Sam Rockman
We were lucky to catch up with Lily Brick recently and have shared our conversation below.
Lily, so glad you were able to set aside some time for us today. We’ve always admired not just your journey and success, but also the seemingly high levels of self-discipline that you seem to have mastered and so maybe we can start by chatting about how you developed it or where it comes from?
My self-discipline comes from the imperative need to dedicate myself to muralism. It also comes from a never-ending research for the best formula to work and create, as well as from my very important references. I’ve always looked for references, not only in the art world, but also for people I admire for their tenacity and their capacity for professional success. I am used from time to time to ask and seek advice from these people, especially to understand their methods and try to grow as an artist and as a person. As I haven’t had the support of my family in my professional career as a muralist, especially when I started, I have looked for my references wherever I have considered. For this, I have approached the people I respect for their values and for their overcoming in the path of life. From all of them I have taken a piece that contributes to the puzzle that I am today, a puzzle in continuous evolution and growth.
Through the years, I’ve found myself inventing and reinventing myself, defining a business model that is not only artistically interesting, but also sustainable, useful and financially solvent. Somehow, I have been self-imposing my own discipline. I have always been very demanding of myself, perhaps also because of a certain inferiority complex that is diminishing every day, perhaps because I have not felt valued at times. What started out as a terrible desire to tell the world that I am worthwhile, has ended up becoming a modus operandi based on self-discipline, among many other things. This continuous desire to prove to myself and to the rest of the world that I am valid has forged my character. I can consider myself a self-demanding, disciplined and formal person, whenever necessary. I try to avoid many problems, making everything as simple and efficient as possible. My time in this profession has taught me that being organized and disciplined saves a lot of trouble.
Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?
I’m an urban artist and I started painting with spray paint, the tool by excellence with which I began to discover this world. I painted for the first time in 2014, when I was 24 years old, and what started simply as something that generated a certain curiosity in me, has ended up becoming my work. In my beginnings, I felt very comfortable with figurative realism, characterized by a romantic style, combined with some pre-Raphaelite and impressionist inspiration. The aesthetics and line of my works identified me perfectly. Nowadays, I also paint with brushes and spray paint, as well as with other materials available to me. I started with spray paint as an autodidact, as I’ve done in all other areas of my profession.
Over the years, I’ve developed a personal brand that is distinguished, among other things, by being very daring with my proposals and large formats. My work also stands out because I am able to take on artistic challenges that are difficult for other artists to take on. With each new work I try to unlock a new challenge.
On the other hand, I think my brand also stands out because it speaks a lot about people, about everyday life. In my works, I try to transmit some firm principles that speak of tribe, family, friendship, of many basic and essential things for human beings that we’ve been relegating and forgetting.
It could be said that my artistic work places me directly as an artist, but I also like to say that I am a craftswoman. I want to dignify the profession, I work eight hours a day and I always try to be very professional. In my projects, in addition to the artistic part, I show a more entrepreneurial side, with all the documentation for invoicing and permits as legally required. I handle the projects as the business that they really are. Currently, we are two people painting, since my partner accompanies me as an assistant, and another third person who is in charge of the administrative part and who manages the jobs that come to us. We are a team, and we operate as a serious company, which can assume historical, decorative and traditional and folklore dissemination works. One of the things that I consider most important in our work is what we learn with each new project. With each new job, we grow as people and as professionals. All three of us are keen to move forward and face new difficulties, and I believe that you have to have a specific DNA to get here and to move forward slowly but surely.
I would like people to know that we are hard workers and that we don’t give up. That we take on all new challenges with good humour and see the positive side, even if sometimes it is almost non-existent. Somehow, we’ve developed a callus to make projects a reality and not to think too much about how complicated it is to dedicate oneself to this. So, little by little, we are growing all the time.
Today I am developing very important projects on a national level, and I’ve also been trusted with very significant international projects that are in the pipeline. The projects are a great pressure for me, as well as the great responsibility of wanting to do an optimal job, which is adapted to its context and which conveys a message.
At an older age, I would like to be able to disseminate my work with small paintings and works (especially in comparison to the scale of the murals). For some time now I have been wanting to introduce my work into the gallery world, something that has been happening more and more for some time now. Next February 9th I will be participating in a group exhibition at Open Gallery in Long Beach, and it will be the first time I have exhibited so far away and on another continent. I would like to continue on the road to recognition in the gallery world and to discover this world. Although it would be my dream, unfortunately I don’t have as much time as I would like because I’m always painting murals. Sometimes it’s difficult to have what you want, but everything comes.
On the other hand, I’d really like to teach and that my way of doing things doesn’t just stay with me. Not so much my way of painting, since everyone has their own personal style, but above all I would like to transmit my way of working and of tackling projects. I would like to transmit my way of having personality and strength in the face of the challenges that life throws at you, both professionally and in other ways. For me, it would be a dream to be able to prepare people so that they can realize their dreams without as many complications as I have found. I would almost be like a big sister or a bit of a mother.
In short, this is the company and the long-term project we have.
At the moment, my partner and I live from our work, we have forged a way of making a decent living from art. Sometimes I wish it would be possible to fulfil my dream of having a family, and that we could all make a living from art, seeing that it is possible with us.
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
My natural abilities are curiosity and the spirit of self-improvement, as well as a certain pathological stubbornness. I’m always eager to prove that I can and that I am capable of doing more and more impressive and challenging projects. The latter also happens because I often have the feeling that I am not capable. Although I believe that this stubbornness of mine is a skill, it is the result of my capacity for self-sabotage or thinking that I am not enough. Even though this is a root thought, somewhat destructive and harmful, it is something that has helped me to become a better person and artist every day. In my day-to-day life, I am a great advocate of self-improvement, even if it is only because I beat myself up. On the other hand, the knowledge I had acquired before I began to dedicate myself professionally to muralism was essential for the development of my career. I studied advertising graphic design, something that contributed significantly to my being able to dedicate my life to my current profession. My murals have a very graphic point, because although I create very artistic works with a pictorial language that can remind us of classical styles, the influence of advertising language and graphic design are very present. In my studies I received preparation about composition, colours, chromatic ranges, colour psychology and language order in poster design. Working as a graphic designer, I also learned a lot about working under pressure, and answering a client’s brief and brainstorming ideas in the form of a design. The organization I work with is very similar to the one that a graphic designer or a team dedicated to creating brand image for companies would follow.
I like to present my proposals in a way that allows the client’s imagination to flourish, asking as many questions as necessary and researching with as much information as I can get my hands on. One of my skills is always listening to everyone and averaging all their impressions. Listening is also one of my skills, I think.
My studies have determined how I work today, especially in the fact that I’m very curious in order to learn and receive as much information as possible. On this path, I have always been thinking of ways to economize my work, both by experimenting on my own and by asking other colleagues.
The advice I would give is that, as I always say, kids are always put in reinforcement classes for those subjects they aren’t so good at. In my case, when I am good at something, I try to maximize it as much as possible, which is exactly the opposite of the paradigm that arises with additional classes. I believe that we should live in the same way, enhancing our best skills, those with which we shine. It is also important to do what we can to improve our shortcomings, be they languages, our artistic style and the use of the necessary tools, or whatever. But above all, don’t be afraid. My only advice is that fear will always be there, but you have to make sure that it doesn’t block you and that it motivates you to move forward. You have to be prepared to be surprised by what you are capable of. The capacity of human beings is impressive, because we are capable of anything. You have to trust in yourself and jump into the void (always wearing a safety harness).
Do you think it’s better to go all in on our strengths or to try to be more well-rounded by investing effort on improving areas you aren’t as strong in?
I believe that it’s better to strive and improve on our strengths, because these strengths are what define our difference and our talents. If we want to enhance our weaknesses, it can happen that, by trying to improve in that sense, we may end up leaving our strengths in second place and that they end up coming to nothing. I believe that each one of us stands out for one talent or another, and it is these qualities that we must make shine through our actions. You can’t be good at everything, and if you strive to be good at everything, the chances are that you won’t end up doing anything well at all. My experience is a good illustration of my positioning. I’ve always been a very sensitive person, with the ability to understand what people want. This has been very useful to me at work because I am able to understand what clients want from the projects I do. I am also able to empathize with the receiver and understand what is going on in the context where I will be working. Thanks to my decision to empower my most outstanding abilities, embracing that sensitivity and romanticism that allow magic to happen, I have seen how my resources and tools expand to make it possible. Each day I have achieved projects that are expressions of humanity, warmth and the different emotions that people experience. Over time, I have learned to take pride in my ability to see the world in this way, to not hide from being like this. My personality and my way of seeing the world has opened many doors for me, which have allowed me to develop incredible projects in which I have been able to communicate through my art.
One of my weaknesses, for example, is that I’ve acquired my technique in a mostly self-taught way, since I have studies in Graphic Design, but no other studies specific to the work I do now. Probably, if I had been trained in Fine Arts, either at university or at an academy, I would have progressed much more quickly in my learning process. I have always had a certain feeling that it would be important to grow academically and technically with formal studies. But thanks to my capacity for exhaustive work, added to my perpetual curiosity and desire to learn, as well as my perseverance to achieve my goals, I have been able to carve out my professional career. By creating so many murals and working so hard, I have acquired the necessary experience to grow and rectify my mistakes. Although my learning path has probably been less linear than if I had been trained, I have made it on my own and I have done it my own way. Moreover, if I decided to retrain, I would have to temporarily stop doing this work that I love so much. I’ve learned more the hard way, almost like a kind of shock therapy, in the best possible sense.
All diversities are positive, just as all forms of intelligence are invaluable. Each of us has to find our potential.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.lily.cat/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lily__brick/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/LilyStreetArt
Genaro Massot
F. Casadesus
Marc Castelló
Alexandra Heeremans
