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

Hi Krishna, thanks for joining us today. I’m sure there have been days where the challenges of being an artist or creative force you to think about what it would be like to just have a regular job. When’s the last time you felt that way? Did you have any insights from the experience?

I can’t remember a day that passed where I hadn’t imagined myself in a traditional job setting. The inconsistencies of working in a creative field and facing obstacles that seem futile really makes one romanticize the conventional 9-5. Working as a full-time tattooer to support my painting practice while also making the time to paint can feel demanding and arduous, and often feels like I’m running in circles sacrificing hours trying to make something worthwhile. After either tattooing all day or waiting for walk-ins to fill my time, going home to the studio and painting often feels like the last thing I’d be capable of. There were often times I would go months without picking up a brush, let alone completing projects I had started; my studio would be crowded with blank canvases and littered with empty coffee cups. 2023 especially was a grueling time for me painting-wise and one of my only paintings (Quarter-Life Crisis Street Shop Blues) that came out of that year communicated the strain I felt being pushed or pulled between tattooing and my painting practice.

All this being said, I wouldn’t trade it for the world. Between juggling tattoo clients and painting in my studio, finding that balance between the two and being able produce work I’m proud of in both disciplines is unconditionally rewarding. From seeing tattoo clients’ reactions to the work I’ve done for them, and making breakthroughs in the studio, I not only feel fulfilled with the work I’ve done but inspired and driven to keep creating. It’s a distinct feeling no regular job could afford me. Even in the face of insecurity and relentless self-doubt, after every tattoo or painting, I know I wouldn’t sacrifice the freedom and privilege to create for any other profession. Being immersed in creative fields in both tattooing and painting has offered me countless opportunities to engage with other like-minded people and express myself artistically. From the unconditional joy of being able to create, to the satisfaction that comes with stepping back from a piece of work with pride, working as a creative is undoubtedly a worthwhile sacrifice.

I’m eternally grateful and proud of the life I’ve carved out for myself, and I continue to push myself so long as it keeps me immersed in a creative field enriched with art and collaboration. Being able to throw myself completely into a creative world is a privilege that like most things, comes with great commitment. There will always be moments where I question whether or not I’m walking the right path, or if I’d be better off working a “regular job.” Yet despite these instances, I’ll always find myself in front of a canvas, or before a sketchbook, looking to find peace and ingenuity within my practice. The faith I’ve maintained in the journey and process that comes with both tattooing and painting never fails to leave me eternally grateful. And I know I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Krishna, 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?

My name’s Krishna Schroth, I’m a Filipino-American artist born in Pequannock, NJ where I continue to work and paint. Like most artists, I’ve been drawn (no pun intended) towards art from a very young age, vandalizing the walls in my house and scribbling through every book I came across with crayons and markers despite my parents’ distress. Though it wasn’t until high school when my art teachers eagerly encouraged me to keep creating that I started to pursue art more seriously. I was juggling between either pursuing English Literature or Fine Art in college, and once I visited Rutgers’ Mason Gross School of the Arts and felt an immediate connection to the school and the Fine Arts program, I realized my path in art was set in stone. Around this time was also when I started getting tattooed, and right away I became enthralled with the process and artistry of the trade. It sparked a impulse in me to learn more about the history of tattooing, and immerse myself more in tattoo imagery – especially in American traditional.

Throughout my undergrad, I’ve always felt pulled towards numerous different art styles, pulling influences from a variety of different sources: film, literature, community murals, and naturally, tattoos. As time went on and my work progressed, I started becoming widely influenced by tattoo imagery, incorporating certain styles from traditional tattoo flash into my paintings.

In 2019 I started working on projects for Windows of Understanding, a public art initiative based in Middlesex County that aims to celebrate community organizations and illuminate social justice issues that are not mentioned in the media. Through working with Windows of Understanding and collaborating with different non-profit organizations in the area to help bring to light their mission through art, I quickly became inspired and motivated to not only work more with murals, but to engage in more public art and community projects as well. This experience directly inspired my undergrad thesis project, American Dream, an 8’ x 23’ mural I had intended on installing in the Mason Gross Galleries.

However, come 2020, COVID-19 had thrown a bit of a wrench in those plans as I had to adapt to complete the mural under limited resources and facilities. Having to shift the course of my project and rework the piece in order to accommodate an online platform was a challenge I was crushed to have to face, yet the redirection provided me a new perspective regarding life and art-making that both influenced the piece itself as well as the direction I was headed towards in my artistic career.

Upon graduation, the job market as well as other artistic opportunities were either halted or withdrawn due to the pandemic, and I was left working in retail and restaurants – both of which were draining my energy and creativity. Burnt out and desperate for work back in the art field, I began reapplying to different creative positions: from mural opportunities, to art assistant and teaching positions, I was ready to accept anything that would bring me closer to a creative environment. It was then when I started getting tattooed again, and the same spark that ignited my interest in tattooing when I was 18, lit right back up at 23. Knowing that tattooing was something I’d always wanted to tackle since my first tattoo, I felt inclined to ask my tattoo artist about taking me on as an apprentice, and to my genuine delight, he had agreed. And in 2021 I apprenticed under the mentorship and guidance of the man that helped fan the flames of my interest in tattooing, and I’ve been working at the same shop ever since.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

I’d say the most rewarding aspect for me is experiencing the act and process of bringing visual ideas to life. The journey of creating that starts from the initial spark of an idea all the way down to stepping back from the finished product is an enriching and valuable practice that has sustained me since I was able to pick up a brush. I feel as if there’s an intrinsic divinity tied to creating that nourishes that creative expression and cycles back into the next project of one’s craft. With painting, I generally find the most fulfillment in the act of it; of physically mixing paint with a palette knife, stroking my brush across the dry gesso, and watching the colors and shapes fill the canvas. It’s a genuine rush and freedom like no other, and being able to step back and take in the final product of a finished painting is an added bonus that reaps the same amount of gratification.

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

I’ve had to learn to let go of perfectionism and accept that mistakes are not only inevitable, but necessary to the process of art making. Though this is still something I continue to work on to this day, an instance where I had to learn this the hard way was when I was working on a colored pencil portrait on paper and had accidentally knocked a wet acrylic palette as well as dirty paint water onto it. Though mistakes like this are unfortunately familiar and a shattering rite of passage for any artist, needless to say I was nearly inconsolable as I thought hours of work had just gone to waste. Frustrated and desperate to hang onto the piece, I was resolved to incorporate acrylic into the portrait, abstracting an image that was initially rendered towards realism and reworking it into a mixed media piece. Ultimately, this revelation ended up redirecting the course of my work and my art making process as it steered me to lean more towards abstraction in my work – yet this transformation in style wouldn’t have come had it not been for that “happy little accident.” From this, I’ve learned that perfectionism and being tethered to an idealized outcome stunts growth, and unlearning this habit is necessary for evolving as an artist.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.krishnaschroth.com
• Instagram: @krishna.schroth