Jorge Blanco (born March 21, 1945, in Caracas) is a Venezuelan-born American artist, who emigrated to the United States in 1999.
In addition to public art, Blanco continues his life trajectory with collectible sculptures, his comic strip "The Castaway," and furniture design.
Under the mentorship of European artists living as expatriates in Caracas, Blanco learned to integrate industrial design with creative processes.
Blanco graduated with a degree in industrial design upon the completion of his first furniture line for children, which was a thesis project.
As "The Castaway" continued to live its success, Blanco illustrated more than twenty storybooks for children and countless educational books.
He received his formal training at the Neumann Institute in Caracas, Venezuela, which he attended with the aid of a scholarship.
In 1979, Blanco returned to Caracas, Venezuela where he exhibited his sculptures and drawings at the Sofía Imber Museum of Contemporary Art.
It was published in major newspapers and magazines in Venezuela and lead to significant sales in merchandising and books.
In 1989, Blanco returned to sculpture, and eventually left the Caracas Children's Museum to move to the United States, where he still lives today.
The Castaway is a comic strip created by Blanco in 1980 about a man trapped on an island that was originally printed in the newspaper El Diario de Caracas.