Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Odin Blackgrove. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Odin, first a big thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts and insights with us today. I’m sure many of our readers will benefit from your wisdom, and one of the areas where we think your insight might be most helpful is related to imposter syndrome. Imposter syndrome is holding so many people back from reaching their true and highest potential and so we’d love to hear about your journey and how you overcame imposter syndrome.
I never did. I love my doubts, I admire my uncertainty and I embrace my humility. I am not looking to improve myself through scrutiny nor acceptance alone. I find the very debate of what makes for good or bad art/artists quite nonsensical. The argument of time and labor being the real measure of merit seems a petty self-justification for hierarchy too.
We cannot always quantify or qualify these traits and our attempts to try tend to fall flat. It’s like trying to grasp at love, love and art are constructs of the mind exclusively. Where there is love there is always love. It is not so simply gathered up and defined. I do not offer a cup of love to one person or idea and a teaspoon to another. The same must go for art. These sensations we embody merely take to many new forms depending on their conception.
I think my self doubt and even at times my self hatred are just there to allow me to see myself as god sees me: A confused yet caring creature learning what this consciousness may mean to me. I want to feel all these things intensely because this is my brief moment on this earth to be human or to be anything at all.
Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?
I am an artist by lifestyle, a tattoo artist by occupation. I have always been in love with the physical act of creation and the perceptual act of subjective evaluation.
As a kid in school, my family could not afford to get me food. I would spend my lunch period at school in the art rooms instead. I have always seen art in all its many forms as a sustenance for the soul. This was never motivated as a form of gaining positive attention. I was merely accepting the truth of my self.
For most people, the idea of doing what they love for work seems to actually make a person learn to hate what they love. I actually don’t work a day in my life because of it. I love what I do and I only wish to do it more. I will always celebrate these moments that I get to grow my roots deeper and maybe even help others do the same.
Being an artist for myself is one thing, but making art for the world is a service to be treasured. I do not exist within a vacuum of culture or thought. I am a collection of inspirations that only wishes to make for nuance on what was already marvelous in this existence that we all share.
I tend to be known best for my abstract work. The terms “chaos artist” or “chaos abstract” have often been tagged upon me. I think this art form lends itself to my absurdist views of life. It makes sense because it’s there for us to make sense of it. It doesn’t make sense because nothing makes sense inherently.
My tattoos are there to bring focus to the human and not to simply plaster their body with distractions. This is what makes my art different from most. Artwork on your body does not need to be so blatant as to tell others directly what makes you who you are. These tattoos are there for you to be yourself for yourself.
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
The advice I would give to anyone is that you cannot use sheer willpower to form a beautiful work of art. No matter what your medium for creation, you must feel it, love it, hate it and everything in between. Be a human with thoughts and cares. Otherwise you are wasting time and energy forcing what cannot be swayed. Art should be a luxury, not a burden to carry.
Who is your ideal client or what sort of characteristics would make someone an ideal client for you?
A great client is someone who is coming to me so that I can be an artist. I am not a printer and I have no desire to make constant replicas. I also have no desire to make art that is simply realism for it to be bound so tightly to this material world that it loses creative value as a sacrifice to illusory “technicality”. When you hire an artist you are seeking them to inevitably show their own perspective in the art. That perspective should be what you are actively seeking. If you wish to work with me you should be happy seeing the art I make already and you should use your own subjectivity to see how that can be applied to yourself and what you want. Being a good client is seeking collaboration.
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Image Credits
All these photos were taken by me and I have the rights to them
so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.
