We caught up with the brilliant and insightful DEUCEFROZE a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

DEUCEFROZE , looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. How did you learn to do what you do? Knowing what you know now, what could you have done to speed up your learning process? What skills do you think were most essential? What obstacles stood in the way of learning more?

I have learned and continually learn by listening. My real name is Simeon. And I don’t feel that it is ironic that derives from the Hebrew word “to listen”. So absorbing what I see in everything that I’m placed around and translating that into the language of my art. And when I mean art I mean anything that I create. And then taking the time to digest my own work and building off the accumulated experiences. I feel there’s an invisible string that ties into every work you do. The word “poem” comes from the Greek word “poema” which means to work. You’re art reflects you. You just have to work it out.

I feel the biggest thing that hinders the learning process is simply not putting your hand to your work. The best thing I can relate it to is working out. Creating is like a muscle. And just like a muscle it doesn’t grow if it’s not put under any pressure. And conversely if you over consume you store fat that covers those muscles. If you don’t put them to work they become weak. They’re still there but you haven’t made them useful. Form follows function. So again, you just have to work it out.

I think the most essential skill learned is being patient. Everything takes time. And nothing ever goes exactly as planned. That’s not a good excuse to not plan but it is grounding to have understanding when you are following a path and things start to go awry. The experience of different trials makes you capable of facing more daunting tasks anyway so might as well trip as little as possible and keep it moving.

The only obstacle in my way of learning more is myself. Sometimes there are invisible walls and locks we had in our brain that need to be broken through. When you move confidently enough the invisibility of your uncomfortability is only felt by yourself. One of those locks could be something like being afraid of getting told no so you don’t ask the questions that will unlock the door. And in life there will be plenty of locks and doors to rooms that will provide experiences to unlock more.

DEUCEFROZE , 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?

To put it simply I’m an artist. I create a myriad of meaningful works and striving to make more. A lot of my art can stand alone individually but since they come from the same source in certain ways they correlate with one another. Just as we are God’s creation we have the ability to create purposeful things in this life. I believe every one has that ability to give of themself some form of architecting that benefits themself and others. Design is in everything we see. The product of using what we have at our disposal whether positive or negative. Some people might think cutting down trees are bad but then complain about not having the means to build a home. Great things take work to build. We get the ingredients but we still must execute a recipe. I have things in store being developed that I think people will enjoy the taste of. I feel like I’m just getting started.

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

I think what can society do best to support creatives is to support who you resonate with. No matter how big they’re following is. Everyone has access to present their art and some do it better than others. And it can be easy to gear your art to social media when it should be social media gearing to your art. A painter wants their paintings to exist outside of the devices we use. It’s a different experience. Just like the feeling of calling someone on the phone versus seeing them in person. You further explore the genuineness of them. Although I’m an introvert, I love having conversations with the people that enjoy my work. To know my art can spark conversation is intriguing. The accumulation of feedback can kind of tell you what your impact is. So art consumers (which is really everyone including me) don’t support someone just because everyone else is. Acknowledge the guy that goes hard even when only a few eyes are on them. They will remember you.

Can you share your view on NFTs? (Note: this is for education/entertainment purposes only, readers should not construe this as advice)

I feel like NFT’s haven’t been utilized in the best way they could be. It is still a fairly new system. But I think in time as businesses and creatives find creative ways to implement them in their business NFT’S will become more commonly used with the maturing of blockchain technology. Right now it’s not looking good so the people that joined off of hype never really understood what NFT’S were anyway. So if you know you know. I’ve been doing my studying not trying to get left behind.

Contact Info:

• Website: Solo.to/deucefroze
• Instagram: Instagram.com/deucefroze
• Twitter: Twitter.com/deucefroze
• Youtube: https://youtube.com/@vellovision

Image Credits
Meleya Dunn