We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Rob Czar. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Rob below.

Alright, Rob thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. We’d love to hear about when you first realized that you wanted to pursue a creative path professionally.

I had always been pretty good at art and had painted a few things throughout my life but never thought about it anymore than an outlet for my boredom and anxiety. When the pandemic hit and both of those things were at their height I started painting again. Ordering canvases and paints from amazon and spending days in my basement. it wasn’t until nearly 3 years later when I had hundreds of canvases in my house when I decided I should probably make this more than a pandemic project. Plus it was looking like a fire hazard down in the basement. I converted an old warehouse space into a studio/gallery and this year finally hired an art assistant to help me get on track.

Rob, 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?

In my previous life, and for nearly 17 years I was a professional Youtuber. I was doing pretty well for myself with close to 5 Million subscribers, getting recognized on the streets and living the dream. Then one day I got sick. The doctors couldn’t figure it out. So I got sicker till one night my body started shutting down and I had a heart attack in my sleep…and died. For nearly 27 minutes I didn’t have a heart beat or brain activity. Once revived nearly a month later, I spent the next month clinging to life in a coma till I miraculously woke up. I proceeded to spend the next several months learning how to walk and talk again. THIS WAS THE FORK IN THE ROAD FOR ME. A deciding moment. Another chance. It began in a couple sketch books. Drawing pictures of the hospital, fleeting moments I remembered while sedated, flashes of what I thought were the afterlife, the heartbreak of death and the anger of being alive again. I realized after awhile I should just be putting these ideas and images on canvas directly instead of in a book where no one would ever see them. It all started as a therapeutic experience for me but the longer I painted the more I thought about how death was rarely spoken about and so feared in our culture, almost taboo. I continued to paint from a place not many like to work from. A place of Death, Ghosts, Cemeteries, Skeletons and feelings of resentment and fear flooded my canvases. It’s been almost 5 years now, the amount of time I was given to live, and I’m no closer to figuring out the meaning of life then you are.

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

Time is currently driving my creative journey. With no formal training or education as an artist I have to learn by creation everyday. I have no sense of color theory or composition, no sense of when a painting is ever finished. When people ask what kind of art I make I still haven’t an answer. Just an emotional creative force to put as much of my heart on a canvas before my time expires. Which if my calculations are correct…isn’t that long. “Paint like theres no tomorrow” I always say.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

For me, this is the most rewarding “job” I’ve ever had. I get to wake up in the morning and create whatever the f*ck I want. Wether it be a dream I had the night before, or a terrible memory that haunts my day. It all comes down to honesty and putting yourself out there. The most rewarding aspect is being able to translate your state of mind into a tangible piece of art that others can relate to and be inspired by. It’s estimated that the entire American work force is comprised of 2.5 million artists, which equates to just 1.6% of people putting their uninhibited ideas and thoughts out into the world. That leaves another 98.4% of people to ingest it and do with it what they want. Thats a lot of people to inspire. If I can just touch a few of those folks, my work here is done.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.theczartgallery.com
• Instagram: instagram.com/robczart
• Youtube: youtube.com/robczar