Today we’d like to introduce you to Robert Smith.
Hi Robert, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I’ve always been interested in art, drawing, graffiti, tattoos, music, any kind of creative expression, especially the intangible and free arts. I started drawing as a kid, kind of to pass the time, raised as an only child I spent a lot of time with my imagination and anything I could draw with and on. I got into graffiti early in high school and loved the freedom of the art; not a whole lot of structure as far as rules go, but even less when it came to ownership, similar to Hindi sand paintings, you had to be able to immediately let go of the art piece itself. Just beautiful to me the experience of letting a piece speak for itself without holding it too tightly. I moved into oils for the first time in my early twenties and fell in love with it. So malleable and offering a type of permanence that graffiti couldn’t, so a strange change; but allowing me to be able to explore what I wanted to say for a longer time. And now it’s just been a lifelong journey of falling in and out of love with every piece and technique that I choose to spend time with, a true love affair that has taken me on physical, mental, and spiritual paths that I cannot possibly imagine my life without.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall, and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
I tend to view my journey with art as more of a journey of myself, and in no way has it always been smooth, nor has it been so difficult that I’ve had to give up at all… it’s been very much a journey of lessons in life and art. I spent almost a decade swallowed in my own addiction and self-destructive tendencies, which I am lucky enough to have come back from, and now a decade sober, I am finding more joy in art than ever before. The hole I was trying to fill with all of my deepest, darkest vices, I came to realize, was just my own self-inflicted wounds of loss and grief and a deep desire to just not be…. And have since found myself on my path, lifted up and set straight to the frequency of joy and love. I have been lucky in that sense and able to peruse the expression of who I was at that time through all of my forms of art, oil painting, graffiti, and tattoos. I am also part owner of a tattoo shop in east Dallas now, No King’s collective
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I am part owner of a tattoo shop in east Dallas, and I also am showing in a couple of galleries here in Dallas. So, I get to be creative for a living and then spend my free time being creative as well. It really is living the dream… Right now, with the tattoos I get to collaborate with others on bringing their visions to the surface, and I love that process, from start to finish. And then I get to explore my inner landscape with my oil painting and try things in my own way. I’m really enjoying playing with light sources and structure in painting. I am self-taught for the most part, maybe a couple of high school art classes, but aside from that, just what I’ve gathered over the years, if applicable, I use it.
What I am most proud of is living through such a dark time to be able to come through the fire and see the other side of life, to enjoy the beauty, and to search for the truth in any way that I can.
Any advice for finding a mentor or networking in general?
I am still on that journey as well, but the best advice I have adopted from all my reading and searching can be applied, I think in every aspect of one’s life as well:
Chop wood, carry water
Just keep going, no matter what.
Seems like easy advice, cliche even, but really it strikes me as a simple truth, strong and effective. But most people have a tendency to give up at a point or feel overwhelmed frustrated, but if you keep going, you begin to view it as a part of the process, and it becomes familiar, easy, and even necessary
Pricing:
- Generally, $1.00-$1.50 per square inch
Contact Info:
- Instagram: @atumplay
Image Credits
Tanner Garza
