We were lucky to catch up with Joe Taveras recently and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Joe, appreciate you sitting with us today to share your wisdom with our readers. So, let’s start with resilience – where do you get your resilience from?
When I was in High School, I was running on a long-distance running team led by my Spanish teacher: Ms. Parodi. She was in her 60s, but had run over 25 marathons in her life. I ran two marathons with her, both LA Marathon, as well as several half marathons. I remember one early morning running with her and she told me ‘If you can run a marathon, you can do anything.’ I’ve always had a relentless drive for growth, but it wasn’t until I became an adult that I started to really learn how essential the correction/ the downtick/ tiny failures are. In downtimes, we can learn how to grow even better. Since starting to be a mixed-media artist, which came into my life out of nowhere, I always knew that no matter what was happening around me, I always had my art.
Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself?
I have a wide range of interests, all of which I allow to manifest. I believe in authentic expression: my interests take me down some obsure paths at times, but they are all connected. At my core, I feel most interested in the study of consciousness; I often say my visual art is a byproduct of my research. In a past life, I was the Marketing Director for the company that built the world’s first personal robot platform. This was in 2018, and it began my love for futuristic technology. I have since developed over 40 software applications for the Temi Robot and for Augmented Reality solutions. In 2020, I had one of the most compelling experiences of my life and it led to an obsession in creating art. Since then, I have created thousands of artworks, and I am very grateful to say that a huge amount of my creations are in private and even some public collections (one of which being the Vatican Collection!). Currently, I spend my time enriching my creative practice as a way to further my consciousness research, but also to fund the development of my dream organization: a production house for both art and technology. I hold studios around the United States, as well as spaces in Europe. I call my style American Futurism, inspired by the science nonfiction that is my life and Italian Futurism. I am so grateful every day- I really do love what I do,
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
Good question. First, I would say my trust in my vision. Knowing that I am meant to spread this gift is my mission and my calling. It is crucial that I always maintain an awareness of this fact. Second, my ability to disengage my Ego played a huge role in allowing me to rapidly teach myself different mediums and techniques without the fear of failure or judgment. Lastly, curiosity is very important to my practice and it guides a lot of my decision making in the discovery phases of my projects.
What do you do when you feel overwhelmed? Any advice or strategies?
I take a blank canvas and put it on the floor in front of me, I play my favorite song of the week on maximum volume, and then I just unleash any tension onto the canvas. It’s a different kind of painting session, it’s almost like going bull riding or boxing. It’s not about the end creation, but instead about the activity of energetic release. Funnily enough though, these usually are some of my best works because of the heightened emotional output.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.joetaverasart.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/joetaveras/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joetaveras/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/robojoebot
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCsMlMkwWErfK9HxjYi6mXng
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