You mentioned you’re a Brooklyn native, so I’m super interested in your experiences. What was it like growing up there? What brought you to Milwaukee?
I was raised in Coney Island, Brooklyn, NY. Coney Island is a peninsula 3 avenues wide and about 25 streets deep but that relatively small amount of land is filled with large project buildings, town houses, parks, beaches, boardwalk, a gated community and the famous amusement park. Growing up there were tons of kids my age so going outside was always an adventure and I’ve met so many characters. My childhood was amazing, as a young adult it was kind of the opposite. The danger became more serious the older I got and the struggle became real. Then Hurricane Sandy hit the east coast and it was the most devastating natural disaster I have ever experienced. The only home I knew all my life was ruined so for a couple of months I was homeless bouncing from friend’s houses to hotels. When I was told I had the chance to move to any city with all expenses paid I remembered my short visits to Milwaukee and settled here. The rest is history.
You also mentioned that you just left the country, where’d you go? Do you travel often?
I recently went on a week long cruise that stopped in Labadee, Haiti, Falmouth, Jamaica, and Cozumel, Mexico. I try to travel outside of Wisconsin at least twice a year.
Favorite places you’ve been?
St. Louis was a pretty cool city (love their pizza) but I LOVED the scenery in Arizona and Utah. The American south west is where you can really experience purple mountains majesty above the fruited plains. It’s actually a real thing. But my number one place would have to be Amsterdam in the Netherlands. The vibe is just so chill. Basically I love any place that has mountains, bodies of water, and most importantly good food (Italian food in Italy is magical!)
What are your biggest influences as an artist?
I think my childhood after-school and Saturday morning cartoon days played a big hand in my art influence. Because cartoons weren’t 24/7 like it is now I had kid books and daily newspaper comics fill in all of the other hours to absorb all the cool illustrations from a plethora of artists. So my biggest influences were animation and comic strips. Also I vividly remember the character based graffiti I would see. For some reason they just really popped out to me.
How/why did you become an artist?
I wanted to be an artist as long as I could remember. I think the idea of creating something that brings joy to others was always appealing to me. Expressing ideas through images just works so well. Dr. Seuss books are my earliest memory of being handed something and being entranced by the world the illustrator created. These images didn’t move like cartoons on tv but when the page turned your mind opened up to a world of imagination. I wanted to recreate that feeling.
One of the purposes of art is to reflect the social context of its time. How do you see that happening now? What is it reflecting?
I like how artists are feeling more free than ever to just create what they want. They get to put themselves into the work and it’s instant. It’s all so timely and responsive to the now. It’s more than a mirror to society, it’s an uncut live-stream playing out to the masses and the masses decide what they want to see and what they don’t. It’s interesting.
How do you see the art scene today?
Right now art is accessible in ways we never imagined it could be. The gatekeepers are gone. All you need now is creativity and passion and your art can be seen by everyone, anywhere, any time. We get so many voices now that truly reflect the diversity of the planet. We’re not just looking at a limited scope of creations from certain individuals but everybody and it’s exciting.
What do you think is missing to encourage new artists to engage with the arts?
More art in school. More music in school. I think I had one music class in my whole academic life. I see what learning an instrument does to people. They’re more engaged, creative, appreciative of the arts. We need more of that.
What advice would you give to an artist who is starting now?
CREATE ALL OF THE TIME. And when you’re not creating observe, soak in all the visuals from everywhere. You can’t run out of creativity. The more you use it the better.
What was the first piece you made that you loved?
My comic book, Twisted Comix Vol.1. It was a collection of comic strips I created from high school to college and to see it all in one book made with the help of my friends was one of the first times I felt like I was really making headway in this artist thing.
What has been your biggest struggle as an artist, and how have you dealt with it?
Self-doubt and fear. It’s a struggle every day and social media has not helped. There are so many talented artists online and it feels like those “likes” and “follows” are measurements of self-worth. I had moments where I thought, “why create when there are other artists doing it better than me”. But it’s not a contest, comparison is the theft of joy, and I have to remember why I started to create in the first place. Art is expression and bottling it up serves no one.
Who are few local artists that you really enjoy?
Della Wells, Andre Brown (artbydreblack), Pharoah Black (action figure photographer), Jasmine Wyatt (of the Bronzeville Collective) and I really need to get out more to meet more local artists. So much talent in this city.
What is your dream location that you’d like to create in next?
I don’t have a location in mind but I do know the always wanted to design a billboard or on something that size. I’ve come close a few times. Just something huge where people can see it from afar.
Bus Art Project MKE 