Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Carlo Valentino. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Hi Carlo, thanks for joining us today. We’d love to hear the backstory behind a risk you’ve taken – whether big or small, walk us through what it was like and how it ultimately turned out.
Pursuing a career in a creative industry poses certain challenges. Freelancing, working for an agency, or a corporation, there are many avenues that creatives can follow, but which is the right one? I believe there is no right decision as this is the beauty of being a creative. We can navigate different opportunities according to our interests & skillsets and pivot if necessary. My art career over the years has seen many shifts, starting with clothing design then to freelance animation, to fine art and mural art. Now I do a little bit of all of the previous, but primarily focus on my passion, painting. A creative career is often labeled as risky, but the skills refined along the way can act as a safety net for when opportunities fall through. I majored in Business and was not enthralled with the looming job prospects and I’m grateful that I had my animation work to lean into come graduation as it has grown to become a varied skill set.
As a self taught 3D animator, I found my first strong work prospects as a VJ, Visual Jockey, and animator in the electronic music industry. I create custom animated videos for DJs that play onstage during their live sets. This was my main service and had evolved from my 2D design work which began in early high school. My animation work has been displayed all over the U.S. and internationally. I took a bet on this 3D skillset, knowing it was the future of many industries, but at the time, did not expect the music industry to be my main revenue source. Taking the risk to continue to pursue my freelance animation work post grad, felt right inside, but it was still calculated and supplemented with other revenue streams, such as a carpenter’s assistant. I found it was very important to remain open to different areas of work when you don’t have a guaranteed paycheck coming in. Those slow periods are real and finding ways to account for that is a must. I am a very strong advocate of working on something during the day so that you can financially invest in yourself while working on your craft in the mornings and nights.
My animation career shifted once the lockdowns kicked in and the music industry shuttered overnight. I took this as an opportunity to shift my focus to my personal creativity and took to my roots, painting. After many sketches and iterations, the dedication that I poured into devising a unifying theme had eventually paid off. The style that I now call the “Amoebas” is a minimalist pop surrealist representation of the simple yet complex fluidity of life. Three years later, I am still painting this style and it has evolved far beyond what I had initially expected in 2020. This pivot revealed my passion and prepared me for the leap I was about to take, pursuing my fine art career in Los Angeles.
After 2 years of living at my mom’s house in New Jersey, hunkered down, painting, practicing and evolving, I was ready to bring my art into the world. A past music client of mine had an open room in his Downtown LA warehouse apartment. A move across the country, to my first apartment and working primarily as a freelancer seemed daunting. However the spot was available for just the summer so I knew I had to seize this opportunity. I packed up my PC, paintbrushes, and my Pomeranian, Ozzy.
It’s now the summer of 2021 but lets flashforward through the ups and downs of one’s first move and in a new city. Summer was ending & I needed to make a decision, stay or go. I had just thrown my first solo exhibition and sold some of the works, but that was not the rent check I needed to stay in the city. Nearing my final days, I saw on instagram that Kenny Scharf was painting a mural in Skid Row at the Los Angeles Mission. I hopped on my skateboard and rode over in the hopes of meeting my favorite artist. I arrived just in time to catch Scharf stories above the streets, spray painting his iconic characters on the front of a massive building. Amazed, I stuck around & watched him finish off the work day. To the team producing the mural, I also offered my assistance and they told me to come back the next day. I had the honor to fill in the background around Scharf’s legendary characters. Towering high above the city, it was my first time on a lift and working on a mural. This opportunity had then evolved into more upcoming mural gigs, including an even larger mural assisting Scharf. The Branded Arts team had become my mentors and I had found a way to continue working in Los Angeles.
Its coming up on nearly 3 years since then and I am very proud and honored of the work I have done in Los Angeles. I am now predominantly oil painting and planning a future solo show for 2024. Working alongside artists has inspired me to push this career forward. It is extremely important to follow through on our talents and dreams, not just for ourselves, but to inspire others to try the same. Art has a rippling effect that is hard to quantify, but it is everlasting and touches all facets of life.
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 practicing artist working primarily with oil paint to create my signature style, the “Amoebas”. I utilize my self taught 3D modeling skillset to create animations of my work and 3D printed sculptures. The “Amoebas” represent the most simplified aspects of living organisms. They are the building blocks of our creative existence and a minimalist take on pop-surrealism. I go by the pseudonym VALOZZITY, primarily for my digital artworks sold as nfts. The name is a combination of my last name Valentino and my dog’s name, Ozzy. Over time I have come to recognize the strength of operating a fine art business under ones true name and not an instagram handle, therefore my paintings are signed and sold as Carlo Valentino. Social media truly shifted our societal norms! However I am really starting to embrace utilizing social media to my benefit and no longer see it as a chore for artists.
I created this style during covid lockdowns in 2020 in an effort to find a style that could succeed artistically and financially. I needed to satisfy my business mindset if I was going to undertake a career in the arts. The Amoebas were my solution and evolved to become my vehicle to drive forward my various skill sets and to learn new mediums.
The Amoebas are the result of years of attempts, failures, and some successes, at growing my creative passion into a profitable business venture. I aim to have a solo exhibition highlighting my recent oil paintings in 2024. I create digital artworks as well, pulling from my background as a VJ loop animator in the music industry, but there is nothing quite like the physical creation process and placing that work in a collector’s home. It is a very interesting feeling, almost like giving a piece of yourself each time you part ways with a work. I try my best to not become too attached to my creations and think of them as building blocks to get to the next best piece.
What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?
The most rewarding aspect of being an artist is learning how I enjoy spending my free time. My art career has brought purpose to how I spend my mornings and nights. Fitting my artwork in while working fulltime has sharpened my discipline and time management. Once I started to figure out a routine and embrace it, I noticed an increase in my willingness to create. I found a rhythm that I find very empowering for my art and other aspects of my life. Art requires discipline especially since it can feel like art is the first thing to go when free time starts to fade. This discipline has been the most rewarding aspect of being an artist. I now apply this to areas in my life outside of art and it has become essential for my growth. This understanding of self discipline is attributed to my creating art as often as possible.
In comparison, I had the days of crazy long nights, working when the inspiration strikes, sleeping late and doing it all over again. Although this is often portrayed as the artist lifestyle, I see more success come from those that are embracing self discipline. Not having a routine and just creating when I felt like it often led to moments that didn’t have a rhythm and was more likely to lead to burnout. Seeing both sides of the coin certainly has taught me how I best absorb knowledge and work towards my goals.
We’d love to hear your thoughts on NFTs. (Note: this is for education/entertainment purposes only, readers should not construe this as advice)
Ah. NFTs , such a polarizing topic. I’m in support of NFTs since I focus on the benefits it brings to digital artists. The scams, the hacking, the crypto boom and bust, the financial grabs, etc.etc. are all daggers to the heart for the mission statement of NFTs. Like anything, if there is an opportunity for one to profit from another’s misfortune, it will be seized. This has tarnished the general populations view on NFTs and rightfully so. However there are many, like myself, that are focusing on the artwork and building communities on top of this digital architecture. Without getting too deep into the rabbit hole of NFTs, I like to compare and contrast the careers of 3D artists before and after NFTs. I am an artist that began creating my 3D artwork for DJs and live concert visuals, but NFTs instigated a shift that brought forth collectors and communities that are interested in the personal bodies of work of digital artists.
3D artists relied heavily on posting their artwork to instagram in the hopes to go viral and amass a large following. This spawned the “Daily Renders” hashtag where artists would create 1 render per day and post to instagram. The quality of the art, generally would suffer, and the artist would be more prone to face burnout. This was all done in an effort to keep up with the algorithm, which is notorious for not even showing post to one’s full following. There were no ways for artists to directly monetize the sharing of their artwork. Maybe if they were discovered, brand sponsorships or commissions would come along. Now thanks to NFTs we have artists of all calibers, selling artwork that is their own and being distributed directly to their communities via these NFT marketplaces. The marketplaces are starting to embrace the common structure of social media by implementing likes, comments, and following. Having the option to buy doesn’t mean a sale will happen, but it is certainly more than instagram or other social medias have ever done for digital artists.
My last strong comparison highlights the 3D artists of the music industry. The man behind the curtain, the VJs or Visual Jockeys, the ones responsible for the visual component to all live performances. Prior to NFTs, many artists found financial opportunity by selling their work to DJs and live music performers that would play on the LED screens. Depending on the agreement, artists typically would receive a one time payment for delivering the animated clips and the DJ could use them in perpetuity. Licensing options do exist, but from my experience, more likely to be agreed upon if the DJ has a larger following and respects the nature of their visual counterpart, the 3D artist. This industry still exists and careers are still blossoming from it, but now we are seeing big names like The Weekend purchase NFTs from prominent 3D artist FVCKRENDER via the blockchain and then utilizing the clips in his live performances. The Weekend became a collector of FVCKRENDER and then utilized the artworks he purchased. This supports the artist’s available works and doesn’t require the commission process, which often tarnishes the artist’s integrity. Thanks to NFTs, artists no longer need to create with a client in mind. They can create for themselves and according to their own vision & body of work. Press upload, set a price, and if it sells, hoorah. If it doesn’t there are still eyes on the work much like traditional sharing on social media. Not having the option to buy shows the true colors of platforms like Instagram, profiting off of our usership and offering very little in return.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.carlovalentino.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/valozzity/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/carl-joseph-valentino
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/valozzity
Image Credits
Bretton Long ( one image, noted in the image file name )