Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Miles Davis. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Miles, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. When did you first know you wanted to pursue a creative/artistic path professionally?

On my first birthday, my babysitter asked my parents’ permission to perform a traditional Korean ceremony called doljabi on me. The doljabi is said to bless and determine the child’s future. She placed a number of objects on the table in front of me including a dollar bill, a paintbrush, and a variety of other things and encouraged me to pick up any object I wished. Well, as if you couldn’t have guessed, I gravitated to the paintbrush – and so it was done! I was destined to become an artist. Pretty sure my mom would have preferred I had picked up the money.

I’ve been creating in some form since I was 5 years old. I always made cartoons and wrote stories. My creativity kept my brother and me company on airport layovers. Growing up in a divorced military family, we did a bit of traveling as kids and during one visit, an airport attendee that was assigned to babysit us showed me how to draw Spiderman. It stuck with me. My journey was set. Soon I was tracing comic books and my studies broadened into more classical studies such as the elements of design and figure/anatomy studies.

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

First and foremost, I am a fine art painter. I have been professionally creating since 2005 when I co-founded Massive Burn Studios with my future wife Merissa. My style is most closely related to neosurrealism, and much of my art explores themes of modernization and the intersection of the human spirit with religion, technology, and science. I primarily paint figures but try to add a unique twist to traditional subject matter, often painting the figures intertwined with other figures, their spirit, or in some cases, the grim reaper. Aesthetically, I find inspiration in pop media like music, movies, comics, graffiti, and other artists, and I continue to explore new mediums such as blacklight paint, gold leaf and metallics, while maintaining my focus on the core of painting. I’ve been really interested in eyeballs and puzzle pieces recently. I don’t know – sometimes I just swim with whim and see where the waves of inspiration carry me.

I hope that my work evokes an ethereal essence, and I aim to speak to an audience of the “artistically uninitiated.” I strive to meet a unique accessibility, to get past the elitist tendencies and create work that resonates to everyone despite their art education. I recently wrapped up my first solo museum exhibition at the Marietta Cobb Museum of Art. The ten-week exhibition entitled Vibrant Shadows was an awesome success; the Executive Director mentioned that many of their patrons skewed younger, which I love to hear. My goal with this exhibition was to connect younger audiences with the art world. It has so much to offer, and I’m glad my work speaks to them. I love sharing my work with new audiences, and I look forward to presenting my work to other museums in the near future.

Along with canvas, I also paint murals, do custom illustrations and commissions, live painting, tattoo designs, logos, you name it. Much of my commercial work includes my wife Merissa, a very talented graphic and web designer. Some of our more exciting projects include the album art and logo for Sevendust’s Hope & Sorrow album, a number of albums for Saturate, a hard rock band out of Houston, and a few beer labels for Second Self Brewery here in Atlanta. I enjoy working with fellow creatives; I find that the career paths between visual artists and musicians align very well. It’s a self-motivated journey where most of what you hear is “no.” Unlike traditional career paths, it takes a lot of perseverance, ambition, and quite a bit of ego – or delusion – to dismiss the naysayers and get where you want to go.

I am always open for commissions, interviews, live art events, and open to gallery representation, so if anyone is interested in reaching out, please visit massiveburn.com or send me a message on Instagram @massiveburn!

We’d love to hear your thoughts on NFTs. (Note: this is for education/entertainment purposes only, readers should not construe this as advice)

I’m on the fence about NFTs. I’ve done plenty of research and am no closer to really knowing how I feel. The “idea” is cool and the blockchain technology that supports the market, along with the cryptocurrency the majority of NFT marketplaces trade on, is next level stuff and I think it’s here to stay. Some statistical research contends the environmental and energy expenditures to create, store, and sell NFTs doesn’t outweigh the inherent ethical responsibility to not damage the environment so recklessly to just make a few bucks. On the other hand, some research poses these studies as exaggerated, and the market is booming anyway. Either get on board or be left behind. Either way I ultimately fail, most of the “artistic” NFTs I’ve seen are not that good to me. We’ve had some investors approach us about creating NFTs, and the market does seem like a bubble that’s already deflating to me. I could be wrong though. IF we do end up releasing NFTs, I want to make sure that we make some interesting ones that we’re proud to release and that stand up on their own merit behind any investment paid by a collector. I’m interested to see the further development in the proof-of-stake model vs the proof-of-work model and the other various developments in the blockchain processing infrastructure. When those align to our liking, I think we’ll be much more aggressive in the NFT fine art market.

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

I love knowing that others are inspired or transported by my work. Whether or not they are artists themselves, I love having conversations with the viewer about what they see and what it means to them. The true purpose of visual art, in my opinion, is to start a conversation, provoke a thought. It doesn’t have to be positive or negative, but it should make you think, react, engage. My goal is to connect with art enthusiasts who feel something when they see my work. When someone stops in front of a painting, stands there exploring it, getting lost in it, seeing themselves in it – that’s when I know I’ve done my job.

Contact Info:

• Website: massiveburn.com
• Instagram: @massiveburn
• Facebook: @massiveburn
• Twitter: @massiveburn
• Youtube: @massiveburn
• Other: TikTok @massiveburn

Image Credits
Feature photo courtesy of SXS Studios @shotbysed