Art medium(s): Spray paint and paint marker, primarily.
How do you describe your art? Like portals… people can decide what the portals of the stories are. I do a lot of landscapes and sceneries and spacescapes and cosmic galactic paintings… I like to see how many random and fantastic ideas I can put together with things that people can relate to, like nature. Once I do the work, the process is for me and then the end result is for everybody else. You, as the viewer, get to decide what it’s about.
Were you always interested in following a creative path? More or less. I’ve been doing art since forever. Some of my earliest memories are of trying to do artwork—how to draw, trying to mimic what I see. It’s part of the human condition to make artwork. We’ve been doing it since the beginning of humanity, and we haven’t stopped even through famine and war and strife. The thing that persists with humans is artwork in some capacity. Whether we make art or consume art or do something with art.
What does your “day-in-the-life” look like? I’m a stay-at-home dad, so usually during the day it’s me and the kids… we go about our day… we go to the library, or we’ll go to my Taekwondo studio that I own… go to the children’s museum… we burn off energy. It’s super fascinating being a parent, like, learning to, like, appreciate the simple things again. During naptime I’m usually doing something for one of my businesses, sometimes I’m working on projects or getting ready for an event or a mural I have to finish. Typically on the weekends is when I do most of my mural art.
Where do you get your creative inspiration? Everywhere! It’s a mixture of stuff that I do and see… and sometimes it’s a mixture of like, what am I doing with the kids this week? We read a lot of books, especially my daughter. I try to take that energy and I recreate that a little bit in my art… that whimsy, that colorful and fun.
Why do you love what you do? That’s a good question. I don’t really have an explanation. I’m good at it. I’m good at problem solving, and doing art is just problem solving… I love a good challenge, and a lot of times, especially with art as a business, usually the challenge is, you’ve got to take a client’s idea and how they envisioned it and what makes sense to me, and meeting in the middle somewhere.
One thing most people don’t know about being an artist, in your opinion: Well, I think the thing I always tell people is that everybody is an artist. We just just call it different things sometimes. Conversation is even an art form.
Early bird or night owl? I’ve naturally been both for a long time, which means I’m always tired!
Last movie you watched or book you read: I think it was a Marvel movie… I went to see that in the theater with my brother around my birthday.
Is the glass half full or half empty? I’m just happy to have a cup.
What makes you happiest: My family makes me happiest… every now and then I’ll sit back and just think about, wow, having this family with my partner, my wife… we have these kids that are amazing. They drive us crazy, but they’re beautiful, and they have great energy. They love each other, and they’re human and they’re us, but they’re also just themselves.
Find Kiba on his website at www.kibafreemanart.com or on Instagram @kibafreemanart
