Spotlight: SillyGenius and the Legend of Painted Walls
Our first memories of art can influence our lifelong creative practices. For Richmond muralist, CultureWorks grantee, and founder of All City Art Club, SillyGenius’ childhood cartoons expanded a dynamic world of visual art through graffiti, comics, and urban murals today.
Read ahead for SillyGenius’ words:
CultureWorks: Who are you and what’s your story?
SillyGenius: My name is SillyGenius. Visual artist. Friendly neighborhood vandal. My journey in art started in childhood, around five years old, sitting in front of the TV and watching cartoons. That interest in cartoons led to comics, movies, music videos, graffiti, and pretty much any other form of visual art. I was a sponge soaking it all up.
CW: Tell me a bit about your relationship to your creative work as a muralist! How would you describe your style & what led you to this medium of art?
SG: Graffiti was definitely my introduction to the idea of painting on walls, at least in the modern sense. Humanity has been painting on walls since we lived in caves. So, my style is heavily influenced by graffiti and by those cartoons & comics I was engulfed in during childhood. Bright, fun colors and dynamic imagery just does it for me. I was ultimately led to murals by a lack of access to spaces where I could show my work. The urban contemporary art scene, while huge in other cities around the nation & globe, hasn’t had much support here in Richmond. Painting large walls was a way to bypass galleries and catch the attention of the public directly.
CW: What is your process for getting into the mindset of creating new work?
SG: I’m kind of always in the mindset of creating new work. The mind is always working. Everything and anything can inspire an idea. Some ideas lead to new work, some don’t.
CW: How have you felt your work connect to the community around you? Have you discovered anything new?
SG: The connection to the community through my work is pretty direct. People will come up to us while we’re painting and tell us how and why they appreciate what we’re doing. It’s refreshing and encouraging because making art is such a solitary practice, so to hear how your art is improving people’s lives and their perception & appreciation of the space they occupy feels great. The thing I discovered isn’t really a discovery, but more a reminder of a thing I already knew: there are a lot of people with an interest in art, that may have, at one point, made art in hopes of being a working artist one day, and they also suffered a lack of access that stifled that interest or life took them down a different path. It can be a bittersweet thing to hear but hopefully, they can find their way back to it. Everyone deserves art.
CW: Describe your collaborative project, All City Art Club. When did it come to fruition, and what has been a special moment to come out of the project?
SG: All City Art Club fully came to fruition in 2019. It was born out of my frustration with watching the city embrace street art and the investments that were being made, but those investments not reaching every corner of the city. West End, Southside, The Fan; art is being made everywhere. Artists live everywhere. So, invest in it everywhere. It started as a handful of artists that were feeling a similar way, organically coming together, and painting walls. And, it's still growing and shaping itself. I don’t know if a singular moment sticks out to me as much as the overall attitude shift towards art and what it can accomplish.
Ten years ago, there was one prominent Black artist in the public art space. Now it feels like we’re assembling the Justice League. People are waking up to the idea of taking ownership of their space and using art as a tool to shape that space to be reflective of their community; that art isn’t being controlled by any sort of gatekeeper. We’re in a renaissance. It’s a beautiful thing to be a part of.
CW: What advice do you have for young artists interested in exploring different mediums of expression?
SG: Do it. Go for it, full steam. You don’t know what’ll come out of it until you try, or where those ideas will lead you creatively. I mean, I just knew I was going to work for Marvel Comics as a kid; sure, that's still a possibility, but experimenting with a bunch of different mediums led me to what I'm doing now, and I genuinely love the work I'm making now.
CW: What feeds your creativity when you are not actively creating work? How do you overcome artistic blocks?
SG: Back to my answer about being in the mindset to make new work, I’m kind of always “on.” When I’m not making art, I’m living. I’m going to the movies. I’m listening to music. I’m enjoying nature. I’m spending time with family and hanging out with friends. I’m discussing the art I’m taking in with other people. Just regular everyday life. And that inspires art.
CW: What do arts and culture mean to you? Why does it matter?
SG: Arts and culture are everything. It’s how we connect as people. Just think about how we attach memories to music. An album that summarizes your teenage years. The music your aunts & uncle played at a cookout. The first dance at a wedding. How a movie changed how you perceive the world. The lesson you took from a book and applied to life. How you were forming an identity and your favorite character(s) helped that. How traditions are formed around food. It’s all art, it’s all culture. If you can’t imagine life without it, that shows how much it matters.
To learn more about SillyGenius: https://silly-genius.com/
To stay updated with SillyGenius: https://www.instagram.com/sillygenius/?hl=en
To learn more about All City Art Club: https://www.allcityartclub.com/