Inside The Mind of TheFugaziArtist
TheFugaziArtist -- Free, Urban, Genuine, Artistic, Zealous Interesting. The 19-year-old Brooklyn creator brings to life his emotional connection to music through drawings and paintings. With portraits of artists like Brent Faiyaz, The Weeknd, Kendrick Lamar, SZA, Steve Lacy, Lil Uzi Vert and more, TheFugaziArtist proves time and time again that his work is all about intent and detail. His love for art manifested during his childhood with finger painting which then grew to pencil drawing, and eventually led him to digital art in 2019. FOCUS Magazine caught up with the artist who's always been known as "that kid that could draw" to talk about his inspirations, creative process and the motivation behind his work:
Portrait of Brent Faiyaz by TheFugaziArtist
What inspired you to pursue art? TheFugaziArtist: When I was growing up, I was known as ‘that kid that could draw’ in school. But that was pretty much it for me…like pencil drawing and stuff. But that's all I knew at the time. Around high school was when I got more into Instagram, and I saw more people doing digital art and was like, ‘that's pretty cool. I'm gonna try that.’ Just so I could expand on the things that I do now. So, in 2019, I got a digital tablet and started making edits, doodles and drawings. But I didn't have an Instagram page for it at the time, I was posting it on my personal page. My friends were telling me like, ‘Yo, bro, you should make our actual art page.’ So, that’s when I officially made an art page, which is the one I have now (@thefugaziartist). You can probably see my first couple of drawings and stuff at the bottom of my page. As I kept drawing, I got better and better. So that’s when I was like, I should actually take this more seriously.
What's one of your favorite art pieces you've made?
That's a hard question. People always ask me that, and it’s so hard for me to pick one. I have so many different favorites for different reasons. One of the recent Brent ones that I did, (bottom left) it's probably my favorite at the moment because he's my favorite artist. He actually saw it and signed it at the bottom. This (bottom right) is my favorite because I was just trying something different, I've never done something like this before. I do different mediums of art, like photography and stuff. It's hard to pick a specific art piece when there's like so many different other types, you know?
How long does it usually take for you to create?
To be honest, it just depends on how complex the piece is. So, I would say the longest digital piece will probably take me an entire day. The same thing goes for a painting… a whole day, no, no breaks, nothing. But the longest piece I ever did was probably like, like a week, but that was because I had to break it up over time. It’s a lot, but you have to be focused.
Most of your pieces consist of album covers/concept album covers and paintings of other musical artists; how would you say music has inspired your work throughout the years?
Yeah, music surrounds all of my art, basically. Music just connects everybody together. It’s such a beautiful thing that we all love. The different artists that I listen to, the sounds, the different voices, and the feelings and emotions they portray really inspired me to make something. When I could dedicate a piece to an artist, or even the cover art plays a major part. When you hear a song, the first thing you see usually is the cover art. So, I like to do spin-offs or renditions of a cover just to give my own idea and flavor to it.
Who are some of your biggest inspirations?
Artists like Brent Faiyaz, PartyNextDoor, Tory Lanez.. just R&B artists like that. But in my personal life, I have a friend named Jasiah Powers, we went to the same high school and just watching how he's grown since high school is just so crazy to me. It's definitely inspiring, it just makes me want to create and go hard. So yeah.
Yes! oh my gosh, I love Jasiah's work too. He's definitely one of my favorite photographers right now.
So I know back in July, you actually met Brent Faiyaz and he saw your work in person... first of all, I'm so jealous, I love him so much. Can you tell me what that was like for you? We need the details of the whole day.. I know it must've been really great to have met one of your biggest inspirations.
So basically, he posted dates for a pop up to promote his new album, Wasteland. I think he went to Atlanta, New York and LA. So, when he came to New York, I texted my friend like ‘Yo, bro, should I take my painting? I don't know. Is it doing too much like, this painting is big as hell to be carrying around.’ He’s like, ‘Nah, take it.’ So I took this one (top left) and I have a smaller one (bottom right) I took too. When I got to the location, it was packed, there was just mad people surrounding the store. When he finally pulled up in his car, he came out of the sunroof and started recording people. So I'm in the crowd, just holding up my big a** painting of him, I wanted him to see it. He was looking around but I couldn’t tell if he saw it because he had shades on. At this point, he goes back in the car and I’m thinking he probably won’t see it. His people escorted him like 10 feet or 20 feet away to the store and I realize he's at the store across the street from me. It's still crowded so he comes back out for a second to play songs from the album, this guy comes out with this camera, recording the crowd. So I'm like, okay, cool, maybe I can put the painting in the video if they do a recap video. As I’m standing with my painting up, I see a bunch of people from his team looking out from the window. They called me to the front of store, I handed the paintings to his team, I hadn’t seen Brent at this point. But when the team actually let me inside the store, Brent comes out of nowhere like, he daps me up and everything like I'm his homie. In my head I’m just like, ‘Oh, my God, what the hell, is this really happening.’ We just talked about the painting and how long it took. I exchanged socials with his team, so hopefully, in the future, they may reach out to me for certain things. But yeah, that was just pretty much the experience. I'm not going to lie to you, I was shaking. Like, I was trying to keep cool, but I was just there taking pictures shaking, I’m thinking to myself like, ‘this is embarrassing.’ He gave me a shirt that he signed. He signed the painting and then he took the black and white painting which was like a version of this cover. (bottom right)
Oh my gosh, I love that for you... I better see you working with him on his next album cover or something, we got to make that happen immediately. Congrats on that moment, I'm so happy for you!
So, outside of that moment with Brent, what makes you feel the most recognized and appreciated as an artist?
The times I've felt really appreciated or recognized as artists were from, like, random strangers coming up to me and telling me things. I used to work at Amazon in Jersey and when I was waiting for the train to head home, I was playing my music on the speaker and these random people from, like, Florida, were like, ‘Yo, your music is mad fire’ they were just going crazy. I’m like.. ‘is it that deep?’ like, nobody tells me this on the regular, this is not something normal for me. So when I went home, I was like, I really looked at I'm like, nah, that’s really love for real. These people don’t owe me any type of recognition, none of that. So when it comes from a stranger, it's just a different feeling. When I used to walk around with my art sometimes, random strangers would compliment me. When they take time out of their day or time, their energy just to, say something about my art or take down my socials, anything like that, it just makes me feel appreciated. You know, when when you have friends you kind of expect them to support you and stuff like that but when someone you don't know does it, it’s a different feeling to know other people are seeing it too.
How do you keep yourself motivated in moments when things may not always be working out?
I have moments when I doubt a lot of things that I do, solely because of social media and likes. I’ll think to myself like, ‘somebody did that, and got that many likes and that much support, why didnt I get that for my work.. Is it bad?’ My friends would be telling me like, ‘No, bro, you're tweaking like people like bugging, they're just not seeing it.’ So I mean, 'till this day, I still don't know why I don't get a certain amount of support, likes, whatever, compared to certain people or just in general. But to stay motivated, I just tell myself to keep going. If I keep going, I’ll be glad that I didn’t stop. For example, my first art piece for Brent was a scribble art piece. That was way back in 2020 and he actually noticed it, we talked a little bit about it, he DM’d me. But after the hype calmed down, I just didn't stop. I just kept making my art, and now today, I'm sitting here with a painting he actually got to see in person and sign. So if I stopped, I would’ve never experienced that and I wouldn’t be here. I always just tell myself to keep going. I stopped looking at numbers as the way I used to. Now, I dont look at it as ‘I want the most likes,’ I want the most likes from the most important people.
Where do you see yourself and your work in 10 years? In 10 years, I see myself making a stable income from my art, not really working a 9-5 job. I want to work with like major companies and artists in the music industry. I also want to work with brands like Google and Nike. I want to see my art in museums, different places online, train stations, just everywhere.
What do you hope people learn from your art?
You don't have to be like complacent. You don't have to be known for one thing. Go try different things, you may not be the best at it at first, but at least you could try it. The fact that you took that chance should make you happy.
If you could give advice to your younger self, what would it be?
I would definitely tell my younger self not to let the doubt get to you. Don't let the numbers get to you too much. Just focus on what you're doing whatever you feel is best at the time; just put it out. Don't hesitate. Don't think too much about it. Just do it.
If you could give advice to other artists on the come-up who may not have support to keep going, what would you tell them?
The most support that you need is yourself. People can tell you to keep going, but you won't do it unless you really tell yourself. So, just stick to what you think looks cool. Don't fall into the trap of making things for other people or to please other people.
