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

Hokett, appreciate you joining us today. It’s always helpful to hear about times when someone’s had to take a risk – how did they think through the decision, why did they take the risk, and what ended up happening. We’d love to hear about a risk you’ve taken.

Contemporary Artist formally known as Fashion Designer, Hokett Gallery. An Artist who creates sculpture paintings through a mixed media process combining all his artistic ability and creative vision into one. Switching from Fashion, where I designed and sold everything from jackets, sneakers, bags, and more: to the Art Industry where I create what I like to call Sculpture Paintings.

Sculpture Paintings are my 3D wall sculptures made from combining all of my design styles into one. I combine multiple mediums from pastels, acrylic, graphite, charcoal, fine art photography, digital art made from shapes, art on a fashion canvas, and sculpting to develop my work. My goal was to disrupt the idea of what traditional art looks like and feels like.

Typically sculpting is thought to be made from metal, bronze, marble, etc. and then be presented standing alone directly on the floor or art pedestal. However, I always envisioned my art as paintings that jumped out of the wall creating a 3D effect to pictures that you normally see in a 2 dimensional way.

Being brand new to the Art industry, I knew to create a name for myself I had to jump out of the box and force myself to present something the world has never seen while still making sure the traditional message is felt. I spent 4 – 5 years trying to figure out how I wanted to present myself as an Artist. What would be my signature style? Like all famous Artists they have a style that you can identify through their work. To me being able to be identified with my own art style was more important than the actual art itself. All successful businesses have mastered the art of brand identification. From Tiffany’s blue to Nike’s check branding is more important than the actual product.

The biggest risk I have ever taken is walking away from 10+ years of Fashion experience and being known as a Fashion Designer to become an Artist. An Artist with no history, no connections to the art world, no fine art degree, or professional lessons or any kind. Some may believe that having no history in the art industry is a weakness but I believe that is my biggest strength. I have no mental limits on how others before me or next me believe art should be. I am completely free to do whatever I feel without the restraints of Industry approval or opinion. To me, that’s exactly what true art is; Art is feeling. It’s not a picture of a landscape or how perfect your image resembles a photograph; it’s about how the art makes you feel. The emotions it creates and the impact it causes through those emotions. That’s my goal as an Artist.

My sculpture paintings are a combination of 10+ years of design through multiple genres my art experience is actually greater than someone else whose been doing the exact same thing for 10+ years. I have immersed myself in all art genres from music, to fashion, design, painting, and now sculpting. Constantly being willing to jump into worlds I don’t completely understand is my greatest strength understanding that failure is just a quiz to prepare you for the test. Walking away from looking for someone else to teach me and deciding to teach myself has helped me develop all Art skills I have today.

Hokett, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

As a child I used to draw pictures of people sitting in front of me or beside me everywhere I went. I would do it in school, in the doctors office, while traveling, as a fun way to past the time. This was my first introduction into the art world. It was a form of excitement for me when I was bored. Art helped me find peace and made me happy when I would look at the image with my friends and laugh at the model who was unaware of any of it.

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

The most rewarding aspect of being a creative is having the ability to create new opportunities through your own ideas. Through art I can create my sculpture paintings, a logo for a new business owner, a T shirt for a fashion company, develop an interior design concept for a brick and mortar business or even help paint a better picture visually for a musician through album art or video. All of these things start and end with Art.

What can society do to ensure an environment that’s helpful to artists and creatives?

I believe we should all look to partner with Artists more in industries that we may not even recognize there is a need. For children’s books, we should allow children to create the artwork. For the building of highways we should allow Artists to be involved in how the new layout should flow throughout a city. I believe if Art entered more spaces then we would see ordinary places like the grocery store be transformed into indoor gardens where customers could pick there own fresh fruit and vegetables straight out of the ground. The world would shift in a faster more exciting way with Artists involved in every industry.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.hokettgallery.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/hokettgallery
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/timothy-hokett-749721100/
• Other: www.hokettenterprises.com

Image Credits
Picture of Artist Timothy Hokett Just Do It – Sculpture Painting, 61cm x 92cm Join The Fight – Sculpture Painting, – 76cm x 53cm