Art w/ Rob Grams

It can be a myriad of different things: beautiful, sad, inspiring, poignant, and even pertinent and purposeful. It speaks to our five senses on a level we can’t even comprehend. We couldn’t fathom the world without it. We’ll delve into the arena of art with the awesome artist Rob Grams on this week’s episode of FYI!

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[Music] it can be a myriad of different things beautiful sad inspiring poignant and even pertinent and purposeful it speaks to our five senses on a level we can't even comprehend we couldn't fathom the world without it will will delve into the arena of art with the awesome artist Rob grams on this week's episode of f y welcome to for your info English you got it you got it[Music] hello hello hello and welcome to another exciting edition of you guessed it FYI for your English and we've got a very special guest with us a guy who does a little bit of everything he's a jack of all trades and he's not afraid to try anything especially when it comes to the Arts a guy who lives it loves it and breathes it ladies and Gentlemen please welcome my good friend Rob grams hey Rob what's going on welcome aboard dude you Alberto you gave me goosebumps oh really I didn't I didn't mean to I was trying to start off like light you know you know get into it because the energy was real I was feeling it well we're gonna get deep here we're gonna talk about art and it's something I guess that means something different to everybody all around the world absolutely absolutely and when you invited me on the show number one an honor thank you very much and thank you listeners of FYI it's an honor to be here I'm a fan of the show thank you fyiers that's for you guys um and number two talking about uh too many in in all these various guises is is a passion of mine and and not just talking about it as I said before living it loving it breathing it I mean if you're an artist you don't just put on your Instagram profile artist like you wake up every day thinking how can I do stuff or make stuff as as we said before the show it's it's a curse it's a cur well you know what because we you know I was thinking oh art everyone he's an artist oh she's an artist but in the end being an artist is a curse you don't choose it it chooses you is that right exactly it chooses you it follows you around it's an illness there are points in time you know you can be as prolific as uh as the next man but the there are times where you um where you know you inside your body you feel the urge right to create sure sure whether you're inspired or not and that's the curse about it yeah yeah and you can't help it yeah yeah like Elvis said I can't help creating things well that's not exactly what he said but I I have I live by this motto Lema in Spanish motto ABC always be creating ABC always be creative I mean do you feel well first let's first let's start at the beginning I knew we were gonna get right into it we were gonna get deep because well we're going to talk about art which you know always can be a very deep thing it's music it's Sarah I mean it's the five senses it's everything it's everything that inspires you and that's like the purpose of it right if we'll look at it so that's the way I describe it and it's the purpose of everything and that's why a podcast like this this episode of FYI for me um I think it'll be really um special for the audience because we are going to touch areas of your own lives I mean everyone I a common thing you'll hear I'm not a creative person and and I hear that I'm sure you hear that a lot oh sure everybody I mean all the time I'm not a Creator Oh no you're creative I'm not I'm like everybody's got a creative side right I mean the way I describe it I just describe it like this if you've ever made a decision in your life you're a creative person you've ever used an adjective you're a creative person why decision making is is founded it's basis is in is in creativity you know you not only have to kind of know what options you have you then have to have the imagination to to kind of simulate how how that how each path how each decision might play out and this sounds even like problem solving I mean taking it out of the art world that can help you be a more Resolute person you know somebody who moves who doesn't look for you know an excuse but they look for a solution they look for a way you are so so right about that and the and the sad thing is in in schools and in education when they're gonna cut a program usually they call it from the Arts right and we're talking about a discipline that helps people be better problem solvers better communicate us people that are actually you know when they get into the outside world have have hard skills sure that are not necessarily accessible through a book right right sure well it's a book speaks to you that's one of the Arts as well literature is obviously absolutely one of the Arts how many times has a book made you feel every time where you're like oh my oh wow and you can't put it down we've all been there yeah and the same thing with a song you got it on repeat because you just you know you're like I'm gonna wear it out there's gastardo you know overplay it but in the end uh you know your body's begging you for it it's saying this is right now what I'm feeling and that's I think it's something we all identify with whether it's painting whether it's art whether excuse me whether it's you know Performing Arts whether it's music whatever it's something that speaks to us on a different level maybe even a level we could we you know most Layman myself you're saying normal people just don't even really get or understand yeah I mean you don't sit down and analyze why you love something exactly it's like you just know it's inner within you that's and that's what makes art so hard to Define that's why it's such a subjective kind of topic sure because one of my first questions obviously okay it's a tough question but what is art in general I mean if you had to Define art what is it and what is art to you I mean you've already given us given us a little insight but if you had to Define art to some somebody an alien came down from another planet and said what is this art you speak of[Music] okay so if I if an alien if an alien approached me and said that I already have this prepared because you'd be surprised how many people ask this question you'd be surprised how many aliens I meet rather than what is uh like what what are artists and I think what artists do and I consider a lot or at least this is these are rules this is a rule I've gone by with no matter the discipline whether it was music or writing or broadcasting as I do now or painting an artist's job is to reflect the world back at itself through his own eyes a mirror of sorts exactly interesting an art is hard to Define because it's so subjective right so like as an eye sometimes I don't know if you if you kind of Listen to Too Much criticism you get too into kind of into the into the the creation of it all right it's like like with English learning you get into the grammar so much that you're not into the speaking and enjoying it and putting the sounds together dude exactly that exactly that I found my myself kind of getting carried away with the process rather than just being carried away with the project but the process I mean life's a journey not a destination copy and paste I mean there it is I don't know like I I Mentor someone now I've got a a guy that the we have a mentorship relationship he's he's really into art in this case like visual art drawing and painting and we've been speaking for maybe about three months now and I I honest to God the first month was just having him like understand what he wants to say I think that's the most important thing I think that's what art is you know you reflect the world back at itself that sounds really good but what does it mean I mean the the idea is to kind of uncover those little truths those little kind of right the things that people don't talk about sure sure and you tell them instead of like on the news like well today in Iran instead you're telling it Through The Eyes well through Beauty through what art isn't always beautiful but here my point is through a message through some kind of as I said I think the senses through sound through in the case of a podcast through colors in the PA in the case of painting and you I mean you engage in many many Arts Rob I mean you you've been on stage as a musician you've been on stage in the theater you've written you've scripted you've directed you do the Digital Arts which is very totally different there's a technical side to that as well you know first of all which was the one that Lit that fire inside you you know you're a painter and we didn't mention your social media and who you are yet but we got right into it but we'll get to it if you guys want to know who rob is you'll just have to stay tuned until the end but we're gonna give you all the information but he really makes some awesome art whether that's digital art broadcasting on his podcast or painting or even music so you do it all but what was the one where you said I like this art stuff like every 10 year old child in their bedroom playing agita you know okay gotcha yeah yeah I imagine it was quite similar for you oh I still played the air guitar yeah yeah yeah of course for me but personally like my my I was a walking into kind of Visual Arts thanks to music because what I had made and I was a massive Iron Man Fan as a kid oh that's why I play guitar the the the the album covers is why you know I I thought that was the first interest in my first interest in kind of wow this is awesome it was the music and the art all together the whole package well that's one thing that like the for me music is quite disappointing now there's none of the revelry of unwrapping the CD and the cover art being special now is a thumbnail sure sure well you you're talking to a guy who's got a record collection yeah yeah in fact right after we're done with this podcast we'll throw on a record why not awesome awesome but I I love that too I remember looking at the lyrics I mean that in itself is our you're reading poetry exactly I mean dean hog will I'm going to sound like such an old man now well we are boom well no our parents are boomers but we're kind of right between Generation X Generation X you're welcome for all the music yeah you're welcome you're welcome for all the cool music so yeah that's the thing I feel like a lot of revelry's been lost in the whole kind of the spectacle of what music used to be you know it's a lot more kind of well it's a lot easier easy uh to access now I guess right you know you used to have to go and get your get you get your CD or or record yeah we would pack up the car like four or five friends and we would have a list of you know cassettes at first and later well first vinyl liquor I'm telling you guys my age here I'm dating myself but I remember it was a whole experience I mean oh the new album's out this Friday I mean you would go I remember lining up to meet Jane's Addiction and have them sign my record I mean what do you do now you get them to sign your mobile phone what the hell you know yeah I feel like music is missing that you know it is missing that that three-dimensionalism that Iron Maiden I mean like you just said you pull out one of these Iron Maiden albums it's I mean it's a visual spectacle obviously an oral and careful with this word oral in the oral or oral which means pertaining to the ear so interesting music and art together kind of you know and you actually hit on it with them with the lyrics I mean the lyrics used to be print in the book and you'd study them and you'd know them and you'd feel them like on Spotify you're not getting there you're not getting that experience yeah yeah there's something missing but the thing is I mean this is our art so I'm gonna Circle back now this is a little bit of how it evolves right because the same thing happened in Visual Arts in painting imagine how rare it would have been in the 19th century to see a photograph of someone sure like you are bombarded with imagery right now we see millions of photographs a day just opening your Instagram stream exactly imagine imagine none of them imagine a world where there's no Billboards there's no mobile phones there's no um or at least it'd be very uncommon to see photographs even in your home that was it back then painting was um painting was was something you know you saw a painting he felt it and you you actually made an effort to um to kind of understand the story that the artist was taking sure sure division the the idea the message yeah and a lot of that kind of was lost I mean even further back than that painters were considered nothing they weren't really considered they weren't held in esteem like an artist like actors were circus freaks dude and Painters were like were like any other Craftsman like the guy would make a table to just paint the you can paint my wall and then you can paint the Mona Lisa when you're done exactly and um and then it like you know then it then then it grew into something something a lot more than that like when um I mean it's always evolved it's grew into not really because if anything painting is not as common now to see paintings on a on a wealthy wall it would depend very much on that wealthy person's taste but paintings are here to stay I feel like you know it you can't replace pain I mean even my daughter she likes to paint it's an activity it's fun it's not just like buying a painting it's you know having a clean slate as we say yeah and having some watercolors because that's what she uses we're not going to give her the permanent oil colors just because you know she'll do some like Jackson Pollock type stuff you know draw the blue sofa oh yeah yeah absolutely absolutely our sofa will go through a blue period yes that's absolutely it the the there's something diff a painting is special because it's dimensionality right it's it's almost a scope jump but on a flat surface that's what I that was that's what moves me about painting that's something I I learned a lot later in my in my journey as a visual artist was was to appreciate painting for its dimensionality the way like I I love when I go to um an expressionist store yeah German Expo went to I went to a German expressionism um an exhibit it was it was a few weeks ago and we were oh cool I even more listen to you you know a couple weeks ago I was at this German expression I mean it sounds cool man it sounds cool but but the beauty there is not in the kind of the the virtuosity of of how realistic everything looks the beauty there is in the Simplicity but in the in the movement of the pain the way the the artist uses the brush the colors to kind of pull together this scene that is in some way realism but but not you know well in in the Seventh Art film one that we both love uh you've got music you've got camera angles you've got special I mean you've got everything you got you can create this world but on a painting you've got a piece of paper or a canvas or yeah I mean literally you've got one dimension to create a whole world yeah and that's like that's a beautiful challenge is what it is it is it is but I mean again like I always start with purpose again going back um I always start from that kernel of like you know what do I want to reflect at the world and certainly with my paintings how am I feeling is that a part of it too not just what do I want to reflect but how do I feel and then does that come out in the art too right absolutely absolutely like I paint like crazy people weave baskets you know I mean I kind of I have a thing that I want to say that the work that I feel like the world would relate to sure sure and and then I figure out a way to say that in in a way that will kind of rather than take you like those those Renaissance painters through a story rather than going through like a Rembrandt where there's this tale with things to uncover within it like I'm thinking immediately of of the of the the painting he did of the moment Jesus told two of his disciples that he was going to be he was going to be crucified and there's this shock and and the lighting is beautiful and it's a fruit basket and two of the straws kind of make the attention to detail too sure sure so realistic so he he's kind of telling a story there what I want to do in my paintings is very much more illicit and an emotion which is why I would consider myself um an expressionist yeah like your your paintings and we haven't even guys if you want to know who this I mean we know he's Rob Grahams but if you want to find out where you can follow him and you can even watch Rob paint live which must be very soothing for you and for the the viewer but we'll get into that but Rob man your paintings and and I'm not saying this because I'm your friend or because you're here on my podcast or you're painting say something man they speak the TV head and it's hard how many things have been paid how many times has a duck been painted or a TV or you know even something simple like if you want to go back to what is our dad is a toilet bowl that says our mutt you know like Marcel Duchamp and that movement well look you know I'll answer that question with the receipt there are only six strings on a guitar you know and uh and everyone plays it in a different way and that's that's the beauty of it like like I could pain I could repaint um the girl with the Pearl Earring I could I could have that model in front of me um in this exact same angle and I would come up with something that would be you know a lot more expressionist like the people said that's a portrait that painting isn't actually a portrait I can't even remember it's a great word retreato portrait I can't remember but I can't remember the name actually of the of the type of art it is but basically it's it's like a Dutch meme from back oh wow they create these portraits of often fictitious people that represented a kind of a cultural um a cultural Phantasm in in society sure sure some kind of lore or some kind of exactly like it could be a chave in modern days like or a Pico to say to say a m meme you know like uh they would represent a kind of a societal kind of cliche sure sure like uh Comedia Del Arte yeah you know the clown the the Damsel in Distress and and like you said you can only you know Mick Jagger did the song but what but but then if you look at it the Beatles did uh Help from My Friends yeah you're brilliant you can't knock the Beatles to knock to criticize but Joe Cocker yeah he took that song and made it his own absolutely knocking on Evan's door so there's a knocking on heaven's door another you know so again there's you know when sometimes I guess people say oh everything's been done every idea has been had but not through your eyes you're an individual that's it and that's what we do as artists you know it's weird to use that phrase artist even for for me enough yeah I I feel pretentious when people like you're an artist I'm like well I studied need Fine Arts yeah you are nice I mean dude you're one of the most creative people I know stop it I'm gonna blush nobody's true you are a nice and and you know there's there's something to be said for for maybe normalizing that that term a little more because it does feel quite elitist yeah like uh hoity-toity kind of yeah and for me I don't think about it like that I think anyone who makes the anyone who makes the decision to become a nice no matter how what what position they are on that journey and it's a long journey I mean we're all on it you're on it I'm on it oh sure you know you should you should feel a lot more comfortable referring to yourself as an artist than then I think anyone doesn't I've done it for years and I still feel uncomfortable about it but but also like what is an artist somebody who looks at things from a different perspective not you know somebody who's always looking for the beauty in something or it doesn't always have to be beautiful as we said somebody who's looking for the controversy in something and this was something I wanted to ask you as well the role of Art in storytelling in history because I always tell people I say you know you can read the history books but those were written by people that won the war the artists as you said were sometimes the oppresso sometimes when you want to know the real story listen to the music from that time absolutely look at the paintings look what the movies how do you feel about that as the role of art is a telling our story and what eventually becomes our history that is that is such a Salient Salient point because in many ways you could argue it's hard to separate art from history and that's just and that that's just a fact right I mean you look at one of the it's one of the most basic human um human needs sure I mean yeah look at the caves in France and here in Spain with hand prints with pictures of buffalo tragedy I mean they had full like scale like floods on stage and and that need to kind of represent to the world um what is happening I mean tell the story they're storytellers in the end right and that's for me the one thing that unifies all that you know it's communication it's whether it's a story or a or trying to elicit an emotion or a feeling right you've got something to say well that's what I always heard like an artist doesn't want to communicate something they have to communicate something exactly like it's burning inside you and sometimes it can even be used as therapy yeah yeah art therapy is the thing I was someone reached out to me once an art therapist but the guy was in the state so I couldn't make it over but to kind of help him out with some of them some of the people they worked with and they can be very therapeutic then that's the thing you see artists people kind of often treat art a lot like a subject like history we're talking about how we use it to tell our stories and you can and you can not only tell the story of human history human evolution but you can have tell the story of a single man I mean look at the way Picasso evolved as an artist sure from something that was very classical to something to cubism I mean so many like the Beatles so many different phases well speaking of artists The Beatles You Can't there's not one Beatles there's not one Elvis there's so many different phases of each artist exactly exactly like I can see a different in difference in my painting like I had I experienced this tragedy like six years ago or seven years ago maybe now where a few of my friends died and it put me in a really dark place sure for like two years yeah you feeling you're you're not Invincible now you know yeah exactly right one of those moments you faced with your own you know one of those moments you know God's watching like I'm not religious but somebody's watching me right now I'm on the clock here yeah yeah so so um and that's really when I kind of re-embrased that and and I started really I was really it was a really prolific period for me and um and you can see in my work even back then I mean I was writing a lot at that time I was painting I was drawing and everything Tings with some sadness or some Darkness but you know that as a nice though as we've said it's a curse that you know you always have to be creating right that's the blessing of it that's also the blessing of it because you process so much or at least I do I process so much of what I'm feeling what I'm going through the Human Experience sure sure so it's therapeutic for the artist for the person consuming the art absolutely if he's done well I mean that's the thing right if it's done well you are going to experience something you're going to be taking on a journey and that journey in itself even if it's just for the pure purpose of taking you out of your own head for a second like in the case of Hollywood movies sure it doesn't make it brings you to another World Star Wars I mean you were in my Star Wars Episode exactly for that two hours 90 minutes whatever it is you are not on the planet Earth yeah yeah but in every sense of the word from the music John Williams to to everything so well that's a little bit I wanted to talk about that what do the different art forms have in common because obviously we've just talked about how they intertwine you know how you discovered iron maiden and the artwork that is Eddie and and all of that The Branding and it's beautiful it's it's a it's a whole package as we said but what are they all because we know what they're doing okay painting you have different tools you have uh an easel you have a paintbrush filmmaking you have a camera but what is one thing that all the different art forms you think have in common it's it's um a message when you when anyone asks me what's the difference between good and that bad in my mind my first question well you know it depends on what the artist is trying to say now I don't even care if I don't like what it is that they're saying and as long as they've achieved the fact that it's made me kind of consider whatever that that message is then then it's been a successful work of art right it's made you think about yourself about our existence something yeah exactly and that's and that that for me is is what unites every single piece of art like whether whether it be you know the famous Starry Night van [ __ ] painted it of the view outside of it is a the Asylum that it was in at that time oh wow right and you kind of feel that in the undulating like there's a freedom to it there's a wind to it and heir to it you know you can almost feel the chill exactly you can he's got a one-dimensional thing that makes you feel so many different things exactly you know it's such a powerful tool isn't it exactly I mean and then when you think about it as an artist you're like well I have to respect this because I have this power that's one of the first things you have to break if if you're a person yeah because I felt that I felt that now that's one thing the one of the first things you have to to learn how to live with maybe if not brick learn how to live with is the respect that you have for the art again I'll go back to the guy that I'm mentoring right now that was one of his major problems he's you know I mean for him to paint in oil painting on canvas at the stage that he was at felt like you know sacrilege sure putting the cart before the horse exactly but how do you learn to do anything Alba oh you know doing it it's it's really the only way the only way to learn something is I hate to you know bring the English back into it but practice makes perfect all right Rob the moment has come tell us about all the different things you're doing I know you paint live your podcast you brought I mean you do a little bit of everything so tell our fyiers where they can find you and of course give us more information tell us about you man okay well first things first if you want to keep up with me super easy to do um just join me on on Twitter our robot p r o b o h from there you'll be introduced to my twitch stream there you'll find me doing my podcast or or painting or drawing or something I'm always up to some kind of creative creative Endeavor oh no no dude it's it's great content because well you you've created a community of people who love art yeah truly and now the and now we've been further expanded by by the podcast crowd sure there for like just an hour a day for a quick laugh and and whatnot and then the the other kind of community that I've built since 2016 that used to seeing me paint and draw and this really nice mix really nice it's cool man because you Rob I mean you can see him painting he may pick up the guitar you never know what to expect with Rob he literally can do a little bit of everything I've seen him I've seen him at work he's a one-man Production Studio he'll script it he'll put down the audio tracks the video I mean seriously it's cool because well that's why I wanted to ask you what do they all have in common because I can't just ask and you know an actor in the theater what do all Arts have in common well they've never made their own music and you've kind of dabbled in all the Arts from the Digital Arts to the you know the Performing Arts and you know that can also be that can that can be seen as somewhat not having a specialization can be be seen as somewhat ever ever negative but I would never say that I think you know look at um I don't know look at Da Vinci you know I mean he was a he was a renaissance man himself you know very very much a renaissance man like I think that's what you what unifies that is that is that need or what unifies artists is that need to to publicly say a thing whether that thing be in your case teaching English or or not teaching English but that that unique thing that you do that amazing people too which is part of it you know which makes it yeah what you're doing is you're kind of transferring your fun your energy your that would be Albert the way I like to learn exactly and you transfer that to students as they don't no one can tell me that is not art oh dude thank you thank you so much well listen Rob is on patreon in the bonus part which is exclusively for patrons we're going to talk about some misconceptions about artists painters and even creating art we're going to talk about some tips that Rob's going to give us for people who want to get into art dealing with writer's block or creative block in general some of Rob's favorite painters fascinating art stories and so much more but you've got to join us on patreon it's patreon.com Alberto Alonso you can get access to the bonus episode every week you can get weekly and monthly classes with me plus PDF documents with all the vocabulary and speaking of my patrons I want to send a shout out to all of you guys especially my super duper students Martha candy Javier Roberto David Jose Maria Mila Alex Edgar Aina and don't forget about my Interstellar students Lina Isabel Paco Carmen and Diego you guys rock thank you you so much if you guys want more information you can go over to patreon.com Alberto Alonso and Rob you've got a patreon too you better give us your patreon yeah that's um that's patreon.com professional Bohemian that's Bohemian professional but in English professional Bohemian check him out he's Rob he's gonna be with us in the bonus part but I want to say goodbye in this part with a quote from the musical Rent from the writer well the late the funto in Spanish Jonathan Larson and he said the opposite of War isn't peace it's creation guys I sure hope you'll join us in the bonus part of today's F why foreign[Music][Applause][Music][Music][Applause]