We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Dwain Coleman Jr.. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Dwain below.
Alright, Dwain thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. I’m sure there have been days where the challenges of being an artist or creative force you to think about what it would be like to just have a regular job. When’s the last time you felt that way? Did you have any insights from the experience?
It’s an internal struggle that I always deal with. Everyday that I wake up, I have to make a choice. Do I go to work and make money at the average 9-5 to support my necessities, or do I sacrifice monetary values for creating and expressing myself? Do I trade my child-like creativity & passion for the rigid lifestyle of an adult? At the end of the day, I think it’s definitely just a balance that you have to find– because just as they could be seen as two different lifestyles, they can often compliment each other. Without the structure of adulthood, I wouldn’t have the time or even understand the importance of my creativity. If I’m too creative, I could disconnect from reality and people making my art intangible. Being an artist truly makes me happy, but focusing on only happiness may be just as dangerous as not being creative. I don’t think there is a conclusion to this feeling. You will never be able to have things they way that you want them to be, so you have to always find the balance between what you want and need.
Dwain, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
I am Dwain Coleman Jr., formerly known by my stage name Theylovefrioo. I am a Visual/Graphic Artist and Musician from the metro Atlanta area. I do many things from illustration, graphic design, and creative directing to recording, producing, and arranging music. All of my life I’ve been a visual artist. I was a very good illustrator and cartoonist, drawing my favorite TV characters, football players, wrestlers, and more. That eventually lead me to graphic design as people told me that’s where the money was and that I should get on board with it. I took my first graphic design class in High-school and used it to my advantage since then. It lead me to making and selling my own T-shirts in my sophomore & junior year. Though people were right about graphic design’s value, it didn’t hold enough creative outlet for me. I found the art of music making going into my senior year which I found was the most expressive art form for me. Combining music with visual arts, I began releasing projects with my personalized cover art and merchandise to compliment. I’ve been on the journey ever since where I’m constantly learning and adding new thing to my repertoire such as creative directing for music videos/films and photoshoots, performance art and more. I am most proud that I’ve been doing this for so long and I keep finding new ways to grow and innovate the arts. I am more than just a guy making music, I am taking the language of visual art and blending it with the magic of music and performance to forge my own avenue of creativity. I don’t hold myself to one way of expression, I’m taking every art form I know I can handle and pushing it to become something new.
What can society do to ensure an environment that’s helpful to artists and creatives?
I don’t know if society should do anything. I think that is the beauty or art. People don’t always get other perspectives or support other views. Most times we look back on history and it is the arts or artists that revolutionize ways of thinking and living — or at least captures it. I think artist help people see another side of the world without having a face to face interaction with you. Maybe the best thing they can do is be open to listening, watching, and believing.
: Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?
My own selfish ambition is what is driving me. I want to see my little sketches turn into amusement parks and things you can use in your everyday life. I’ve always felt overlooked and under appreciated, and I feel like when I can finally express the visions that I have for albums, movies, TV series, paintings, NFT’s, etc, people will finally see how creative, funny, intelligent, and unique I am. Maybe that’s not the best thing fueling my creative journey, but it is.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://theylovefriooworld.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theylovefrioo/?hl=en
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dwain-lamar-coleman-jr-05a396222
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/theylovefrioo?lang=en
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCn6BC4JbK5lbKH3LJRMRrnQ/about