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

Hi Tailored, thanks for joining us today. We’d love to hear the backstory behind a risk you’ve taken – whether big or small, walk us through what it was like and how it ultimately turned out.

Will you risk looking like a fool – for love – for your dreams – for the adventure of being alive? Life itself is a risk. Every choice I ask myself, “Am I willing to take that risk, if not just for the adventure of being alive?” That is where art took me, and graffiti, well that type of art is a total risk. Trains, tracks, police, unsound structures, roof tops, bandos, the wrong territory, beef, buffs, gangs, razor wire, dogs, narcs, racking, running, and a whole lot more risks. When people are part of this art, they take a major risk for their self. I have many friends that took that risk like I did, that fell of buildings, were shot, hit by trains, arrested, and all kinds of things. Many people ask us, “why do you do this then?” Sometimes it’s hard to explain, but maybe when it comes down to it, we do it because it’s in our soul and part of who we are to take that risk and express ourselves. Far before I ever painted a mural with spray paint, I started with a can in the streets, painting on things without permission. Learning the craft like the homies showed me how. I got up, and began getting that bug to get up on everything and everywhere. People began to take notice, some in bad ways and some in good. I learned from those risks I took, and I began to get approached to do artwork for payment. This was a different risk, because before I felt free from influence, liability, and pressure when it came to my art. But I took that jump to create an LLC, and began making a living off my craft. This was almost more risky, because the culture and way of life in graffiti is to be anti-establishment and anti-capitalist. Art is what I love though, and I had a chance now to do what I love as a career and use that to take care of myself, my family, and to fund the type of art projects I want to do. So, then I ask myself, will I risk looking like a fool – for love – for my dreams – for the adventure of being alive? Yes. Yes I will.

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.

I am Tailored Truth, an American street artist, muralist, and graphic designer out of Battle Creek, Michigan. I grew up in the small town of Auburn, Indiana, from age 4 to 18 when my parents moved there from Fort Wayne. My passion, thirst for knowledge, and observation would sometimes give me trouble in my art classes growing up, which later would influence my graffiti identify. My fascination with the mind truly fueled a passion of deeper meaning and led me to Purdue University for Computer Engineering and Psychology, where I would drop out, and move to Michigan to work in the Cannabis industry. Growing up, Hip-Hop was a part of my soul, and I loved Graffiti seeing the art on train cars, water towers, and in alleys. Battle Creek though was the place where I would rediscover Graffiti because of the abundance throughout the streets. This is where I would recreate my street brand I Seek Knowledge and link with INDECLINE.

I usually work with aerosol spray paints when doing graffiti, street art, and murals. Mtn 94 and Montana Cans are my favorite paints. I also use paint brushes and rollers with acrylic and oil paints, and stencils to achieve my desired style. Usually, when designing pieces, I use Procreate on an iPad with an Apple Pencil to lay the design out, but also use Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator. When I am not lending my talents for hire, I look to make a statement or share an idea with my art. I usually like to invoke the human condition in a piece that is complemented with notions of philosophy, love, human rights, nostalgia, and global conditions. My biggest goal is to have someone see the piece, think, and invoke an epiphany within themself. This I believe to be the strongest and rarest feeling a human can experience. One of my go-to styles is to use cartoons and characters that people are familiar with, and create that character to have a strong emotional expression for people to connect with in a different but familiar way. I am known for using symbolism and subliminal messaging in my work to convey ideas within the piece that may or may not be picked up by the viewer.

What Tailored Truth does most, is help you find the deeper meaning, to see the other sides, and to feel what you wouldn’t of on your own. That is what Tailored Truth brings to art.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

Art is a crazy career for anyone, and it will take its toll on you. Most of us doing art didn’t go to business school so we had to learn the hard way when it comes to business to business transactions. There were many times I worked with small businesses and large businesses that were very indecisive but also micro-manage-y. They would not have any ideas and just expected you to do so much creative design work and rework it over and over, costing you hours on just the initial concepts and designs. There were people that took advantage of me when I first did art as work, since I didn’t have any contracts or down payments or anything at all. I stuck it out though, and met many talented and smart artist friends along the way that would give me tips and pointers on running an art business. I appreciate them more than they know, and not only did I stick it out, but so did they.

Any resources you can share with us that might be helpful to other creatives?

As I started my art career path, I learned many things along the way, many that I wished I would of known sooner. One of the biggest of them all, is to immediately create an LLC. You are able to then write off any supplies, equipment, hotels, trips, etc. that you use for your art business. This is huge, because we artist spend a lot of good money on supplies, travel, and so much stuff just to do our jobs. Another thing people showed me, were the grants in all of the cities and towns that you can get for art. You can literally apply for grants to do murals, festivals, art installs, and so much more. This is a huge resource for artist throughout the world, and something I knew really nothing about before. I also believe that a lot of artist start with a portfolio that maybe isn’t always tailored for businesses, giving the wrong first impression to many businesses that would of loved to have your artwork. Though this isn’t something that is right when it comes to the politics of art and business, but something that we as artist must acknowledge is a factor when it comes to selling our art or art services.   

Contact Info:

• Website: https://tailoredtruth.threadless.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tailored_truth/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TailoredTruthArt
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/tailored_truth