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

Hi Kalmplex , thanks for joining us today. Learning the craft is often a unique journey from every creative – we’d love to hear about your journey and if knowing what you know now, you would have done anything differently to speed up the learning process.

I started drawing and painting when I was 4. I use to spend hours as a kid drawing when I wasn’t playing basketball so I’ve always been practicing my craft. I got a 110 millimetre film camera when I was young so I’ve always been taking pictures I would draw people and cars. I don’t think there’s anything I could have done differently as everything I’ve ever done has lead me to where I’m at now. I think being able to be by myself was most essential and having the discipline to practice being better. I think the only obstacles I had were some people not liking me because of my skin colour because they thought they were better because they’re parents taught them they were the worlds most special people. I also had teachers that wouldn’t pick me when I had my hand up to answer questions. Ultimately I’ve always been a self propelling person and not really one to let someone else tell me what I can and can’t do in this world. The Most High brought me here to achieve great things and I’ve known that since I was a child. They were never able to break that mentality.

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’m a multimedia visual artist who’s been independently documenting art and culture in Toronto for over 20yrs. From concerts, artshows, gatherings, random after show conversations etc I’ve been there. I’m everywhere like Citytv so sometimes that means biking to 5 engagements in a night. I’ve also been painting since I was young but most of that was put on the back burner to document other artists in various disciplines doing their thing. Going from two artshows to holding up a camera in a mosh pit can be tiring. I spent more time riding around on my bike getting to places to archive Toronto’s vibe and was concentrating heavily on making a time capsule of what makes us great in Toronto.
Besides always carrying a camera and painting I’m deeply into gardening and making sure the planet is a better place. We gotta save the bees and one of the best things I’m proud of is my raised bed garden I built from scratch. Other than that my paintings of Andre 3000, The Last Supper which depicts Beyoncé as Jesus and 12 other Black women as her disciples (Rihanna, Solange, Sade, Raven Symoné as Judas, Nina Simone, Josephine Baker, Aaliyah, Whitney Houston, Erykah Badu, Lauryn Hill, Tina Turner and Grace Jones). And a few other portraits of my friends.
My visual arts practice has been to use metallic paints to signify the royalty we as melanated beings have, hence me using golds, coppers and other metallic paints as our skin colour.
I also make dehydrated fruit snax called @kalmplexsnax. I use a unique blend of spices that help with immune boosting and inflammation without added sugar so they’re healthy and beneficial. I’m pretty happy about creating something that serves the community with my snax as well as my art which people enjoy.
I want people to know I’m an independent authentic thinker that isn’t afraid to go against the grain. I’m gonna do what feels right for me whether it’s popular or not because I’m a trailblazer forging my own path to greatness.

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

Well in Toronto we currently have governments selling up public land and facilities for the interest of personal capital gain re: Ontario Place being sold to a European spa company for a 95 yr lease when Ontario Place was gifted to the public and was never meant for private sale. As well as the just announced closure of one of the world’s best Science Centre’s that was built with the architectural structure to last 250 yrs but our government claims the roof is falling apart and is shutting it down. Those claims are actually false and our Premier Doug Ford is basically going to be making condos so his buddy next door who owns property beside the Science Centre can get rich.
Essentially our government is tearing down spaces that the public goes to gather for free and build community, learn and increase their mental health. We barely have anymore music venues that host indie bands. We use to have free art/music festivals in parking lots that have basically all been turned into condos and or drugstores.
The government is also cutting funding to independent street festivals and art organizers, music hubs that brings the community together. They refuse to build green space i.e. rooftop gardens or just not cut old trees down in parks that are central in the city. We keep on increasing the police budget and cutting school programming, increasing classroom sizes and refusing to deal with our homeless situation. I think if governments would stop funding wars we could actually foster a healthy loving caring society where everyone would thrive.
Community needs to have spaces to learn, congregate, grow food and feel liberated to enjoy the Most High’s great earth. Unfortunately the people in power seem to believe this world is only to be enjoyed prosperously by them and their friends.

Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?

Showing people how great the people of Toronto are. We’re brilliant (well not everyone lol). We’re creative and we’ve been apart of creative happenings from time. For instance the Caribbean people who emigrated to New York to start hip hop (big ups Jamaica and Kool Herc for being the God Father of Hip Hop) also came to Toronto. It was New York, London or Toronto. So our hip hop reggae cultural roots are tied together. Our reggae, hip hop scene started at the same time just not on the same scale as our population was and still is smaller.
I’m here with my art and my archives to let the international community know that we’ve been here from time with our talent and that we will continue to shine. Our infrastructure needs work but our historical context and contributions are and will continue to be cemented whether people wanna give us our props or not.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://Www.Kalmplex.com
• Instagram: @kalmplex
• Facebook: Kalmplex
• Twitter: @kalmplex
• Youtube: Dreadedstar

Image Credits

Kalmplex