Today we’d like to introduce you to DuBose DeSelva.
Hi DuBose, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
One of my earliest memories was creating drawings for my family and dancing around the room. One of my favorite memories was learning you could create art digitally. I went from office paper and ms paint, to creating on recycled materials and designing on my iPad. I also, in between, studied the performance arts in New York City at the Neighborhood Playhouse School of the Theatre. Art means everything to me. Everyday I look at signs, flyers posted on windows, murals that wrap around Dallas, the vibrations and sound of performances in Deep Ellum, and I’m inspired. I am an artist of multiple forms.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
A struggle I have always had, and it is quite vulnerable to put to words, but it is much apart of my identity. Is living with mental illness. There was a point in my life where I wanted to put my pencil down and hide from the world. Art has also saved my life. It helped me connect and also create with other individuals who are like me. Everyday I’m thankful for that. There are days and weeks it stops me from creating, but I always remember the sun will rise the next day and I trust I have the ability to always come back to what makes me happy.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I have a hard time labeling myself as just one thing. Am I a digital artist? Am I an acrylic painter? Sculptor? Actor? Poet? Singer? Model? Graphic designer? So when people ask I usually just giggle and say, “I do a lot.” Creativity is my lifestyle.
One of my favorite expression is creating commissions and designs for others. I love being able to give life to ideas.
I’m known for having my feminine characters with their winged eyeliner and relaxed eyes I’d say I’d been drawing like that since I was five. I loved reading fashion magazines and watching old films and cartoons so I think it just stuck with me my whole life. There’s an anthropomorphic quality to what I create. I have my own design called “things with faces” and it’s exactly that. A heart, a sun, a playing card. Anything really.
In terms of your work and the industry, what are some of the changes you are expecting to see over the next five to ten years?
I see the art world definitely more incorporated into more everyday things. I see a branding renaissance in products, clothing, etc. I stop by 7-eleven and I see a canned beverage and I sigh like, “Why didn’t I think of that?” A can of soda is like an art piece now with how amazing graphic design has advanced in the past years.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: @Its_dubose
