Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Artemus Jenkins. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Artemus, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today What did your parents do right and how has that impacted you in your life and career?

I think the best thing my parents did for me as an artist, was prepare me to be adaptable as a person. What I know about art, I picked up for myself, but navigating the world with soft skills and a hint of finesse so that I could consistently put myself in position to benefit on the path I’m walking is where I feel they were very successful. Facial symmetry certainly helps as well; a gift that should not be ignored.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I am a filmmaker as my primary trade, specializing in documentary work. I became a filmmaker in 2007 as technology was becoming more democratized across multiple digital mediums, while working in the music industry as a “New Media” specialist. Prior to that, in my college and high school years I had done work as a member of a couple “street teams learning lifestyle marketing. This consisted of putting up poster boards, stickers, dropping off fliers, meeting DJs, going to clubs and seeing how people interact with products but also art. By the time I became a “New Media” specialist blogs and digital content were becoming a major necessity and I learned to make films by shadowing artists like Ludacris, 2Chainz, Bobby V, Chingy in order to create behind the scenes videos of their process to send out to blogs.

Learning how to do this for other artists on major labels helped shaped my understanding of how I would do the same work on my personal projects. When I was laid off in 2010, I began going super hard to make my own films and I successfully launched a boutique indie film label called Christmas in July 1982 with my co-founding partner KarynRose Bruyning. I’m most proud of my response to being laid off, because working in an office all that time made it harder to manifest my personal vision for early films. I realized that I had basically been asking for more time to finish my projects and I suddenly had it, so my response was to raise money and awareness for my first feature length documentary “Color Outside the Lines”. We did a successful Kickstarter campaign that got us all the money needed to travel and complete production on our documentary about the history of black tattoo artists.

We designed cover art, authored physical DVDS, packaging, did mail orders a sold out film premiere in the Landmark Midtown Arts Cinema and from then on I knew that I could bring anything to life that I wanted whether I had lots of help or not. These days I still make my own films, do art exhibitions,have written a book called “How to be a Dope Artist and I own all my content; something I have done so to make sure the true value of the work always benefits my community first. Being able to live and do the same fly shit I was able to do working in commercial spaces as an independent artist is the thing I’m most proud of because it’s all on my terms.

Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?

The goal driving me is creative autonomy. The narrative around the powers that be stifling our creative output and ability to make a living is so old and rehashed that I wonder how people keep falling into the same traps with different technology. My assumption is we need more examples of artists defining their own success and showing others how to attain that autonomy in a myriad of ways. Also, there have often been times where I’ve been told I can’t do something or can’t be helped to actualize a goal, so spite for the doubters is a strong driving force as well.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

What’s been most rewarding as an artist is with a 15 + year career of consistently making art in multiple mediums for multiple purposes, I’ve been able to see that I was completely justified in doing my personal work independently. Here we are at a new , but familiar crossroads, contemplating the future of multiple industries and how “big music”, “big art”, “big film”, “big tech” are limiting our opportunities yet again, but the biggest opportunities we get as artists are the ones we give ourselves. I’m happy I realized that to be the truth early and am able to keep building a career on that solid foundation.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.artemusjenkins.com
• Instagram: artemusjenkins
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/artemusjenkins/
• Twitter: artemusjenkins
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCWfI01tMhOSLOMhG0uyv6ow

Image Credits
Nydia Blas