Meet Rob Grad

We were lucky to catch up with Rob Grad recently and have shared our conversation below.

Rob, thanks so much for taking the time to share your insights and lessons with us today. We’re particularly interested in hearing about how you became such a resilient person. Where do you get your resilience from?
I grew up in a house with a lot of conflict. As a teenager, I wasn’t suicidal per se, but sometimes I wished I could just cease to exist. Drugs became my companion. They helped me numb out, and fit in with a crowd at school. I was socially awkward and maladjusted, so just that was a victory. The problem with drugs though, is they tend to only work for a little while if at all, before things spiral downward. Like they did for me.

That ended for me at 16 years old…around the time I found music and art. Artists and musicians became my role models. They were the sages. They were the ones who seemed to have a real sense of what’s going on in the world.

As the cliche goes, the truth sort of set me free. I began my quest to survive myself and find some semblance of peace in this chaos factory.

When I started playing music, and later, creating visual art, I loved that I could just express myself. Be myself. It was a way for me to communicate depth I couldn’t in any other way. And that was worth fighting for.

In my experience, in spite of my experiences and the appearance of the world around me, my most inner, unpastueurized self is a joyful place.

And in my work, I try to embody, search for, and channel that into the physical world.

For me, somehow knowing that at the center of it all, there is something positive…something to aspire to and align with, gives me the desire to keep going.

I didn’t really realize how overt it was in my work though until recently. I did an installation show last summer at the Los Angeles Art Association where I hung my artwork, drew my poems on the walls, and recorded songs around the poems.

A friend of mine was walking through the show and said “I love how everything in here reflects resilience in some way.”

The show was called “There’s Nothing Here, Except Everything,” and used Joshua Trees as a symbol of resilience and authenticity contrasted with street art and urban elements. The desert to me is raw. Unapologetic. In the most extreme conditions, life finds a way to thrive.

We could learn a thing or two from the desert. It’s a perfect embodiment of the resilience of life.

Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?
I went to a lot of museums when I was a kid. And when I was doing a lot of music, on tour I’d go to museums in cities when I had the time. So when I set out on the journey of becoming a visual artist, that was my reference. Museums tend to be interested in not only the aesthetics of the art itself, but the meaning and cultural significance of the work.

That was my jumping off point.

So when I had my first museum show, it was a huge milestone in my career. I carry that approach into my gallery and commission work. I get asked to do a lot of commissions, and I’ve become a specialist in custom art experiences. I’m very good at asking the right questions to connect and dial in with someone quickly to create something that lives at the intersection of my clients’ journey, and my journey as the artist. I focus on making centerpieces for people’s homes and businesses. Conversation starters. Like a muse for your space.

I actually have a free masterclass on how to find that magical work of art, narrating your legacy, and creating an unparalleled art experience in your space. After doing so many commissions over the years, working with designers, consultants and galleries, I’ve seen what it’s like when the right artwork syncs up with the right person in the right space. It becomes more than just the work of art. It’s transcendent.

I’ve also seen when a great piece of art goes into someone’s home or business, and it’s still great, but somehow it doesn’t lift the place up like it could.

So I narrowed it down to the key consistent elements I’ve seen, that work pretty much every time. No matter the style or your aesthetic taste.

Here’s a link:
http://custom.robgrad.com

As far as my artwork is concerned, it’s heavily layered. I love how every layer can tell its own story, and still contribute to the whole. I make mostly three dimensional assemblages, wall sculptures and free standing sculptures.

In every piece I create, I celebrate the raw majesty of nature — a testament to the profound depth and potential within us, combined with the freedom of wild self-expression. I have a unique 3D technique that blends photography, paint, text and raw sketches, where I weave hand-painted laser-cut shapes with images of the vastness of the natural world, and vivid vignettes of urban life.

My goal is always to make poignant contrasts that captivate and provoke.

There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?
1) Don’t dumb down your dream. I wasted years wondering if maybe my aspirations were too big. I wasn’t good enough. Or it just wasn’t “in the cards.” Or worse yet, I’d failed my own destiny somehow. And I tried to dial down the vision I had for my life to “what I think I could be happy with.” 

I’ve come to believe that if you can imagine something in your mind, and it feels good…and it brings you a sense of expansion inside to think about, instead of a shrinking feeling, then there is literally and physically a way to do it. I might not be able to see it or comprehend it, but if I trust, believe and get to work, and be open, it can happen. Just do the next thing that bumps me in that direction. The biggest aspirations don’t come with a “how” attached.

2) Saying “this is who I am” is a copout. I almost said “be yourself. It’s the only way to be truly unique and stand out in this world.” Which is true, but some of the most atrocious people I’ve ever met use “it’s just who I am” as an excuse to crap all over people and the world. I believe there is an essence at the core of who we are that is unique, inspiring, insightful, empathetic and wonderful. Go after that and be willing to be wrong, change, and adjust course along the way. This is why I think our world is in a downward cycle right now. We’ve lost this ability to question ourselves in our leaders and as a society.

3) Albert Einstein said, “You cannot solve a problem with the same mind that created it.” I always ask myself who I want to be in any given situation. If I was the person who already had the success I’m looking for, what thoughts would I be thinking? And I act on that. It’s kind of hard to do at first consistently, but once you get the hang of it, it’s not so bad. And the funny thing is, doing this not only has impacted my ability to create and navigate better the direction of my life, but I’ve become happier on the journey.

4) Bonus answer: I do best when I create regular quiet time. Personally, I meditate. But any sort of quiet time will work. Time set aside regularly to just listen to the Universe instead of always talking to it. Telling it what I want. Imposing my will. It’s good to listen.

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?
The biggest obstacle today? In this moment?

Ok. I have this book idea I’ve been working on for an embarrassingly long time. The idea originally was to do a book of poems I wrote that inspire or are complements to my artwork.

Then I thought I would include some artwork. Seems simple enough.

Then I thought I would include an audio book.

Then I I had the thought with my background in music, what if I made some spoken word style songs instead?

And so on….

I do this a lot. I come up with an idea, then it grows a second head and I have to figure out how to build the beast.

I’m still wrestling with the book. I love everything I have in it, but it’s not seamless yet.

I’m starting to see some light though.

What I’ve been doing to overcome the issue is to try and look at it from different angles. Question everything.

Recently, I realized I had made the assumption early on that it should include 20 or so poems. Like a “real” book of poetry. I never revisited the idea.

When I sat back and deconstructed the concept, I got the idea to include less and spread them out. To treat the book more experientially.

It was a revelation.

Three other tricks:

1) I have a meditation process I use that helps me clean the slate. It’s a modification of something I learned from a guru years ago. I get into a certain headspace, and then imagine it done. Grab any visuals that come to me. Just see what I see. I get a lot of good info that way.

2) I’m obsessed with finishing this thing. I think the work is important and I want people to read and experience it. So I’m motivated to keep working on it.

3) I’ve found that instead of focusing on the parts that are stuck, I think of something I CAN work on. It keeps me moving in spite of myself. If I’m stuck on layout, can I work on the text? Or the music? Eventually I’ll get an idea and it’ll come together.

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