Steven Monsalve, known artistically as OSMON, is a Colombian artist born in Cali on June 8, 1987.

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A former key figure in Colombia’s underground metal scene, OSMON is a multi-instrumentalist, producer, visual artist, and vocalist, still a metalhead at heart with a deep affinity for classical music. After being accepted into a university classical composition program and performing in its choirs, he chose to step away to pursue a more experimental path. His sound moves across guitar music, electronic textures, and R&B and hip-hop-rooted rhythms, while his vocal approach recalls the warm, intimate phrasing of mid-century jazz crooners such as Frank Sinatra and Johnny Mathis, forming an atmospheric and emotionally driven language shaped by contrast and continuity.

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At the core of his work are mystical and spiritual themes. For OSMON, music, lyrics, and visual identity function as a single expressive body: each release is conceived as an entry point into an inner world, where the message carries as much weight as the sound itself.

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He has shared the stage with cult legends such as Belphegor and God Dethroned, and two of his bands have performed at Rock al Parque, one of Latin America’s most iconic rock and metal festivals. These performances grew out of formative projects within Colombia’s metal underground, including Malsano and Blind One Came.

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In 2020, encouraged by producer Tommy Park (JYP Entertainment), OSMON briefly explored songwriting for the K-pop industry, collaborating with singer Ashley Alisha. The material was considered more mature than the concepts developed for the label’s groups, and he soon returned his full focus to his own project.

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Beyond music, OSMON’s practice extends into the visual realm. His abstract glitch works dissolve photography through algorithmic distortion and pixel sorting, exploring impermanence, tension, and transformation. In selected pieces, digital processes are interrupted by hand-applied acrylics and traditional media, introducing a physical counterforce to the algorithmic flow.

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In 2022, OSMON was awarded Best Digital Artist at the International Biennial of Contemporary Arts in Cali, Colombia, recognizing his boundary-pushing and interdisciplinary vision.