We recently connected with Dave Vescio and have shared our conversation below.
Dave, so good to have you with us today. We’ve got so much planned, so let’s jump right into it. We live in such a diverse world, and in many ways the world is getting better and more understanding but it’s far from perfect. There are so many times where folks find themselves in rooms or situations where they are the only ones that look like them – that might mean being the only woman of color in the room or the only person who grew up in a certain environment etc. Can you talk to us about how you’ve managed to thrive even in situations where you were the only one in the room?
The thing I love about history, including art history, is that history loves to celebrate the firsts. The ones who did something first before anyone else. The ones who saw the world so, so differently from everyone else and wanted to change it for the better. Who created their own sandbox, their own niche, and their own slice of the pie. Why compete for scraps when you can invent something new and different instead!? But I’m also born to be an outlaw, a rebel, a revolutionary (according to Carl Jung’s twelve archetypes) and I always have been one. I’ve always tried to see the world differently, and to, literally, STAND OUT from the crowd. To be original, to push boundaries, and to get people to think, ponder, and question their own reality. Why be like everyone else when you can just be yourself instead!? That’s the way, I’ve always seen it, and I suspect I always will!
As for how I’ve been effective and successful at being the only one in the room, well that’s a whole other story. Honestly, by studying the ones who were the first, and trying to meet them in real life, and learn how they see the world differently, and then do something just like what they all did. They say the five people you surround yourself with the most, you become the average of those five. Well, I want to surround myself in my artistic studies, and in the art world, with the ones who see contemporary art so, so differently from everyone else. The ones who want to push art into brand new realms. To go where no one has ever gone before. So, that’s what I do with my own art. I’ve literally turned photography into a painting into a sculpture (an object that you can literally touch and feel with one’s hands). Why have three different mediums of art, when you can have just one instead!? 🙂
Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?
On my 50th birthday, I picked up a camera to invent a new style of abstract/fine-art photography that deals with that fine line between the life & death of objects, then death & decay, and now, a rebirth (aka spirits or other worldly beings like the supernatural). I specialize in macro/close-up photography of urban decay. I have even won sixteen international awards from the top photography contests in the world for these artworks.
My mission with abstract/fine-art photography is to reveal to the world that even in death & decay, there is still beauty, as well as a new source of energy/life that wants to be born into this world, just in another way. We just need to look at it from a different light, a different perspective. Life truly never ends! It just gets reborn into this world again & again as another essence, another beautiful being. Just like how a caterpillar gruesomely transforms into a butterfly!
I also give my limited-edition abstract/fine-art photographs another kind of *rebirth*, by printing them on materials close to what they were originally born on. My macro/close-up photographs of metal decay are printed on archival metal; my macro/close-up photographs of decaying plastic are printed on archival acrylic (which is a plastic); to etc. It is my way of making sure my abstract/fine-art photographs become more life-like than ever before; making them seem like the actual objects that I photographed in the first place.
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
I would have to say that these are the top three qualities, skills, and knowledge that one must possess to make one’s dreams come true:
1) Study with the best of the best, or at least study the best. Read and watch everything that they have ever written or said and listen to how other experts have described how the best of the best became the best. And don’t forget that knowledge is NOT power. Applied knowledge is power! So, apply all that knowledge into your daily routines by doing it, versus dreaming/thinking of one day of doing it. Just do it. Do it, do it, do it!
2) Follow your heart, follow your instincts, and follow your bliss. They know exactly what they want to do. So, listen to them, always. Versus your mind, your ego, your family/friends/lovers, and your bosses/teachers/mentors will always take you off your path (unless you were born to follow them that is). Because two things are guaranteed in life, either you make your own dreams come true, or you will literally help make someone else’s dreams come true instead. Either way, someone’s dream is coming true today! So, don’t forget that. Don’t ever forget that the world is constantly trying to get you to make their dreams come true, not your own. So, focus on your heart, focus on your instincts, and focus on your bliss. That’s where the pursuit of happiness truly comes from. Chase your own dreams, and make yourself happy, because in the end, you are the only one who truly can.
3) Shoot for the Moon and even if you miss, you’ll still land among the stars. Meaning, have goals. Lots of goals. Have daily goals, weekly goals, monthly goals, yearly goals, decade goals, and even all-time goals. You do this by figuring out what your all-time end goal is, and then you reverse engineer it all by figuring out how to get there in reverse. No different than if you pulled out a road map and figured out how to get from Los Angeles to New York City by car. Plan it all out. Plan the whole journey out and be able to take brand new paths just in case something does get in your way (and it will, trust me it will) of making your all-time goals come true one day soon. So, if you do this, plan it all out, and start doing it, before you know it, you’ll be one step closer to your all-time goal, and a little further out than you’ve ever been before. You’ll be going forward vs. standing still or going backwards. Always go forward, and before you know it, you’ll be amongst the stars! 🙂
What is the number one obstacle or challenge you are currently facing and what are you doing to try to resolve or overcome this challenge?
My number one obstacle is always making my all-time goals come true, by taking the next step, the next goal on my list (meaning, on my reversed engineered / planned-out roadmap). So, one day, one decade, I can finally get myself closer and closer to finally achieving my all-time goals.
My current goal on my list is to get accepted into the Top 100 art festivals across the United States. I want to do all 100 of them by living in six different cities for the next three to six years. Try to live in one to two brand new cities per year…
Now, I have already figured out which art festivals are the Top 100 art festivals. I then mapped them all out across the country, and I then figured out which six cities are the best cities to live in to pull this all off. Meaning, within 400 miles of these major cities are all the Top 100 art festivals. The cities are Denver, Chicago, New York City, Miami, Dallas, and either Los Angeles or Phoenix. Three cities in the northern part of the country and three cities in the southern part of the country. And if I live in these six different cities, I’ll be close enough to attend each art festival over time. I then figured out whom my competition most likely is in all 100 of these art festivals, by going to the art festivals’ websites and looking up who got accepted to these art festivals. I wrote down every single artist who creates art partially like me, and I started to study their artworks and how they created & designed their own art booths (meaning, how did they curate their artworks and their art booth to get accepted into this art festival in the first place).
So, my next step is to do the same exact thing for myself by creating, curating, and designing my own art booth. Then, I will buy everything I need to build my own art festival booth and I will then start to apply to the top 100 art festivals which are near me here in Los Angeles and go from there. Work one art festival at a time, and move to one new city at a time, until I finally do all Top 100 art festivals in the next three to six years. That’s the current obstacle and goal of mine! So, that way, I can slowly introduce my one-of-a-kind art to art collectors, art galleries, art critics, and art museums across the whole country. Which will slowly check many of my other future goals, off my checklist! Because when I live in these six different cities, I will also reach out to all the art galleries, art critics, and art museums within 400 miles of these chosen cities and invite them all to see my art in person or I will drive it to them instead. That’s the goal, that’s the plan, that’s the current reality that I am particularly in. The rest is just doing it!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.davevescio.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/davevescio
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/dave.vescio2
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/davevescio
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/DaveVescio
Image Credits
All images were created by me – Dave Vescio
