This visual was created to be watched and listened to hopefully by itself on your screen, full screen, headphones on. “Cudi Zone” by Kid Cudi is one of my favorites. I hope you guys can revisit this piece and it can take you to your zone!
The creative field is always changing, forever evolving. Tattooers are commissioned artists, working primarily on commissioned work for their clients. The great masters of the renaissance worked in a similar fashion. Most of what people consider art is just simply illustrations that are either “highly rendered” (realistic) or more “simply rendered” (cartoony or simple). Most tattoos are not even very creative at their core at all. Most are based on the criteria of the client and visualized thru reference of images that have already been done. It’s very rare for an artist to create something truly original and even more rare for a client to agree to purchase something for their body that they are unfamiliar with.
The more I’ve learned about art the less I feel like an artist myself. It’s been a long time that I’ve had to use my creativity to make a living, but using my imagination for my work is hard these days. Many artist choose politics, religion, racial tension, history, but I have always been drawn to the more imaginative surreal ideals.
I have many ideas for my work and aim to put them on canvas, put them into film, put them into tattoos, and make damn sure I’m not being so fuckin safe. I don’t really have any interest in the “live forever” or “making a mark on history. With my personal work I just really want to express myself fully with no restrictions. With tattooing I feel a more competitive drive.
I do not want to be famous, but I do want my work to be competitive on a global scale. I want to do this because I firmly believe that I am capable if I work hard enough. With tattoos I’m not really expressing myself in a poetic sense, I’m expressing myself and showing proof of my discipline. Maintaining proper form, not exceeding the amount of strokes to the skin, pulling off a range of textures seem less Ku under a restricted amount of time, and producing work that not only lasts over the years but looks better with time.
Thru my website and even blogging there’s a new fire and determination to showcase independently and present my work the way I wish to.
Exploring the mind and questioning what’s normal, excites me. In my younger years my work was very safe because I was very afraid of being judged or upsetting family. At 33 years old I’m so stoked on what I’ve accomplished in the tattoo world and art world, but I’ve never truly expressed myself. That I really regret.
