We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Cody Prez. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Cody below.

Cody , looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. What did your parents do right and how has that impacted you in your life and career?

Growing up as a young child with a desire for the arts was different than most children my age.
Yeah kids draw, doodle, and dabble, but me, …it was a whole different energy and desire to create. I needed to be great, in whatever terms that meant to satisfy my souls expectance of so.
My parents were always right by my side through every step. My mother, a creative herself was always building stained glass artworks for people and her support was an obvious push, my father, well his talent was people, his whole swag was his selfless, thoughtful, personable style that just drew people naturally to his presence in any time of need, and his openness to being who I wanted to be was more supportive than most parents would generally ever be, well with an attachment of only if my work was being created in a positive manner (mostly) even if it was for my own self confidence. Lets also not take away from my mothers knowledge and support with supplies, supply runs, and talking my father into letting me use the basement walls as a place to practice my crafts between aerosols, airbrush, paintbrush, and handstyles.
My mother, also a business minded independent woman always taught me about how people work when money was involved, contracts, protecting my self and my art, finding work, building relationships, and understanding how my personality can draw all those things into my life. Outlook was everything. Respect was everything, and common courtesy was a necessary tool. Having people know they can trust and depend on you was key to building a successful future, and how punctuality was just as important to the visual works I could create for others based off their visions. I was lucky to have them both in my life, and in my corner supporting and rooting me on. Especially since graffiti was one of my first true loves and starting points. Without both of them, im not sure I would have came this far with my passion and craft.
As a parent myself, I think being a strong support system for your child, even if it may go against your outlook is the most positive reinforcement that can be supplied onto a youths confidence structure, and I learned that due to my parents willingness to let me be who I wanted to be

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.

For folks who may not have read about you before, can you please tell our readers about yourself, how you got into your industry / business / discipline / craft etc, what type of products/services/creative works you provide, what problems you solve for your clients and/or what you think sets you apart from others. What are you most proud of and what are the main things you want potential clients/followers/fans to know about you/your brand/your work/ etc.

For anyone who knows me, they know exactly who I am, and what fuels every atom in my heart mind and soul, respectively and creatively, for the ones who don’t, I welcome you into my space with genuine open arms as long as respect is mutual.
I am disciplined in many ways, but whats most important to me is respect, in both direction, for the love of my craft, the love of sharing, and the passion to help anyone who asks for help and support in their search to grow as a artist themselves . I am fully self taught, no schooling, no classes, no guidance other than the drive to figure it all out. I had no role model showing me the ropes, and during my era mostly everyone was a gatekeeper for many reasons other than just being selfish. The 90s in NYC was a cut throat scene, especially on the streets. It was all about ego, nothing more, nothing less. You had to be dope, you had to have style, you had to have skill to earn that respect from the circle around you, nothing came without a price, nothing came for free. That experience has made me the protector to the craft I love and take so seriously, just Like a parent to their child, and it always drove me to out challenge myself everytine I came back with a new project.
Aerosols was always my favorite, especially at one point it was all I was using in my early years. I think I got my first paid gig in 1995 painting a side wall to a deli in the hood for like 500$, and man was I feeling myself for that. It was dope, 500$ was what seemed to be alot of money back then as a young teenager, but when I look back now I laugh because it was so trash. I caught the itch to work because nothing felt more freeing that earning income off my talent, even though that too came with its own price. My peers talked down to me, they called me names, a sellout, a toy… but i didn’t care. I wanted more than just street credit. Graffiti was a love, but it was a lifestyle that I didn’t want as much as some of my other friends who were destroying the streets so heavy, and I loved watching them shine, but I felt different about how they viewed me for my work. I had something to prove, I needed to show people I was worthy for my own shit, my own style, my own love for the art that I loved creating. I demanded respect, I demanded you knew who I was, and I demanded I continued no matter who had what to say, because I was different, my art was different, and most of those guys couldn’t do what I was on track to do. I continued to find jobs, hired gigs, selling canvases, painting bedrooms, walls, whatever. I continued to work soooo hard at getting better and better, understand color theory, lighting, shading, perspectives, vantage points, symmetry, you name it. Still to this day all these years later, I am still learning, I am still growing, and I still find myself defending my craft to haters who cant paint for shit, but I know my place in the world, and that place holds no bearing to anyones input other than the people who I value and love. When you do good things people talk, when you do bad things people talk, but what counts is the attention comes no matter what, and if you can handle that attention positively, and professionally, the work continues to come, and boy did it ever. I am a word of mouth commissioned artist with zero advertisement, and I work! I am blessed with the volume ive created in my life, the finances it has brought into my life, and the confidence it continues to provide me, and no advertisement that is payed for can ever demand that.
Like i said, I demand respect, and it shows. My career as a part time artist has been full-filling beyond my thoughts from when I was young gun coming up trying to find my way, and I am proud of myself for the works I’ve done and participated in doing for all the beautiful people along the way.. what a journey it has been for sure

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

In regards to what I feel is or may be the most rewarding part of what I do in a creative manor is simply not just the story it can create, the interpretation it grants, and the conversations the work sparks, but the self accomplishment I feel internally, emotionally, and physically from the feat that I pushed myself to complete. In life, we must always remember those around us, those who support us, those who look up to us not as just a creator or artist, but as good hearted human beings who are all trying to find the same values in our individual journeys in life, but we must always remember to satisfy ourselves and fullfill our own hearts and souls with the things that make us most happy. Self care is not selfish, its a promotor of greatness we can continue to spread out to the world looking at in.

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

I mean, life is full of pivots and strategy right? The game of life. Though a game is fun, life many times more than less can be the total opposite. This isnt a past time with fake money we can just box up when we’re done playing, frustrated, or bored of playing! No we must prevail, adapt, learn, correct, admit, reflect, adhere, accept and learn to just be. There have been many of those moments in my time, and im sure ill have more. We go through chapters just like a book, we change over that story, the only difference is this story is being written as we go, so we do have some control on how the final chapter ends, right? Ive been through so many places with different mind sets, but the one that always stood solid was maintaining a respectful manor of self worth and quality. Consistency is key, at least in the majority. I grew from a street kid to a aerosol artist to a visual artist to a airbrush artist to a acrylic artist to a oil artist and a digital artist and with each application came different people, different responsibility, different lessons, and different skills. They all made me pivot over and over again to how I approach everything in all different scenarios and I love each branch of my artistry for everything it has taught me about myself and who I truly am deep down inside. Most recently ive gotten to the point of not even caring about the income the work brings me, its about the work I want to create for the creativeness, the money comes and goes and when you dont enjoy the actual work you tend to feel you’re just devaluing yourself.. you’re loosing time from the short years we have to do for others, for what? Money? Theres more to life than money, although we all need it, we as the artist get to chose for who we want to create for, who we want to work for, and with that i feel in the long run it brings a more cleaner, more valued client through and through, and although the pivot may hurt at first,
It will balance itself and bring me a feeling of accomplishment and worth in the long run. Do not self yourself short, because before you know it, its all over.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://Www.artworkbycodyprez.com
• Instagram: Prezarecta

Image Credits

All photo credits are owned by myself