The Creative Endeavour - EPISODE 1- Cesar Santos

hey there how's it going Andrew here with a very different kind of video for you this time I'm started a podcast and I call this podcast the creative endeavor I've been so inspired by the questions and comments that you guys have been sending and in regards to the business side of being an artist but I must admit I feel really ill equipped to tackle some of these questions that you've been asking I've got my own strategies for success in my own way of going about being an artist and I've been able to make it so far I'm glad to say but there are so many different strategies at play when it comes to being a creative professional and so many different examples of great artists out there who are crushing it in their own unique ways so I thought would be a fantastic idea to bring you some of these stories and share with you some of these fantastic examples of how to make it as an artist it's been really inspiring hearing these individual stories so I have a few of these episodes already recorded I'm continuing to interview people as we speak to get more of this material to you for our first episode we have Cesar Santos now what can I say about Cesar besides I'm an absolute fan I mean he's such an amazing painter but he also shares so much of his knowledge with us through his YouTube channel and I really enjoy watching that as well he goes into the more the philosophical side of being an artist and what really makes him tick and I always find that I come away from some of those videos inspired and re-engaged in a different way so if you want to find more of Cesar's work and check out what he's up to then make sure you click on some of those links in the description down below you'll see a link to his website his Instagram page and his fantastic YouTube channel now you're watching the video version of this podcast if you want to check out the audio version I put those links in the description below we're on iTunes SoundCloud pod bean and stitcher so have a look for your favorite app down there so you can listen to the audio version if you'd like to do that maybe while you're painting without further ado here's Cesar Santos you I first heard about you you know a while ago obviously and I've been following you on Instagram I gotta say right off the bat I love what you're doing with your art not just with what you have to say but I was looking through your portfolio and I was going bloody how this guy can paint I mean not only is he got something to say but he can paint and I found myself almost you know and I get this feeling rarely but this feeling of intimidation I'm almost ashamed to say I was going damn this this guy has got it going on and when I was looking at when I was looking at those portraits that you had the combination of that kind of childlike naive Condren hand drawn you know playful nature mixed with this almost hyper realistic I wouldn't call it photograph because photographic because it goes beyond the photograph but classically that series with the crayons I was making a little photographic so you're right oh it was stunning work but I was I was looking at you sketching I was following you on Instagram something came up on my feed and you're drawing this portrait and I'm like I recognize that guy and suddenly I realized oh no that's Jordan Peterson at that moment while I'm going through my phone I was taking a little break from painting and I was listening to the audiobook 12 rules for life I'm thinking isn't this weird that like you know here's a couple of artists you know where we're both you know kind of listening to the same thing tell me a little bit about how you love the world exactly right I mean look we're both American but I mean I'm I'm now probably a naturalized Kiwi been here for a little while now but married one so yeah opposite side of the planet and I just thought isn't this funny you know this is really cool so how do you how'd you come across let's talk a little bit about Jordan Peterson because he's quite a polarizing figure I have no idea why but I'll just start off for anybody watching this or listening to this you've got if you're an artist you want to get into art you want to learn a little bit more about your what makes you tick what are the driving factors behind human behavior you've got to look at this guy's work but Caesar tell me a little bit about how you came across Jordan Peterson's work and what it offers you as an artist oh well it's interesting they said that he's polarizing and all that because I don't look at those aspects you know I love painting while listening to audiobooks or debates so I'm constantly just playing stuff there that I really search too much for sometimes then just autoplay after you know YouTube and I came across an interview and he was talking and I really liked what he was saying so I then I search more and then I just found his message so valuable for me because I love just thinking about the world and thinking about how can I improve my life and how can I be a better person and that's what we are always should be striving for and he's a life and he's giving these messages so I am I just kept studying him and I'm really thankful that he's alive and he's sharing his ideas I mean he's a professor that only people that have the luxury of the privilege to be in that university have access to his teachings he just became famous you know two years ago or something like that and and that is because he says something problematic to the political you know field whatever and he came out of the classrooms but I'm so thankful even his first book was very intellectual very hard to to read for you know regular people so I'm glad that the situation that we living in forced a person like him to come out and bring his strength to anybody that can use it not only students in that classroom in a sense you know and so yeah he's been my teacher in that sense and the way I valued him is because he can he in a way say like an artist like he sees simple things and try to see the importance that about let's say how story or anything can be related to the universe and we are all part of that so that's what really captivated me about his message and so even now I look at my paintings or older people paintings and I try to see beyond that image in a in a forceful way like I try to try to see really how does that you know what's that potential in there why is that there so that's how I take him and that's why I love him mm-hmm I I think I think it was really interesting and just to give a little background for people who are listening going why was he suddenly thrust into the spotlight without getting too political about it because I know neither one of us want to go there just in case it but really that's brilliant how cool is that that that's fantastic eh well yeah one of the things that kind of thrust them into the spotlight was this whole thing that's happening now with political correctness and gender pronouns but thank goodness for the conflict thank goodness for the controversy because it did thrust him out there for people to actually go hang on what is this guy saying and I think I think that's really interesting and something that I found is well with the new this new wave that's happening online we and it was actually something that Jordan Peterson said on a podcast with Joe Rogan he said that this is the second printing press what we have with YouTube and what we have with these new technologies and being able to share all of these ideas is a second printing press we have this explosion of ideas I now think like with so many people out there that are emailing me and asking me these questions how do I be a better artist or you know should I go to art school for instance I'm thinking there has never been a better time to learn about art to throw yourself into that and be a professional artist there's never been a better time I mean we have so many things at our disposal you know it might seem you know doom and gloom and the worst of times but at the same time it's the best of times and it's really something to embrace and I think I mean I'm hoping you'll be able to tell us a little bit more about your own story and how you find yourself online but for me personally on a personal note with YouTube I kind of started teaching several years ago was doing one-on-one workshops and that sort of thing and as soon as I went on YouTube it just exploded like this this amazing wave of just people strangers from around the planet you know that are getting in touch and and the following that that's building and I think therein lies a real responsibility for myself but how have you found your YouTube channel how is it kind of changed you shaped you and and made you focus more on your art if it has tell me a little bit more about your experience online yeah and also I'm gonna tell you this about YouTube that also I mean social media in general but YouTube especially because what's happening to us is the same thing that is happening with the Jordan Peterson case and that is that in art the establishment has the establishment has a grip on art the museum's the schools and the gallery system the curators they all had that very control and what is supposed to be good art and bad art and they had the definition and what happened that in through YouTube and through the free market we were able to keep doing what we were doing and those post modernist changing art and their principles of foundations for hundreds of years of of art and suddenly they broke from like scratch and nobody outside of the art world we realized what's happening because all they did was get detached so it's funny that now recently is when this one this big wave is coming it's not only social media is not only YouTube is not only an exposure is also a mentality that people are saying oh wait there has been there is good art out there but they're just trying to not show it they're trying to suppress it now they're trying to filter too much and and also I think that's what we are getting nowadays we are in this you know social I mean it's a very hard thing to describe I'm not a you know into literature I'm really hard with words like that like stuff but but the idea is that we are we are breaking away from that mafia minded thing that I went through because I I went through college four years and I felt I couldn't become an artist unless I did what they wanted me to do yeah you know yeah freedom and they were claiming for for be yourself not really because I wanted to be a classical or kind of you know I want to come from unique and they didn't like that so I'm so glad that in the political world the same comments are happening so that people can reflect and see the art how we have been suppressed for not sharing the ideas of that establishment that's so interesting to hear you say that because I I I too came through that world getting a fine arts degree and I got my degree in Western Australia and and you know it was very early on I mean I went through through 2001 to 2003 and I've found that exactly 100 percent these people seem to have a real death grip on the definitions and if you didn't match those definitions and it wasn't considered art and one of the things that I struggled with early on and I couldn't put it into words at the time but something just wasn't fitting for me and it didn't feel quite right and that was I'm going against the grain of who I am by stooping to this level and doing what they want me to do and and furthermore I felt and I felt so self-conscious about this like am i lacking the inter am I missing something here am i lacking the intelligence it's it's like somebody says a joke and and maybe you just don't understand how so what can you explain that to me I don't find it funny it's a joke to me an artist yeah and and then I don't know me years later and I wish it had happened to me while I was in that space but years later I realized what what they were trying to do is go for something that was original they're trying to be different they're trying to be groundbreaking and then I suddenly realized well that just doesn't interest me what interests me is what's important to me and if that's tradition if that's technique if that's something that is relied on a skill set then that's okay then that out of that came this realization and I'm sure many others have had this of it's not about originality it's about authenticity it's about what you personally are bringing out of you and I was just before before we started this coal Caesar I was just watching this this video that you had done actually just just brushing up a little bit on my on my Santosh and I was looking at this video that you had and you were you were at the I think it was vlog number 30 no actually I'll tell you exactly what it was I pull it up here every no this is vlog number 37 in here at the LA Art Fair or it's some contemporary thing and you were talking about you know it's it it's about authenticity and it's about bringing out what's inside and and you said something where I hope I'm not misquoting you here something along the lines of the most profound movements and art and the things that are really stick and really matter are brought about by people who are authentic who are bringing that voice out from it within it tell us a little bit more about that and how that kind of relates to your work yeah because actually what you mentioned before about the classes forcing I mean telling people to be original I think that's a that's a Miss that's what they're trying to say to catch the students but actually they don't want people to be original they're telling them to be to fill in this mold and they call that mold originality but the mold is very specific very well thought out for them to be able to market you however they want for their profit because individual artists that are coming out of those schools cannot make a living in the free market I mean I know many of these artists that go out and try to put their content in YouTube and nobody cares because no but because it's like a fake idea that only survives within that environment of the classroom so the teacher will approve select you calling you original and everybody has to buy it then he sells that originality to the curator to the gallery owner and then he sells it to the collector so it's like a whole infrastructure that they have created so that they are the ones owning the art world not the artists and and so I just wanted to correct that part because most people believe that that is called originality and I think it's not at all and it's what you were saying with the people that are really looking within and saying I want to do this that is original even they don't accept that you know and so so before I go into that I just wanted to make that clear because that's that touch you know touch me when I will say okay okay but before we go actually because this reminds me of something that was a little bit of fun III I've got a little bit of a brain that's kind of open to conspiracies and I saw something that I really enjoyed which was that modern art was originally a conspiracy brought about by the CIA to destabilize cultures and now as soon as I sold this talk and it was a very convincing argument I was like wow because for for so many years I was thinking well let's not attribute something to malevolence that can be explained with incompetence or you know just a bad idea I wonder how much of it though I mean just to play devil's advocate how much of it is a conscious decision to say you know let let's let's get a great big stick here and stir stir the crap you know let's let's do something here that goes against the grain of society one of the things that I find is so interesting is how this idea has infected modern-day society and culture for instance you look at the public art space you know a lot of the public now look at art and they go well I know nothing about art I don't understand it I have no idea what it's saying to me and to me that's such a crime because art should be for the people for the masses or at least it should be understandable but what's happened is we've created this this really esoteric kind of circle-jerk of people yeah sure yeah Cole Cole Cole yeah yeah appreciate it you want you want somebody who's got no background in art to be able to receive some sort of message you know to just go oh yeah okay I get it yeah yeah absolutely rather than go we spent 1.5 million on a green cactus and what is that thing what is that thing you know my tax dollars went to that get no wonder the outside yeah and there is something about that is valuable and that I would I think we cannot just say I'm against it completely and that's why one of the reasons that I've been able to crop a come across and be part of the art world see place out today is because I do embrace whatever I see that is valuable and I think for instance the that attachment exists but there is also television and that is an art form is a visual art form and it's talking to the people so in a way to separate those two things I think it's always important to keep the art a little experimental a little uncomfortable sometimes or or maybe talking about stuff that people have no idea and then it happens after because you were honest but it has to come from an honest point of view but you always have to give preference to the to the craziness to the temperament rather than the technique because otherwise then the technique alone is television there is no personality in it there is no temperament there is no risk-taking and that is our job to do so if we become too if we become if we define art too much as if it was in the past about beauty about telling stories that people understand then it becomes close to television and remember the value of the artist that we value Michelangelo you name it anybody is because they change the technique to fill their temperament their genius their craziness so in a way that has gone too much to the point then technique doesn't matter which is the thing that communicates to the viewer and it's all craziness and temperament and attitude and then that is also totally touch so there is something about it that I think we need to value so we can separate ourselves from the commercial world of television or visual arts or you know everything else so there is something experiments all about it that would need to maintain absolutely absolutely yeah no I couldn't agree more um let's let's get into some real meat and potatoes here Caesar this is good this is what it's all about my this is what it's all about I mean you know when I originally started this thing I wanted it be a conversation and and a discussion and an exchange of ideas that's what I find so fascinating hey we can so let's do it you know and and maybe people are gonna be listening to this while they're painting and they'll get something out of a conversation and maybe resonate with with what we're saying but I'd like to know a little bit more about you know your career and if you're happy talking about some details of how you you know you you make money from your art this is something that I find fascinating because I've never well since I was 21 years old I've not held down any employment making money from anyplace else other than my art and when I look at the system you know of the way we educate children and how they go through a high school system and then into a university and they're channeled into this box like career where they're constrained for a period of years and then finally finally at the end of their employment they're able to do something they enjoy I always found that to be just really strange I've never computed because I was just like why would you not spend your most able years you know doing something that you could be paid for that you really enjoy and I think a lot of people genuinely feel that they don't have that option or that choice and when you suggest to them hey look you do have that option and that is a choice that is available to you they could angry at you they said we don't understand how hard it is you don't understand how bad yeah yeah easy for you you were you were blessed with you know this that and the other and not not also not honoring the struggle that you went through as an artist so I see you as somebody who's obviously extremely successful you know you I I have no idea how much your painting self or anything like that but you're there doing what you do and you've got an impressive body of work behind you and you just seem to continue to churn out these videos are you employed anywhere else other than through your own art or how do you how do you make it as an artist I've never had any yeah I mean I used when I was in high school in the summers I would get a job at great job but I never have to graduate him from heart I all I've done is making a living from my painting so I'm super lucky but I've worked hard but we can get into that I'm glad that you touched on something interesting about the educational you know system how it works and how it puts people together and how the when we share this stuff and I wouldn't worry about the people that don't get it because there is so many people out there that that there has to be a variety of type of people and I think they might be there there's always one or a few that really gets it and sees the power and that's our purpose you know and we cannot be just like saving everybody it's just I'm glad that we're doing this so anybody with a little bit of the intuition of thinking how is I then they can take it to a higher level and that for me it's like I know you know and but the funny thing is that I came from Cuba but my family brought me when I was 12 escaping communism and so my beginning was different I had to have money always in my mind because we were four in our family and only my father had a career he was a mechanic and my mom never had a career and my sister and I were young I was 12 she was five years older than me and so we came here and my family said you got to study this is the way to do it we're in America for this reason we are sacrificing our present in Cuba a little bit just to sub-2 for you to have a better future right and that would have weighed on me that I had to at the moment and they knew that I like art so they were concerned about me liking something that might not be profitable where anything said we did all this risk for you and then you become looser in society and that's the brand that artists have then I was always forced to think how to make money from my art and let's say when I was in high school I used to by the time I was greatly graduating I went to the office and I said since I went to a magnet school and it was only you know they were only setting students have tendencies for heart architecture design and I offer myself to tutor anybody who couldn't get into the into the school but maybe wanted to fix their portfolio or maybe you know and then I said I can go to their houses and tutor them and I was lucky enough to get a wealthy family to to hire to pay me to hire me so that I can train their kids to prepare a good portfolio so they can get a center in that good school that I went through that I want to - so since to go into the neighborhood they had a gate it was a gated community and so I would get the past I would go in there teach and one day I said since I can go in here I'm going to get my cousin to help me and I'm gonna come with my and I used to drive my father's it wasn't the weekend so he wasn't working so then I would get his truck and I'll go in the neighborhood and on top of the pickup truck I will paint some of the houses and then I will knock on the door and ask them if they wanted to buy the painting of their houses beautiful ideas like 50 bucks you know and I will come home with more money than like that sometimes I say wow that's crazy you got a hundred bucks painted two houses sometimes they they said no and I just kept the painting yeah but the funny thing is that one day there was a kid playing around outside and in Cuba every everything is very wild everything is very open like kids are just playing around nobody's side controlling you like here that you're always inside or protected and so I didn't think about that I was 14 and with my cousin and we saw these kids playing outside and we put the truck and we painted and then after we said hey can you call your your parents or something I want to show them the paintings they run inside the house and nobody came out and we were just waiting and the police came because like suspicious these people parked in front of a house ask you first we have to like raise our hands they checked our stuff they said okay go you cannot do this in this neighborhood what are you doing there get out so that's my last event so I'm just telling you that just food just to let you know that I always had them in mind how to make money from my art and that my art was always attached to the people's response because I always realize that I don't I didn't want to be a bangle or or a Picasso in the sense that I don't want to fall into my own crazy world that if I had one I didn't want to be involved into myself to the point that so that I wouldn't be a body to society around me mm-hmm you know and so I always trusted the response from the people more than my initial intuition meaning if I can become a better person I think it's better for to get science from the outside world than from my own limited capacity you know Paris yeah so then I went to to Italy to study classical art and that was the breaking point like as soon as I started seeing the world the visual world in shapes and I was able to control the tools to represent that I said Wow I have a tool that nobody has at least in my school at the time I was behind because we had computer stuff and a lot of graphic design and I couldn't manage a computer was so I didn't even have a computer when the inside I mean I was so behind in technology and about Internet under that that that for me I was able to develop that the craftsmanship at the hand you know that's that's fascinating so that's how I started you know so then after I came back from the Angel Academy I said okay so the normal thing to do is to develop a series of works that you really enjoy and and that's it presented to the galleries so the first time I went to the gallery I felt the intimidating atmosphere the look on are you an artist yeah get out of here I need to figure out a way to be able to talk to these people because I know they can make money from me I had that baby I knew it I was I mean people were coming to my house and offering me money for it but I always thought that a third person sending your art would be better oh not only because it's they would for me it was more of a time consuming thing like I don't want to sell the paintings directly because then you have to deal with that and then shape it and then be responsible for all the transaction and I all I wanted to do is paint so I said I need a third person and keep them happy so I just try to see how I can talk to a gallery in a more you know direct way you know get them outside of their pretentious bubble so that's how I was able to get into my first three galleries that after that then I will say I got requests from galleries to work with me and then everything else gotten easier but before yeah it was tough that's um yeah that's that's a great great story and and again I'd find it it reflects a lot of my own experiences of well you know dealing with galleries and but I've never had the cops called on me that's uh that's quite cool you could've been anything I don't know if you had this menacing beard and all these tattoos at the time but maybe that wouldn't have gone down to hey look I that that's really interesting you know a lot of people ask me as well about galleries and I've I've been very vocal in the past especially online and to the point where I'm like oh should I have said that about galleries did I just shoot myself in the foot you know in terms of my opportunity to work with a gallery potentially in the future at the moment I did have a couple of galleries working you know for me and I'll say for me because a lot of people don't actually understand from the outset I mean they go as an artist with their hat in hands you know and the you know they're very coy when they approach the gallery in the beginning and they don't understand that what you're doing in that situation yes the gallery has to accept the fact that they're working with you it is a partnership so to speak but essentially you're hiring them as you are agent so they're working for you as an agent for the sale of your artwork and when I realize that it suddenly made me feel a little bit more in control but it also made it that much more difficult because I suddenly had this idea of self-worth of what I felt I was worth and I find now that the Commission I mean a lot of people ask me about what is commission right you know what are you paying I can't believe they're charging 50 percent or 60 percent I won't work with anybody for you know more than 1/3 I won't do it I won't do it because I can't get past like my paintings are quite expensive I mean people can I'm sure it can find that online but you know I can't get past the fact that I'd have to fork out that much for one of my paintings I'm like no you want to work with me it's one third that's it it's so far I've only gotten one gallery and the rest of it like I'm I've got a waiting list like I'm I'm selling out of my work but and and a lot of my work now I'm keeping because I just I don't have to sell it but I find it very interesting so tell me a little bit more about like how do you find that where does about if you're comfortable answering that where does the balance fit for you like what what you know you don't have to mention the names of the galleries or anything I'm sure if you could find out but I mean tell us a little bit more about how that actually the mechanics behind that relationship works for you buy it depends on the situation for instance when I graduated from from the angel Academy I had nothing I had I mean I had my talent and my paintings but I had nothing to you know exploit that and make it you know so so I thought at that time I went to my first gallery and I actually offered I let the guy abuse the situation you know because I knew at that time that he he was working for me because he has built a business for so many years people trust him so in a way he has become an artist of his own like an artist of selling an artist of marketing and I had none of that so I said I didn't mean he means you know I want to do this and he has the power to tell me what to do so I knew that I couldn't say you work for me because actually yes no I did I did I have a bad attitude for the business thing maybe I I knew that by myself my art will be even less so 50 percent with him included you know it will be more than a hundred percent of my prices and my ability to reach to to collectors hmm why is this low battery thing this little cutout well we'll just will repeat that last quite as you come back on your good this is strange way make sure the wall are you you're on a tablet at the moment aren't ya yes okay well why is he saying nine percent when in fact everything is connected yeah it's not job okay is that a symbol charging sorry man my that's we got time it's all good maybe put it I go up there so he's not a fresh impression so that little symbol means that he's charging okay dude me with technology is terrible no I I grind my way through it as well this morning husband I spend an hour just going why am I not online on skype what is going on pulling my hair out going do you have any idea who I'm about to talk to turning well maybe maybe we'll get a clean a clean tech but it we were talking about you know and again I'll just say this is really fascinating that there is a there is a real a must admit there's a real selfish component to this podcast because I am really you know connecting with other artists and borrowing their wisdom and through hearing their stories I'm finding that it's changing my own point of view like our and and III least I recognized from the beginning hi I don't have this all figured out let's borrow the bottom of others none of us do we're all works in progress but in anybody who comes across and I won't mention names but there's there is one artist that I can think of more than anybody else who has come across as if they had their their you know Shi T together but like that I met face to face I'm like whoa it's just you walk in and it just hits you like just like a brick wall like oh man like you there's nothing there you can't you can't explore you can't share you can't learn you can't grow you can't like like the the wise the wise old what's the name of those characters in Avatar she said he can't fill a cup that's already full it's cliche but you know the wise all you know yeah you can't you can't you can't fill a cup sorta full but so I guess what I'm saying is I'm finding that that personally this is really how being shaped me and kind of making me realize that there are things that I I could be doing better absolutely and could be working on more but we were talking specifically about galleries and the relationship with galleries and what they have to offer in terms of a service and and I love what you said there you were you're talking about hey I might be an artist but the agent for the sale is an artist in their own right there an artist and selling and they'll give me access to you know what they have done so tell us we'll go from there well you know with great passion because they want to make the sale and they want to show people the value that I offered that maybe even the artist cannot even trust me or project or for any reason so I understood the the power of having a third person that really know what he's doing not bad you know with his side I mean the moment the gallery starts telling you like artistically guiding you that's what I draw the line and I will never accept that because I said no no I we are working together so you put your part and I put my part the moment you don't like what I'm doing we're not working like that's the best compliment you can tell me if you don't like my art because I mean a gallery's because of that so so I saw at the beginning he started very humble because I had no options I was in an apartment with my parents and I said let me have a room so I could create seven paintings to show to a gallery so they see that I have a constant body of work and that I'm you know do you know I can offer that and and it immediately worked I started working with one of the best galleries so my first year after school I was already exhibiting in art fairs and among other famous artists in the same wall and for me I was so excited and I thought I wanted to belong in that environment and so I try to behave us less you know less troublemaker responsive with the gallery so that they would put me more and do more stuff and I so I let them have bigger I offer them a bigger percentage than the other artists just because I knew that by them know not anybody else would know it but by them knowing it that would give me more exposure because they want to get a bigger profit and they will have to pay so so I thought that for me that was the biggest you know strategy at that time to be able to make it I said you know as long as it wasn't damaging I knew how fast I was able to make a painting I knew how much money it would be fair for me to receive and that was my standard and everything else after that if they want to get more good because the moment I left the gallery the prices for my paintings were the ones that he was selling it for not my percentage so immediately I immediately started getting more a way more money for every pain thing I sold after that and so it depends on the stage I realized that I was beginning and I realized also that a lot of artists and the Academy had their ego too high and they were expecting all these prices and doing all the stuff at the same time acting humbled by looking by saying that they're artists and they're sensitive I'm like you're kind of greedy in a way because you're trying to you you're talking crap about the people that are abusing you and you try to abuse people to you know so yeah I thought of it as a practical thing of survival and and I took it from maybe for my father being a mechanic and and or the situation that I had that I need to move out and have my own life and I always thought that if I do what I love and I get paid enough to keep doing it that is success because success is for me the freedom to do to do work that you're proud of and you know that was pretty much a simple as I took it yeah that's on that note there's there was something that I've been struggling with for a while and wanting to know the answer to for a while and this is what it caused me to throw myself into personal development but you just touched on something there because I was like well I want to be a successful artist but then I was asking myself well what does that mean and I realized if you don't define success if you don't define what the goal looks like you're never gonna get there yeah actually yeah you have to have tangible feasible realistic but at the same time ambitious enough goal that pulls you out of yourself to make you go beyond yourself and strive to achieve and that when you get it it just feels like you know amazing and it's that's something that I see in other people and a little little flash goes off for me I'm like wow there's somebody who actually gets it who's really doing it and I very you know find that very very inspiring but you're obviously somebody you know who's familiar with the work of Napoleon Hill and we've talked about Jordan Peterson but his goal setting something that's important to you and writing down where you want your life to go what you want your successful artistic career to look like and putting that into a framework is that is that something that's important to you yes very that's all that's why I mean the power of Jordan Peterson is fix your room is what is success like if you want to know what six if you want to be successful just fix your room fix your surroundings man I'm just gonna check that I need to crop this image all right don't judge me by the mess of this room I don't know you can see a little bit of mess right here that's okay I'm in my office at the moment and I share my office with my wife and I'm by no means throwing her under the bus or saying she's messy she's not she cleans up after me all the time but that one thing you know where Jordan Peterson is like clean your room don't try and change the world work on you first and clean your damn room yeah yeah absolutely you know and if we were to walk through there's no place to be successful you have to be it in the moment and that would just keep going and growing because you keep looking for things that you can fix these simple things and fix it first and then you find other things it's like making a painting if you start painting and you see that something is wrong you just don't ignore it and work on another area because until you fix what you see clearly as wrong is when you see other things being wrong and then that is what makes your painting become better it's because you keep fixing all this stuff that are access you know that you can do instead of from the beginning saying I need to do a Rembrandt no I need to do a masterpiece right now no you go step by step and in your life - so I laid my art - my life completely yeah yeah that's that's amazing right so what would give us an example of some of the goals that you have that you write down what are some goals that are that you're trying to achieve right now where are you going with your career well there are some different types of goals that are constantly having mine and there is one that is the goal of finding an expression that is legitimately the legitimate to my situation yeah I need to add that is my ultimate goal because I see it in people I see it in some artists and I'm like they hit that note and that's so tough so and we're distracted with everyday you know happenings and life and stuff and it's tough to really get your technique and your being connected and and that is my my long-term goal and I can as long as I have that any small decision that will affect that I say no to it so for instance if they said if I whoa I may not and yeah and smaller just to you know semantically then I have shorter terms which is let me experiment with what I have developed so since that was my bigger goal then I do a series of works aiming at that and to test it I I try to make it X I exhibited I put it out there in an environment that I respect to be - and see what people respond to it to see if I am expressing myself in the with the right universal nose and that touches people because I think the only reason that we can influence others when we are honest is because everybody has something that everybody everybody else has and if you touch on that personally people across the world are gonna say I recognize it want some of that so then so then that's what I do I and then to create a body of work then I need to get up and make each painting so then I break it down to the point that if I get up and someone calls me and say listen we're here there is a discount at thrift store I mean antique shop whatever you come check it out I always say is that part of my goal for today to achieve what I want no I say no like that that's for me it's decision making all day and just focusing as much as I can't there I mean if you get a flat tire you better fix your car you know like that's part of the that's part of life but but in general I try to keep my self discipline working towards that bigger goal so I mean because it sounds like you're what what you're talking about there is being fully integrated between you know your technique and your practice and and the actual work you know the doing part and then the work I'm trying to formulate that in my mind a little bit here but where you're trying to let me let me repeat that I'm gonna edit that out because that sounded horrible but but but it's okay it sounds to me like you're you're taking this concept of the work the technique and really marrying that to the the overall long-term you know your artistic vision or quest so to speak you know of being totally I'd call that totally in the zone so to speak you know cuz I recognize when I'm on track and when I'm not on track when I'm painting for myself and I'm painting for somebody else and ironically one of the things that I found with YouTube and putting my work online and sharing the whole process and just like literally just taking the shackles off and just say you want to know how I here's how I do it I'm not saying it's the right way that's just how I do it the interesting part has been its freed me up to start focusing more on the painting and not so much as the outcome as a result of painting this picture say hey when I paint this I'm gonna sell it and this is how much I'm gonna get I find that that was one of the worst things for me artistically is that I was never able to actually throw myself into you know the work it's not about the paycheck I mean yes it's important we got we got to be sensible about that but once you've kind of made your decisions there and set your goals there turn it away and forget about it just focus on the work the rest will take care of itself I didn't learn that until much later you know sorry yeah because what I do is that the selling of the piece and the paycheck it's it cannot be part of the of the dialogue of your dialogue but but what they represent is so valuable meaning if you do work and nobody buys it right or nobody likes it that tells more tell us something about you and you take it from there like either you want to be someone that nobody likes or and but the funny the important thing is that you need to that's why it's hard to find the truth within you because if you're confident I'm sure that Bango had that vision and he said I'm not selling but these people or everybody's done and I impose my honesty and impose my vision and that is so valuable but if you if you do that and also make sales that's even better that means that you're in income you are you hit that note with your surrounding so there is a sensitive thing between painting to sell and and I'm not I'm not being attached to your own soul you know and in a sense or doing something that you really are connected to and then if these cells that means that they're getting it so keep doing what you're doing because it's working for society like people are enjoying your work so I wouldn't you know what I'm saying like there's a fine line in every aspect of the of the creation and the selling of it for me for instance I test i test stuff because I don't know who nobody knows who they are really like I don't really know who I am exactly and to be able to find that out I just have to look who I was who I was in the past what I know exactly what I been through and I try to put that together in my art so let's say for instance my serious syncretism came out of me saying okay I love copying artists I love that that's being honest I love the idea of of provoking of and I love the idea of bit of expressing contemporary art and classical art because I study both worlds and I see the value in them and I also like the idea of doing something of doing something that that is so simple that nobody else has seen it but as soon as they see it they say oh my god why didn't I think of that that's so dumb that's so simple and that is that's what I see in master works that's what I see in painters that hit them no he said it looks simple but at the same time he's like oh my god brand-new so so that is the fight within me in developing what I do so and I and I had a mistake that not a mistake that's part of life but what I was doing syncretism for me was tough to get it into the contemporary art world I was accepted by Eleanor Ettinger and they had in New York great variety of artists but they all were trained you know academic you know academically and and I was too and I that was my option at that time but I always wanted to be part of the bigger our world and they were not liking those paintings because of whatever reason so instead of me saying okay do I really wanna do like I look at myself and I say okay what is my situation I'm doing all this stuff for a certain it's so strange and actually Jordan Peterson always said that you shouldn't even know what you're up to because that's what art is art is beyond what you can control and that is what makes it and people and you know oh people following all the time because even the artists didn't have control of it I want to come back to that idea cuz I love that idea I do want to come back so we'll just flag that we'll come back and talk about that yeah yeah so so pretty much my I've changed serious from syncretism to that you mentioned before with the crayons and I was looking for a way to combine what I love with why I see that is being appreciated from me I don't know if that's if that's understandable well maybe we can unpack that a little bit because you know when I look at those those works you know syncretism and then the the newer works you know with that childlike aspect I mean there's obviously a jump I like how those you can see where the newer works kind of start to come out you know as you've explored this idea you've followed through I'm not sure if you know and by the way I only know about this work from looking through your website extensively but you can see that the idea kind of reached its natural conclusion and then this other idea was born in but you can see there's a little bit of cross fertilization of the idea there one of the things though that I find really fascinating and it's something that I've been playing with quite a bit recently is that the things that happened to us you know as children they're in our childhood and what we went through I'm finding that those markers those experiences or peak experiences as somebody like Tony Robbins would say you know it's a peak experience it sticks out in your mind it's it's the first time you saw the Grand Canyon it's your first kiss it's your your first exhibition you know these peak experiences of where you're just like man I will never forget that those are things that kind of come through and and a lot of the peak experiences that we have throughout our life are as we're children it is that something because when I look at those works that's what I'm reading into it now the my interpretation of your work is obviously going to be very different than your interpretation but that was something that I appreciated about it so much it's like this childlike nature to to ourselves is always there and you've got these world operating in the same time the same space simultaneously when I looked at I honestly said I mean this is some of the freshest portraiture I've ever seen like I'm saying that I'm not just blowing smoke here right because I was looking at it going damn that is a good not only is it a good idea it looks good and it's really triggering something in me and for me you know just talking in terms of what I think makes really important art art that speaks to you on an emotional level it's it's exceptionally well actually executed it shows immense skill and it has it has something to say you know it's got an enormous emotional content you know it's it can't just be hey that's really well done we're seeing so much stuff on Instagram now that our great painters it's all photograph it looks fantastic but I don't know if I can see another enormous headed portrait with somebody with honey dripping down their face or plaster or something like I see the same paintings over and over again I thought oh there's that guy again oh no way did somebody else you know I'm there's something about your work when I looked at I was like original because I think you're being authentic in that moment right you know for that series because I want to add value to people that are working on their series and maybe I mean of course it can refer to these comments and see how they can apply it but but for that series with the kids I did a portrait of my mom a my dad hmm just without the crayons and I never was the kid that did those scribbles I never drew that badly as a kid in the sense I mean I'm not gonna show up like there there are kids that that know how to draw a little bit and the moment they start drawing they're start doing something realistic or they go beyond the stick figures an idea so I never drew like that as a kid and I wanted to create and the moment I saw the picture of my parents and the idea they had about art and stuff at the beginning I started playing around I got the crayon and I say I'm gonna just vandalize my parents with with this with me being the son just playing around and adding stuff to them that I think it would add to their story so my father was a welder I had the Sun and all these things and then my mom was in the laundry and I videos so it was more like a playful attack on things so then I saw the other portraits that I was creating and I said oh my god I'm just gonna go bandit I saw this stuff so he came out it came up from that first thing you're saying I want to combine this the worst expression visually by human the stick figures with Korea with crayons combine it with the highest way that I can paint and put it together kind of begin a syncretism idea but more personal and so I did that for a while but then after a while that got more boring again so then I'm like okay next to the thanks to finding out more you know so you've actually got a have you got a show coming up did I see something on Instagram where you've got an exhibition that you're working towards in New York is that right that's gonna be in LA in LA I know I was I'm supposed to have a social in April in LA and they may in New York but I have no paintings I need to make them so I probably postponed the one in New York for now okay yeah I was showing in LA and it's gonna be with my syncretism I'm gonna I'm thinking about calling it syncretism and and now when I want to see the space and the gallery the space is so beautiful and that I said I need to do some bigger paintings I wanna like it felt like I wanted it to do it like the so then one of the pieces behind me is for that for that so I think those people that you were mentioning they had a formula and they created and it's maybe the cells or whatever that's fine for whoever wants to do that but in a sense I suggest that artists and you know like you we are always looking for things like you cannot be in a comfortable way that even if you find something that works I I play with it and see I can break it and be I'm making more my own because I'm changing constantly why not my art hmm so that's what keeps me motivated to paint and one of the things that's really becoming you know we touched on something earlier and I want to go back to it because it was something that you know as you were saying Jordan Peterson was talking about that your motivations for creation shouldn't even be known to you or something along those lines where this is not something that's conscious but more something that's felt something that that just kind of just happens you know and those spontaneous creations are often you know I find within my own practice they're some of the best you know works that just come out it's just this idea and it's more you're talking about a feeling rather than okay tree goes on the Left we put the river here and that that feels bad it's kind of thing and and and having this formulaic way of going but that that lightning bolt of inspiration rather that's the thing that we should be paying attention to and now found that recently that that's something that I've been really trying to focus on because I have this idea and by no means original but this idea that ideas and thoughts are not necessarily your own where do they come from do you know I know what he knows you know how do we know and to me I look at it and just from my own personal kind of spiritual bent towards things I see them as almost a gift from God in a way where this this thing is being given to you it's not something that has you have any ownership of but it's something you have to look after I hope this is kind of making sense I'm still kind of unpacking that idea for myself but I find that if I'm to give a real tangible example I get those feelings when I'm out in the field for instance like climbing a mountain you know which I'm I do or you know walking through the forest and we got amazing forest near us where I'm like the way the light shining in this moment like the the the sound the the the way that streams are looking that and it's beyond just a painting that's a feeling it's just like you have to do that that's it you know it's that kind of recognition I also get it with people you know my my most successful portraits are the portraits of the people that did not ask to be paint in it and that is that's and I I mean I I do commissions for portraits but I do must I struggle with them a lot more than the ones where I just see somebody I'm like wait I've gotta paint you I and I get the weirdest responses are like some kind of freak you know no here's my website is what I do you know I gotta paint you you just look amazing you know so it's it's something that I'm starting to pay a lot more attention to now that might be awarded off topic but I just wanted to go back to that cuz I was like again you know I feel like you and me are kind of on the same wavelength in a lot of ways but I'm picking up a lot of what you're saying and you might say back to what we were talking about earlier I think you're causing me to reevaluate my career in my my my direction here a little bit I really love approach to things part of my attitude it's like always testing stuff okay but I think I would suggest to any of the listeners that they want to create art that it has more power first analyze where you learn the technique because the technique is the medium between you and the people and that technique was not developed uniquely by you even if people call themselves self-taught because there's no such thing you know so so so once you have the technique you have to know who taught it to you who gave it to you and how did they influence their technique that they show you for you to to mirror that or you're representing stuff as the school taught you many many times I see that and first as soon as you realize that you are free because then you know the tools and you know that you've been doing that because that's what they taught you like my first series after graduating from from the Academy was steel knives because the last thing we did to graduate was four still lives so then I came up and I changed it up but I made it unique but they were still still lifes and and then I as soon as I realized that I was influenced by the Academy I said work wait wait wait let me see what I do so the my my suggestion would be to see that and also see you sir because you came from a different angle and then you met the Academy you met the technique and then you develop from there but if you keep looking at who you were you can add it to the technique that you develop with the art with the school and that will get something new out there because I see so many creative people going to the academies and losing what they had before they said oh my school before was stupid and they was all syrupy I didn't like that and then you block that completely because you like this other school better and then you do whatever this school instead of saying okay what did I like ballet did I like dancing do I like walking why don't you paint people's footsteps on drugs and walking that like it's a weird thing that you have to always constantly look at who you are who what you like what you know and because that's you and the moment you combine that with a good technique that is it and I'm talking about good technique not even in the sense of he has to match Burroughs paintings or Classical period something and then good technique for for your expression for what you want to say for the subject matter that you have been developing in your life and for instance I have an example that is very clear and even that's why I share my technique with people because I know that nobody can steal it nobody can get it the way I'm presenting it I want people to learn how to paint so they can paint themselves and if they try copied me it's gonna be bad because I'm bad I better I know myself better than they don't we so they're not gonna even be able to copy my ideas you know sir now believe in what you're doing to share and a lot of people tell me don't share stuff because that's your body I'm like no my battery's the unteachable the uncontrollable thing you know so for instance when I was in college in the contemporary art training I saw a guy I insisted in doing portraits I was marked by everybody people were telling me what the hell I was doing but every but that was one one guy one teacher in another college because I was in at the numerous group the arts and he was part the the building was part of the Miami Dade Community College so this teacher from the community college so my art and he saw my sketchbooks at that time I have schedules oh it's a and and he said I see your sketchbooks are way more artistic more powerful than your paintings on canvas why don't you do this on your canvases and I'm like and then he showed me for the first time sticking a sail on Ned room and they said how they were connected and all this stuff and I'm like okay whatever and just recently when I was at the under gallery that I saw the space and I had my show in mind I thought to myself I'm gonna do a big painting and I'm gonna think I'm always looking for syncretic ideas mixing opposite schools opposite thoughts that's my intuition that's who I am I love playing around and poking so I'm gonna get my sketch book idea my pages and I'm gonna make them humongous so I'm gonna do the opposite of what they are so I got my biggest canvas and I made a head study of something I really like really classical I'm not looking for the modern for the contemporary taste of making people straight on like I was doing with the crayons that was more of a contemporary thinking nation because I wanted to see if I could do that that straight on head first type of realistic this time I said no I'm gonna have the same fun I have in my pages but with a big canvas and and I've only done two pieces I'm actually giving away my by my newest truck my new series before developing it but it doesn't matter because this all about that so so now thinking about working with that idea and I'm like oh my god it took me from college in 2002 to here to understand what that teacher said one day like that's incredible what are some of the daily habits what are some of the things that you engage in on a regular basis to ensure that your dedicated disciplined you've got your nose to the grindstone you are focused you're engaged what are some of those rituals interesting well the first ritual that I discovered that is one of the most helpful ones is to not spend money on things that are not necessary okay I think that's one of the first things that I constantly have in my mind because that will give me power to really use the money for the things that are necessary and and also to give me the room to be free of experimenting with ideas without having to to need the money you know so the first thing I did even even as a strategy like even if I did a lot of steel lines at the beginning and I got the first paycheck what I did with it will save it and then keep doing that say so saving money and having that backing you up is incredibly useful let me just let me just echo that for a second though because artists have got the reputation for not only being notoriously flaky but we're really terrible with money like and generally speaking and I'm glad you've you've got that that demon whipped because from me you know early on I would get these you know sellout exhibitions and I'd be making a lot of money like in my mid-20s you know walking away from a sellout show just going and I had no idea what to do with it so I just started just blowing the money and I have no idea where it went no idea well and and and it wasn't until I started getting into personal development and started realizing I need to save wow what a concept you know at least 10% but now for me it's more like you know while it's over a third of whatever comes in I'm just putting into the bank you know and and and diversifying and doing things to make sure that it's kind of set up there for a rainy day so that's that's amazing you know and it's a great message for people out also starting out you know there's like a lot of people are interested in the things I can buy and things I can have but the most important thing is to sustain your practice to make sure you can keep painting have that money set aside I came from Cuba communism has gives you nothing no information about making money on the contrary if you say it's a bad idea because communism wants to keep you always looking for food and and build and always be see doing necessary stuff so you don't plan ahead so you don't think about the things that they're doing to you so that's one of the strategies so actually he said public I was even in Cuba I was criticized for saving a man five bucks in my birthday I will save it for the next year when they give me more I had then I have ten then I'll have more power to buy stuff and everybody all my family will laugh at me so I love the idea of always saving but the funny thing is that since we were here my first painting that I sold I got three thousand dollars and with this gallery and I and I didn't know like everybody when I went to my family with my check everybody was like oh my god what a hell like you know they're never seen that amount of money in a check like that and and we were like okay we need to think about this so I always of course got feedback from my family on what to do with the money because I was young I was 24 mm-hmm and I said and I told so I'm like I'm gonna take a risk but I need to find this out so I went to the gallery within the opening and I met the guy to buy the painting and I said he met me whatever oh nice to meet you a missing word this stuff and I said to him I want to ask you something with total transparency I come from Cuba my family's poor I know that to know about money requires a different level but I just gave something all of these things and I said if you were me and you get this check what would you do with it knowing my situation what you recommend to me so that I can keep in mind for the future because I admire people with with money I mean I believe that they offer something so valuable that people want to pay them for it and the payment is almost like a like a suggestion keep doing what you're doing because I'm gonna buy more you know thank you so that's that's how I saw the idea of making money so I'm like okay so and he said save it do you ask me do you need a car and I said actually I do because I'm living in my parents apartment and he said okay so buy a car with half of that money don't spend it on the card don't put it as a deposit thinking that the next note buy a car that will move you from point A to point B with half of that money and the second and the second half if you can you know just do it for necessary stuff never build like that don't don't get into that don't get it so he said that's what I recommend and I'm like okay perfect well I learned a lot like that so if you had to name one influence or one artist you really admire and respect from the past like an old master who would it be and why you know it's interesting that I I just see everybody as orchestrating something you like orchestrating something like one thing I see alright that's one thing moving along and all these little people contributed in many ways and I never I'm never comfortable answering a question like that in the sense that I don't know who to like for specific let's say I copy Williams Bouguereau more than any other artist just because I look at his paintings and I'm like you know blown away him I don't understand how he did it and I'm trying to understand it and and so for him for that case but then I see Jerry cold painting the hands of the you know how do you pronounce it cut out the calipers kind of like the bad people like cadavers yeah yeah so and painting the raft of the Medusa with such a energy that you can see that it's like just much so I just love when the artist developed a system to communicate specific idea with the subject matter that he represented I mean and I mean love with that mmm but most of the time I miss the names of the artists or you know it's very rare like I am I earn almost everybody for their good things right right good answer actually cuz I'm I struggle with that as well but I do get people asking me that and so that's something I like to throw to other people you know yeah but my my personal struggle is finding something to focus on I was always told you need to focus on one thing and and my influences are from everywhere like I love landscape I love portraiture I love still life I mean I'm doing all of it and for me to choose one artist I'd have to be somebody maybe like a John Singer Sargent who was you know really amazing at just about everything everything that he put his brush to you know he was a master of landscape a master of portraits a master of you know different mediums from oils to watercolors and and his pencil sketches are amazing they were divine they're just there's something incredible to look at I mean that guy he could make a two-dimensional surface talk to you yeah no he was he's definitely a master at handling that now that's a that's a good answer to to a silly question what's some other stuff that maybe you want to talk about I mean let's say let's say you were a okay let's let's ask this you know I've got a lot of young people listening to this right now people that are in primary school they're like oh I want to be an artist when I grow up people that are in high school they're about to go into university or an art school you know even people that are just graduating college and they're about to you know step off into as a creative professional in some way what some advice real practical tangible advice that you would offer to somebody young who was just about to launch their career or somebody that was thinking about being an artist what some things that you think are really important to think about um okay the first thing that I would suggest is that to for them to recognize I mean this is difficult for anybody to do that's why it's always a mystery to answer this stuff but I would I would go about recognizing what is most needed now to do to get to whatever they want to become you know what I'm saying like if you if you need to eat go eat and then think about the other stuff because if you're thinking about stuff are you hungry it's not gonna work you don't want to say like that's absolutely so I see a lot of artists that I go to the Academy and they are thinking about becoming an amazing artist in the future and they still don't know how to do something that the teacher asks them to do so I believe that instead of and since we are bombarded with information it can be against us it could confuse us because it's like you said you have to focus in one thing and that thing should be yourself you shouldn't focus in other outside but you know things that influence that you should be seeing yourself your surrounding immediate literally your surroundings and how they are influencing you are they're taking your time or they're helping you and if you're in a class with the teacher that's because you went to his class that's his class and he's teaching something that you find valuable so don't fight it go and learn it learn it take from him as much as you can because if you start resisting even that teaching you will already be losing and 100 - that I had at the angel Academy is that everybody would go and question the teachers why you saying is where about and that's an attitude of too late today's young people and and I and I have and I have that discipline from Cuba which is something good that it gave me is that a Meyer and appreciate the people superior to you and what if they do something that you don't know how to do just focus on that maybe they're stupid in other areas but don't just them don't clown it don't make it further fugly just because you don't like some aspects of them whatever they have that is power learn it from them and isolate it and that's what I did at the angel Academy the whole time I would they would tell me that's darker that's either I so why is darker oh I made a darker and see how it is better now because if there is a reason why he said that that should be darker and and I would just do that automatically and because that's the first step I just wanted to learn how to paint so Mike my my advice would be to mad not worry about the world through the phone let's say now we have a phone and that's a good maybe analogy to make because I see everybody's just stressed out about things that data they have no contact with yeah you know what our control over is always outside of themselves and their surroundings so I would recommend everybody to to do what your opinion says clean your room and when it's clean put things in order and step by step it's clear it's more simple that people think when people ask me oh my god hell you didn't like how are you man doing it like just because everybody wants to have everything so fast now and are the veteran art has a value because of its development in time they you cannot you know if you really want something of value you have to know what type of thing it is maybe you know in terms of art you have to give it time there's no way that I mean I'm still finding out people ask me questions and I said I cannot do that right now because I don't even know exactly what it means and it's and it's true it takes time we're young I mean I'm 35 artists that I admire are way older I mean they're you know so we have time to develop and get better yeah and I think that is one thing that we're not valuing anymore we want everything fast and everything has to be with problematic and everything has a negative side no not if you want it to be like if you want it to be positive base but right it depends unless you're suffering in pain that's a problem and that you should take care of that at the moment but if you're in no physical pain and if you have food and water just look at the next thing that is normal like I mean it's tough to to say it but yeah I you you bring in a very interesting perspective to this again you know with your background of coming from Cuba and and you know getting out of that situation then having new opportunities there are a lot of people out there that actually won't be listening to this that are in the third world and feel trapped and want to be an artist and this is a real tough one I do not have an answer to this I am ashamed to say that for the most part I try to give people my time and my attention but I I there's very little that I can say that I feel you know quick to say beyond just well best of luck with that you know I had a guy from I think it was Nairobi you know and and he was sending me pictures on Instagram from his village and he just said I'm learning from you and I was looking at what he was working with and it was really rudimentary at best like it was like you know charcoal on a bit of wood you know and he's just trying to and and I even find myself getting a little bit choked up when I when I talk about this thing he'd you know thank God why am I so lucky you know it's not that I feel guilty for my success I don't but I do feel this overwhelming responsibility to give back to others especially somebody like that guy sitting in his village you know without anything - yeah absolutely didn't look it's important not to project maybe he is happier but look the thing is is that he was coming to me in this situation as hey I have no access to the materials you're talking about and I want access and it was being cut off this feeling of being cut off like you were striving for something and being and it's just like you know what nope not an option for you you know yeah let's say I go to Cuba and I cried the whole time because I'm looking at the situation there when I went back to visit my family and it's I millimeters from being there and not being able to become Who I am now but I remember the time that I was in Cuba like it's the same you're always with I mean the thing is that you can always compare yourself with higher and bigger things like according to them maybe someone because I've gotten I got a picture now you said that from Africa yeah someone was making a copy of one of my paintings and they said sir you I admire you so much Papa and then we're making a kunai and I also saw that but I saw it if I compare it to my situation it's super sad but if I compare my situation with the people that I admire I wanna am sad like you know they probably to be sad or happy sure in a sense what we're doing is great because we're talking from an honest point of view we're gonna say look at me and this wall cuz this like we're not doing that and I think if people really understand what we're saying is that you as a human being you have a value and you have a responsibility to fix to be a better version of what you have because we cannot do anything about who we are and how we came from right and if you do that by by default you will become a better version of you and that makes you proud of who you are becoming you know yeah because if you comparing yourself there is always that sad feeling or that depressive moment but if you said wow I was that yesterday and now I'm I know more I'm pretty cool I'm pretty sure that that kid painting in that village is the cool kid in the village you know he had a crowd around him applause and maybe he has a charcoal and he's making stuff and people wanna pay him for it at that level that is what it is you know everybody should be we think themselves but it's true what you're saying like and even the value that I said that I think from what you're saying is that that is even gives us room to be extremely happy of who we are and what we have and be so grateful that's I mean every night yeah I say I'm so grateful I just need good health baths and I try my best to keep my health and one of the rituals things you asked me was to go to the gym every day and I keep myself you know doing physical work with my whole body because yeah my body is carrying me and I need to take care of it for it to take care of me so we're like a treaty you know that I don't like I mean I enjoy working out but I always tell people that don't like it as much I say one hour trade one hour of something that you don't like for your body to like it and and get back to you and pay you back before that you know in a bigger way so that's a really good way of looking at it because I mean I'm I'm an obsessive exerciser and there was a period of time and you can probably even see this in my early videos that I was quite into bodybuilding but then I stopped and and kind of opted for a more kind of vegetable based diet with lots of smoothies and juices and I've gone now to working on on running kettlebells and some calisthenics and that sort of thing but I can't speak highly enough for exercise and the ability to just like yeah move your body make the sacrifice I hated it in the beginning but then I found you know that it was I was you know getting these results and I just felt better the main result was you know is it not that I wanted big muscles or anything I just wanted to feel better you know that feeling of putting a heavy weight on your back and doing squats and putting the weight down and but the thing with exercise though the the the interesting trade-off mentally for me was is it caused me to have this physical metaphor for life and it ended up impacting positively my art career as well it made me go hang on I can put that much weight on my back I was afraid to do it I lifted it I did it what else can I do you know and it calls me to go well you know no no talking to galleries or asking for the sale or network with clients or putting yourself out there nothing of that nature is as painful as legs day you know that that's that's not painful thing you know and and so you know I think you know I've heard so many I mean I'm not a scientist but but I've heard so many things about that intelligence starts to decline after a certain period even like younger than us and and the exercises it's the only thing that can say that keeps it high up there so I mean and also this is a luxury for me to be able to to not exercise all day for instance if I tell my father to go to the gym you say I don't want to I don't want to say about work but you say you know because I'll beat that it's fine because he's being the whole day doing stuff that is very tiring he's been carrying stuff and he's not exercises in determining the sense of repetition for a for muscle to develop yeah but he's exhausted and in a way I'm glad that I am able to paint in a very calm you know resting kind of I mean he's walking back and forth but nothing compared to what my dad does all day long yeah and then I can go to the gym and feel that connection with my body that is missing that if I was in Cuba I had to carry buckets of water to be able to have water in the house I had to do you know leave stuff and climb up the steps I so many things that are physically exhausting hmm so in a way it's a luxury to go to the gym so people that say I don't go to the gym and they were sitting the whole day Wow like you don't even like who you are your life because you should you have a body to do stuff make it do it because you're meet say of Weiss you go you know down yeah yeah absolutely no exercise man eat your vegetables and exercise so you look like a pretty pretty healthy guy you know you you look like you don't really engage in much stuff like like alcohol or smoking or drugs or anything like that your sharpen your mentally you're with it you're focused but it's something that I found really interesting is it you know especially amongst my peers who were you know artists as well a few of them actually really got into drugs and alcohol one of them unfortunately you know no longer with us but I kind of valid early on that I would never kind of get into that stuff you know because I thought damn I could I could really lose myself down there how do you feel about that like what are your what are your thoughts towards towards you know substances it's because some I come from I don't know if my background has to do with it of course I mean you must but I don't consider it and just do what come what I like you know I in that moment like normally I don't drink because I don't I never liked the taste of alcohol and and and sometimes I just drink socially come on beers but you never you know but only in those situations I enjoy doing all these bad things I mean I would never do like heavy drugs or anything like that because I don't want that to be you know I don't want to make an error that would cost me you know bigger things yeah yeah I don't think the trade for the fun part I mean and when they explained to me what the drugs do to them I'm like I think I'm feeling it even normally you know like actually doing it to feel sensitive or see a pain yeah I find out I'm always on that that edge myself as well think you know my brain is pretty weird already without having something to it to make it even weirder you know that you're already seeing things in a very strange way I was always worried it might unlock some door that I didn't want to open because I kind of like a Cuban diet which is rice beans and potato or Yukon roots and it has vegetables in it somewhere suppose I you know not even not that much but yes you know some bladders tomato stuff like that like mmm and and then and some me too but oh my god this went it's alright this is funny because he's charging but it's going down like the we're spending more energy than what is gaming sorry okay about 4% but that's fine so let's say if I'm if I'm painting and it's 4:00 in the morning and I'm hungry and the only thing open is McDonald's or something I don't mind going and eating there because I find that my body is it's more complicated than than the idea of eating something that is bad for you I mean it depends what is bad and I mean again in Cuba I may be the nutrition was not true but I was malnourished I mean if you go to Cuba you see the people like the skin there things like they're not well nourished I mean ya know nutrition is not part of so they're lacking in a lot of ways and we always have to send vitamins and stuff like that to keep them healthy yeah well so so I mean and what and maybe that truck I don't know maybe that's a mindset that is not beneficial for me now but if I see that I need to eat something I don't I don't see the bad part that he has I see the good things that he has and I eat it and then next day I'm gonna go to the gym and as long as I see myself with energy moving I don't mind once in a while doing stuff that people would just call me crazy for doing it we all are gonna have a cheat day now and again how many hours do you work what what's your work week look like the whole time and I haven't gotten a vacation since I graduated from from from school and what I mean every time I travel is for work every time I do something is for my career I don't know anything else so I get up and I either you know if I have to attend to emails or messages I do that and my phone is always with me so I'm I can always work with that and at the same time I can always paint or think about painting or create a video I'm always doing it as long as I'm awake I'm doing it and you know we have six things sixteen hours of work Wow so you're working pretty much 16 hours a day seven days a week yeah so you being a working 16 doesn't your doesn't your wife need to you know go out and now now and again and you know don't work you found the secret my friend you found the secret distract it you see all the things you get ideas you talk to your wife you go I mean everything is I mean I don't mean working like painting painting painting sixteen hours I mean focus just being me you know like thinking about my work there is a moment that your art becomes you that there's no division you know and that's why I don't have a studio even outside of my house I love being having lunch looking at my paintings talking to my wife yeah I mean that's really interesting that's something that I found as well too is that I I'm not actually interested in having a studio outside the home or at least on a separate property I mean I'm about to build another studio here on the piece of property that we own here in the South Island but it's um I couldn't imagine being that far away I would have to live and breathe you know my work so that that's really interesting I mean it so you are the work of art you are the work in progress so every day you're waking you're kind of your folks I love that I think I think that's fantastic no no you go go on no say that another thing that I can suggest to artists is to try always new things and challenge the idea of being embarrassed you know like don't care for that because the price you pay for for not for not being embarrassed is too much for the price you get for it when you gain if you try new stuff and you eat a right note and you know so it's for me it was easy man as soon as soon as I didn't care about the negative in around me unless they touch me like if they really touch me it means something more than an insult or a critic or criticism it's something that I need to look at myself and see if I can make it better so that's why we need to stay in the lookout for the response from the people but at the same but at the same time you need to leave your art try new stuff and at first everybody is gonna not like it most of the time I mean at the beginning because you're immature you're trying and but if you see that the response comes from the the thing that you're creating being unusual then that's a good response because we all react to things that we are not comfortable with that we don't know yet and but that so it depends on what the negative feedback is about so I would suggest always be on the lookout for symbols and and see how you can manage to to move the new things to a good thing yeah absolutely absolutely that's um that's really yeah very very interesting interesting points arise there hey look let's um let's wrap this up huh sorry do you have a rap for a Caesar I love the way you finish your YouTube videos look let's um let me just ask you though you know what's new for you you've got a fantastic YouTube channel you you know you're putting out constant constant amazing content and it's it's I love that it's you know mainly verbling and you're you're talking to people in your you're talking more about the mental aspect behind being artists and things that are important what's new for you on your channel what are some of the directions you're going in next so with my youtube channel I saw it as an opportunity to have fun I love acting I spent four years acting in theatre and having an agent getting me commercials so like little jobs here in deers soap operas so I love the camera and I love talking to people maybe from my butt so I said why not do a video the only thing that was holding me back from a YouTube channel was a little bit of the time by mainly the ignorance I have no idea how to do a video editor and I didn't want to get into that whole thing so I'm so lucky that my wife liked it and she took on the job she said I'm gonna learn how to edit I'm gonna learn how to do this so he never comes weakness in a couple of weeks I had some people that knew what to do here and they kind of like put the programming and show her how to work on it and we practice with my first videos and we keep going like that so when I got in-house project that means on that this is where my wife works and she's doing the editing so when because the videos I mean you know we're we're a team just like you guys you know and yeah it's amazing it's amazing to be able to do that very lucky people like you out there teaching Valley Bustos I didn't want to do the same in the sense I don't want to be overlapping with that because I see that that's valuable and I saw Prokopenko also teaching like the drawing aspect with structure yeah there's a bunch of combination of artists out there sharing their knowledge and I said that's amazing how can I have fun in a in a unique way for me so since I like the I think and I think also it's important to talk about art to bring ideas it's as important as telling you how to make it you know I certainly enjoy that aspect and I love watching those videos cuz I find I come away from your videos thinking about something in a different way or taking on a new idea and and just kind of questioning I think the main thing is to question the methods that you've adopted maybe subconsciously or unconsciously you know and go why am i doing it that way and I think then what you do for me is you you get that ball rolling in my mind and I'm kind of I find myself going oh right it takes it takes out unconscious stuff makes it conscious makes me think quite a bit more about that so um Cesar tell everybody out there where they can find you where your website Instagram Facebook all that sort of thing well they can find me my channel on YouTube is Cesar Santos that's pretty much it and on Instagram again Cesar Santos or sometimes I write it Santos is art yeah but I think with Cesar Santos will be more direct and yeah that's my website to all that uh I don't know how to what else to say in there but no my name correct no even when I look at my and my youtube I see that they search for my name in a really wrong way but they finally they find me most of the time fantastic well stay tuned and keep a look out for everything else that Cesar is doing some amazing things on his YouTube channel and I really again enjoy you know having the opportunity to talk to people like you and and just bounce ideas around I think it's just it's an amazing opportunity that we have and I certainly hope that people out there have gotten something out of this conversation of course and thank you because people like you inspired me to open the YouTube video the YouTube channel also you know I was looking at you and I'm like man this is working that I mean I like that it can work so thanks for the inspiration and thanks for reaching out I said yes immediately it was gonna be an interesting conversation with you man yeah thank you so I'll look my pleasure my pleasure thank you so much Cesar for for being on the podcast and I really I hope we have the opportunity to talk again soon we will awesome awesome thanks dude you

Channel: Andrew Tischler

Views: 82,872

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Id: MHPsW4Le8Qo

Length: 103min 25sec (6205 seconds)

Published: Wed Sep 05 2018