My name is Robert Tapley Bustamante and I go by the sobriquet Visualsoul. I am a Kansas based muralist, artist, designer, and community art activist comprised of American and Panamanian origins.



I am a formally trained Graphic Designer with a BFA applied towards 18 years of experience working for advertising firms on projects for Hershey’s, Gatorade, Hostess, Western Union, Fiberbond, Sprint, Cerner, H&R Block, and various Fortune 500 corporations in Kansas City, Missouri. I decided in 2015 to apply my many skills towards Public Art to help clients expand brand awareness and visually articulate messages of empowerment on large scale public murals.



Primarily I create soul stirring emotional landscapes best described as “beautifully intense”. Heavily resisting the urge to do as many artists typically do, which is to get all “art speaky” and ramble on trying to describe my artwork. Instead, I find it much more interesting to allow you, the viewer, to make up your own conclusions without my filter.

Always pushing boundaries, I only have one rule when it comes to making art… If it makes me uncomfortable then I must try to attempt it, ha ha, I’m not joking. Being comfortable is highly overrated when it comes to creative expression. I seek comfort in copious bags of Doritos, yes Nacho Cheese, what other kind of Doritos are there?

I’ve shown my art from coast to coast across many states and several publications, most of them are not really noteworthy, not gonna front. Painting to loud music is fucking fantastic, so I have live-painted to some of the biggest rock bands and rap artists in the world, such as Primus, The Black Keys, Rakim, Eminem, YelaWolf, Grace Potter, Doomtree, Mastodon, The Deftones, and Alice In Chains.

I am a multiple award winning artist, and most recently the recipient of the prestigious Glenda Taylor Visual Arts Award in 2021 from ArtsConnect. Another career highlight is being 1 of 27 artists selected to paint the massive Brown v Board Mural in 2018 for my hometown city of Topeka, Kansas. Woo hoo!