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

Steven, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. If you could go back in time do you wish you had started your creative career sooner or later?

I think once we all find something we truly love we always think back to “I wish I started this 10 years ago.” However I believe that things are supposed to happen when they happen. You cant rush the creative process. Even if it take a decade to get where you are comfortable, that decade is filled with hard work, humiliation, and experience that is paramount in guiding you into the person that you eventually become.

Steven, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

My name is Steven Holliday and I am an illustrator and painter with a focus on screen printed works. I graduated from SAIC (School of the Art Institute Chicago) in 2011 with a BFA in Fine Arts. When I entered school, I didnt know what path I wanted to pursue. The first entire year of classes that I did at SAIC was a less focused and more broad arrangement of classes designed by the school to open you up to different things. It was around this time that I discovered screen printing. Shortly there after, I visited a gallery in Chicago called GalerieF and that’s where my love for the industry really took off. I saw so many pieces that only before I had seen online. Pieces by artists that inspired me that I could actually hold in my hand. I ended up taking as many classes as I could on the subject and even got into classes that were more screen print adjacent, like etching and lithography.

I started requesting involvement from different art galleries that had a focus on poster art. GalerieF, Hero Complex Gallery, and Gallery1988 were all wonderfully established galleries that I got involved in frequently and the people who run them gave me sound advice and priceless opportunity when first starting out. I still work with galleries today and am always open and grateful to any opportunity they throw my way.

Trying to stand out in a industry can be very difficult. It took a while for me to find my voice so to speak with designing posters. Originally I found myself imitating the styles of my most beloved idol artists when I was younger. It felt if I were to yield a result I wanted through channeling the style of a “master” eventually I can have a voice that speaks through once I learn enough about what I am doing. I believe I have done that. I now have people who can identify me through my work which is an incredible feeling.

I am most proud of the time I have spent building myself. I spent 7 years working at a warehouse whenI first started out. I would request to arrive 2 to 3 hours early, often before the sun came up and everyone else had arrived, in order to leave 2 to 3 hours early to be able to work on my art in the afternoons and night. For 3 years I hauled up to 100 pounds of hand made products to different music halls or clubs, vending my work to people at a table in the back of the DJ room. This was my weekend schedule for a long time. Often I would get to these places at 7 or 8 and not leave till 2 or 4 AM sometimes as late as 6 am. The money was almost non existent. All this work would often yield only 40 dollars but I will never forget the 2 nights in those 3 years that I made 500 dollars and felt like a king. Regardless of the art earnings it was a passion that drove me to continue and seek every avenue possible to make this whole thing full time for me.

I strive to proved the best quality possible with my work. I am somewhat of a perfectionist when it comes to delivering on my ideas. A rule of thumb is if I dont love it then others wont either. If I skimp out on something or take shortcuts, others will be able to know. We live in a world now where customer service is becoming extinct so my top priority is always answering questions via email or social media as quickly as possible to ensure people have piece of mind when doing business with me.

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

The best thing you can do is always engage with work that connects with you. If you feel the work of an artist is something you want to own then by all means support that artist. Financial support kind of goes without saying but a truly great way you can support an artist is by supporting them with their visibility. In the past year or so, social media and their algorithms have stifled the growth of a lot of creatives. People who create art are now being buried in the algorithms and now their visibility and engagements are way down. This change is been enacted in favor of quick TIk Tok style videos. The shorter the better. Search “Art” in your youtube search bar and notice the results. It may be different than what you expected. No longer will these search fields offer tutorials or longer process videos showing artists in their studios but now its all massive channels with massive followings, art “hack” related tutorials, pay-to-play channels, and AI related videos.

Algorithmic stifling and this new era of “AI” art is causing the creative world to suffer. Businesses are now investing in AI generated images in favor of hiring a human being. Saddest part is that the budgets for these AI images are on parr with what an person would charge for their time in creating a piece. There are even profiles on social media where AI generated version of artists working in a studio are being pushed as real and people believe its real. They see these images and not only think the fake work on the fake canvas in the fake photo is real but the fake artist in the fake photo working on the fake canvas is also real and that this fake person took so long making this amazing fake painting. With how rapid this is, it will only get worse. It has infected the commercial world for sure and sadly I believe its only a matter of time till it gets into the personal art world. Best thing you can do to support an artist is if you see what you may think is AI, ask. Consider supporting the work of a creative person. The art they produce will actually have a soul behind it.

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

Well my mission is to create as much work as I can. I have a massive passion for movies and music and art in general. If I could say that there is a singular goal to my efforts I would say it is that one day I hope to be able to work with movies more in the capacity of making official alternative posters and merchandise. I already do but eventually I would love to broaden the scope to bigger and different films and music. Wether its an alternative limited edition print for a licensed film or a gig poster for a touring band. I would like to absorb as many opportunities as possible. This is the stuff that truly makes me happy.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.stevenlurosholliday.com
• Instagram: @LACRIMARUMART
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/StevenLurosHolliday