ways to communicate and a place to belong in a word that was foreign to him, but quickly learned that art was a universal language. Today, at 22, DelStarr has navigated different ways to use art as a form of expression and a storytelling tool, he is a multi-talented artist; abstract, painter, photographer, graphic designer, speed painter, and dancer. In 2014, he adopted a new form of art expression called speed painting. After seeing David Garibaldi, one of his art role models, performing live on the tv, DelStarr, then, taught himself how to speed paint. He's now performed around the country sharing his talent. The concept/ style “Dirty Canvas” as he likes to call it, comes from the lack of having and not affording different canvases to practice and to perform on, so instead he performs on the same canvases he practices on; and the philosophy behind it, is that no matter how bad, ugly, and/ or dirty a situation is, it only takes one brush stroke after another to make to change it into a masterpiece, meaning you have to put in work, step by step, to get to where you want to get. DelStarr needs only minutes to transform a dirty canvas into an amazing work of art. Sometimes does so while dancing or with another form of arts. As an undergraduate student at the University of Minnesota-Duluth, DelStarr continues to create, paint, and perform. He's double majoring in computer engineering and graphic design and marketing. DelStarr has now made the journey from the kid who couldn't speak English to an artist who's built an art and design brand (DelStarr Design) where he combines his skills and passions to express himself. As a speed painter, DelStarr has been frequently recognized as an upcoming original young artist, a trendsetter, and a motivational/ influential artist of the modern generation. His artworks can be found in MN (Minneapolis, St Paul, Duluth, Mankato, St Cloud, Alexandria, Collegeville); around the country (North Dakota, Ohio, Iowa, Maine, Washington DC, Maryland, and, Virginia, Wisconsin,...); and around the world (France, Belgium, Czech Republic, England, Germany, China, Thailand, Taiwan, Australia, Mexico, Colombia, Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Zambia, South Africa, Congo, Ethiopia, Oromia, Somali Land, etc...). You can find DelStarr’s work on Instagram (DelStarr_arts) and Facebook (DelStarr Arts). His website is still under construction. DelStarr has showed the world that art is a language that doesn’t need words to be understood, so he uses it as a tool to break barriers build relationships.