We’re looking forward to introducing you to Emo Kiddo. Check out our conversation below.
Emo, so good to connect and we’re excited to share your story and insights with our audience. There’s a ton to learn from your story, but let’s start with a warm up before we get into the heart of the interview. What are you chasing, and what would happen if you stopped?
if you asked me this question a year or two ago I would have told you that I was chasing happiness. You know that Kid Cudi song, “pursuit of happiness”? I was like that two years ago. I didn’t really truly find myself when I was working and studying out in New York. However, I’m just different now. I’m chasing nothing but myself. Like I’m talking about I’m really trying to find out who I am as a person as an artist. It’s beyond art though. Like I really wanna dig deeper into myself and see what my spirit is really like. These days I’m doing a lot more inner spiritual work and I talk to my higher self all the time. Anyways, to make a long story short, I’m chasing myself, Everything would go wrong if I wasn’t chasing myself because that’s when you start chasing outside validation right? You will never want your energy being determined by other people.
Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
First and Foremost, I am an artist, a painter, an illustrator, a stylist, and a fashionista. Two years ago I just graduated from the New York art academy “School of Visual Arts”, which I got my illustration bachelor degree at. I’ve recently came back to China and I’m now working as an artist, a designer, and an art teacher. Ever since I was a teenager my art has been giving people these really eccentric and trippy vibe. My story is quite interesting because I’ve spent almost half of my time studying in America where I was able to learn about things such as hip hop culture and fashion. What makes my brand and my art teaching practice really interesting is that I’m pretty much a melting pot of Eastern and Western culture. I do tend to look at things from a special perspective. I just love different culture and music coming from different groups of people. It really intrigues me.
Great, so let’s dive into your journey a bit more. What part of you has served its purpose and must now be released?
My ego, like the unhealthy kind. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that ego is a bad thing. I’m just saying that the old me was dancing with a really beautiful yet dangerous ego. The kind of ego that could rub people the wrong way even though I never meant to. I’m learning to tame my ego in a way that makes me super productive but not offensive to people. I’ve really tamed my personality down a lot since coming back home to China. Like don’t get me wrong, I still am who I am. I just learned how to coexist with my pride a little bit better.
If you could say one kind thing to your younger self, what would it be?
Honestly this is probably the hardest question for me to answer so far. If I was being honest, I wish I could say more than one kind thing to myself. Like I wish I could say so many kind things to myself. One of them being: “You’ve done a really really good job so far Kiddo, I don’t know why you’re always so hard on yourself?” I wish I was never this hard on myself. It could get unhealthy sometimes. You know those little voices in the back of your mind sometimes? They’re just yelling: “You’re not good enough, You need to do more!!!” Those little demons in my head always wants more from me.
Sure, so let’s go deeper into your values and how you think. Is the public version of you the real you?
No not really, I’m glad you asked this question though. See this is the type of question that I wish people asked but I never felt comfortable answering. The public version of myself is toned down a lot these days. You know that feeling when you’re not close to somebody and showing them your true color might make yourself uncomfortable? I don’t know to what extent can people accept me as who I am. However it’s never about asking for affirmation from the outside world, it’s more about making myself and other comfortable I guess.
Okay, we’ve made it essentially to the end. One last question before you go. What pain do you resist facing directly?
Feelings of emptiness and loneliness. I’ve been dealing with these subject matters a lot both in my art and my personal life. It’s insane how deeply lonely a person could feel. It’s genuinely insane though. Like as a functioning member of society we all wanna be part of something bigger sometimes. It’s like when you post pictures on instagram, you wanna be part of something bigger right? You wanna make your life look cooler than what it is right now. However how could you get that when your own energy is not self sufficient enough. It’s all about looking inwards not outwards.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: @emokiddodraws
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