We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Chris Rockwell – GlobalScale Piano – World Citizen. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Chris below.

Chris, appreciate you joining us today. Are you happy as a creative professional? Do you sometimes wonder what it would be like to work for someone else?

Well, I kinda have a regular job now. I work at a cafe and gallery, where I not only curate the art and manage events, but I make coffee and stuff like that. I am generally a happy, peaceful person. Regardless of money or success, I try to maintain inner peace and happiness. That doesn’t mean I don’t get angry or upset in certain moments, but ultimately I return to that homeostasis of tranquility within myself.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

I got into being an artist very young, like in the first grade. I started out drawing, was heavy into illustration and writing when I was growing up. My father worked for the New York Transit Authority when I was really small, and he was always bringing me home old supplies they were throwing away, along with photos and stories about the paintings on the trains. When I hit my teenage years, I ran into a few guys in my school who were writing graffiti, and taught me a lot about spray paint and lettering, and I was instantly drawn into Hip-Hop culture. I went on to DJ, then started writing rhymes. Eventually, emceeing led me to writing poetry. It always felt like a natural flow from one thing to the next. Now, I co-own an art and poetry magazine, and we curate events and canned goods drives and such all over New Jersey and beyond, constantly serving food and culture to our community.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

In 2018 I had the second big show of mine in a row tank. We were expecting these big crowds, and they just weren’t there. I was too in love with my own persona, and neglected my true self. I think it showed in the work. The poems and songs were kinda tainted. They weren’t as powerful or passionate as they could have been. I forced things into place that weren’t naturally progressing. It was like when you break up with someone you’ve been dating a long time, and you’re heartbroken, so you go jump into a fling with the next person to keep yourself occupied, but you never give yourself a chance to process the pain. I had a string of underwhelming results from my efforts, because I wasn’t being a genuine, true artist. I was trying to be famous, and I was doing that to fill this void of unworthiness I’d been carrying around for years. Now I measure success differently. I feel more prosperous when I’m creating sincere, meaningful art and experiences, and giving more than I take. There’s no amount of physical things you can take to fill up when you feel empty inside. You can only do that from within yourself. In the end, you can really only fill that hole by giving to others.

How can we best help foster a strong, supportive environment for artists and creatives?

Society, not the government, the people, should vote with their dollars. They should also focus more on their health. Healed, well adjusted people do not hurt each other. They help each other grow. We gotta stop spending money at businesses that are not committed to being the best product for the people. I know how hard it is, because sometimes people shop at Wal-Mart and eat at McDonald’s because they feel that’s all they can afford. But we have a world of information at our fingertips, and we need to make better choices to improve our overall health, physically and mentally. Once we are a healthier people, we’ll be more prosperous. We won’t be taken advantage of by corporate greed and politicians. Artists thrive when they have freedom, and spending money at small businesses and keeping cash flowing in your community helps everyone thrive more freely. Don’t buy art at Target.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.mrchrisrockwell.com
• Instagram: @mrchrisrockwell
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/mrchrisrockwell
• Twitter: @mrchrisrockwell
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/chrisrockwellrocks
• Other: www.soupcanmagazine.com

Image Credits
Conni Freestone, Erin Anastasia, Amanda Stewart, Kevin