We recently connected with Nai Turner and have shared our conversation below.

Nai, appreciate you joining us today. We’d love to hear about when you first realized that you wanted to pursue a creative path professionally.

AHHH! Great question! I’ve loved art since I was 12 years old. However, I was interested in so many things that I never was sure about what I wanted to do professionally. I remember the exact day I decided I wanted to pursue art professionally. I was in the military and we were in the field for a week. I was laying in my tent asking myself “what am I doing?” I felt like I was on the sidelines just watching life happen. I didn’t feel like I was a participant in my own life. I started drawing in my free time and decided that I’m going to fully pursue being a professional artist. When I got out the military I decided I would do all of the things I’d pictured myself doing. With that, I decided to go by the name of Sideline Images. I began watching YouTube to learn how to paint the things I was interested in painting. The rest was history.

Nai, 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?

To those who aren’t familiar with myself or my body of work. I want you all to know I’m a self- taught painter who classify my style as a hybrid of realism, pop, and street art. My work really connect with my thoughts on what’s happening in the world, sharing it by way of creative expression in my pieces. Which ranges from fun, vibrant illustrations of classic TV and movie scenes starring your favorite actors and portraits of musicians from the 90’s to very pointed representations of the world’s racial issues—which often include moshups of Black leaders from decades’ past sharing spaces with our young Black voices of today.

I have many accolades but the thing I’m most proud of is getting out of my own way. Sounds crazy right? It’s real though. Self limiting beliefs has held me back many times in life. However, this feels different. I stepped out on faith and pursued what I genuinely love. Without knowing what it’ll look like this far down the line. For that I’m proud of me.

As far as accolades I’ll name a few:

Painted portrait of Angela Davis was autographed by THE Dr. Angela Davis

(personal hero)

• Curates & hosts creative networking tour for artists and crafters called Sideline

Images Art Fest

• Body of work is showcased in fine art gallery exhibitions
• Painted mural for CrossFit Kill Shot Gym (Delaware)
• Work has been featured on the largest LED billboard in Baltimore City (2x)
• Artwork featured on the MTV show Teen Mom2
• Has done live-painting on-stage with many artists—most recently collaborating with popular R&B songstress H.E.R.

What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?

Right now there’s a few things driving my creative journey. The main thing driving it are my personal experiences. That’s one thing that separates one creative from the next. Being able to pull from my background, life experiences, and things that interest me. Another driving factor is the way the world is changing and how much power social media have over us as creatives, business owners, and just over people. I’m finding different avenues to present my work, I’m also connecting with people differently. I don’t have a particular goal there’s no limit to the things I Can accomplish and I feel like setting a specific goal will cap that. I’m open to all possibilities, it just have to make sense. My goal overall is to be a better human and to influence the people around me to do the same. It’s always deeper than art or a dollar sign to me.

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 don’t really have a solid view point on NFTs. I’m still learning about them. From what I’ve gathered so far they’re the future. They allow collectors to fully own pieces, and it allows the artist to receive royalties. Tech is the future we’ve known this for many years now, and I believe the same is true for NFTs.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.sidelineimagesart.com
• Instagram: sidelineimages

Image Credits
I own the rights to photos