#0031 LOLO - DARKNESS, CONNECTION AND THE ART OF BEING!

Welcome to the Creative Nowhere Land Podcast. 

Casual and meaningless are everywhere right now, but real connections are rare, and finding those connections in a world that seems increasingly disconnected is what the podcast is all about. It's what I'm all about! 

It's a little unusual, but when you feel that connection, sometimes you just have to act, and this episode is the epitome of that idea.

Completely unplanned. Just two humans who the universe aligned in a city of over 2 million people and who found a connection through honesty, vulnerability, art, darkness, and the beauty that can be found in some of that darkness.

I believe that everything is connected and that I was always supposed to meet the guest who's on this episode. He's a creator, a graphic designer, he draws, he's a DJ, a music producer, and he has his own record label, and he uses all of these ways to express himself creatively. 

But this episode isn't about the work as such. It's more about two people connecting through vulnerability, honesty, and openness.

We get deep on this one. We talk about the journey, and we discuss difficult topics like grief and loss and how leaning into some of those harder emotions and connecting to the deeper side of ourselves is often where you'll find the most beautiful stuff.

We discuss living in the moment, resilience and how we have to keep going no matter what happens in life because we are the art!

There's no such thing as a coincidence, and the universe put us together when we needed to meet. Two like-minded souls, finding connection through art and experiences. And that's what the podcast is all about. 

He doesn't call himself an artist. He's an expressor, and his name is Lolo. 

Hope you enjoy this episode of The Creative Nowhere Land Podcast.

LOLO INSTAGRAM:  https://www.instagram.com/l0_l0s/

Transcript

Serendipity And The Meeting In Barcelona

SPEAKER_03 0:03

Hello everyone and welcome to the Creative Noeland podcast. Casual and meaningless are everywhere right now, but real connections are rare. And finding those connections in a world that seems increasingly disconnected is what the podcast is all about. It's what I'm all about. And it's a little unusual, but when you feel that connection, sometimes you just have to act. And this episode is the epitome of that idea. Completely unplanned, just two humans to the universe aligned in a city of over two million people, and who found a connection through honesty, vulnerability, art, darkness, and the beauty that can be found in some of that darkness. I believe that everything is connected and that I was always supposed to meet the guest that's on this episode. He's a creator, a graphic designer, he draws, he's a DJ, a music producer, and he has his own record label. And he uses all of these ways to express himself creatively. But this episode isn't about the work as such. It's more about two people connecting through vulnerability, honesty, and openness. We get deep on this one. We talk about the journey and we discuss difficult topics like grief and loss, and how leaning into some of those harder emotions and connecting to the deeper side of ourselves is often where you'll find the most beautiful stuff. We discuss living in the moment, resilience, and how we have to keep going no matter what happens in life, because we are the art. There's no such thing as coincidence, and the universe put us together when we needed to meet. Two like-minded souls finding connection through art and experiences. And essentially that's what the podcast is all about. He doesn't call himself an artist, he's an expressor. And his name is Lolo. Let's get into it. Shall we go to English? Yeah, I should. Okay. Lolo, thank you for doing the Creative Noveland podcast. Thank you, man. It's a pleasure to be here. This is a very strange one, and I guess we should explain to him. But Lolo and I don't really know each other, but me being me, I am in Barcelona currently, and I saw Lolo drawing in a gallery, so of course I went to speak to him. We found a mutual connection through art, through darkness, and finding beauty in some of that. We spoke, and as everyone who listens to this podcast knows, this is a lot about connection. And we found a connection. So in the spirit of being random and spontaneous, I invited Lolo to come on the Creative No One podcast and talk a little bit about his life. So, where do you think we should start, man?

SPEAKER_01 3:24

Well, we spoke so many things yesterday and today, maybe walking here, so uh yeah, it's quite difficult. I would like to start saying, if it's okay, that I would like not to talk myself, not as an artist, but more or less like an expressor that uses art as a language so I can express myself. So you don't consider yourself an artist? Not much, not much. I don't think I am fully the developer artist in any branch of art.

SPEAKER_03 3:56

Yeah. But yet when we met, I found you in a gallery drawing, doing art. That's right. But how would you describe you say an expressor, so how does that manifest? How does that look? I want you to explain why I've got you on because it manifests in lots of different ways. It's not just creating art, is it?

SPEAKER_01 4:15

Yeah, no, it's not only creating art, is more or less I don't know. Lots of artists in in history of humanity, uh, I don't know, Michelangelo, Bangog, Picasso, you know, all the people that you say they're artists. Other people say they are artists, like you don't say yourself you're an artist. It's not that's why I don't call myself an artist. It's because I don't know, I found art maybe in my childhood, and I think that a lot of people have problems with connecting with other uh uh persons, like in a community, and they somehow, not all of them of course, but somehow find art as a way of expressing themselves. And how did you find art?

SPEAKER_03 4:58

I don't know, I was born in my house, and there was always I suppose we I'm sorry to interrupt, but I suppose we should say we're in Barcelona, but you're originally from Uruguay.

SPEAKER_01 5:07

Right. I am from Montevideo, Uruguay, yeah.

Childhood Loss And Finding Art

SPEAKER_03 5:09

I've been I moved here two years and a half, maybe. Yeah. Okay, so we I just thought we'd better clarify that so we give the listeners some perspective on the right. Yeah, I'm from Uruguay. These two random guys that just allow a conversation. So you've been in Barcelona for two years, but in Uruguay, you just found art in childhood. Yes. Just naturally. What did that art look like?

SPEAKER_01 5:32

In my childhood, I think I had some bad things in my childhood, some I wouldn't say trauma, but some things that made the life a bit complicated. My father died when I was three years old. Then my mother got married again when I was 12, maybe 11, 12, and this guy died again. So my mom was always working uh eight hours to take care of two kids. So in lots of moments, I like block things and hide myself uh behind art. There's always there was always like pencil and paper in my house. I can maybe recall a situation. Something my mother teached me. We were at this dentist or something like in a waiting room, and I was annoyed to be there. I didn't want to be there. And then my mom just grabbed a magazine from the table, gave me a pen, and told me, hey, write a draw something to the face of this politician, or maybe a model that was there, I don't know. Just draw something. I was and they just did this, you know. I draw like a hat, a moustache, some glasses. And every time I went to this, um I just draw something in a magazine of this place.

SPEAKER_03 6:39

Every time they're looking in the waiting room, it's like, oh the dry. Why does this woman have a mustache?

unknown 6:45

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 6:46

And um it's a it's a small example, but it this is this made like a waiting room, something very bearable, you know. So in some way you can say art or expression, let's say, save me in that moment, or in worse moment for sure.

SPEAKER_03 7:06

Are you okay talking about that? Does your father and your stepfather's death come across in some of the work that you're creating? Are you realizing that as a young child? Or is that from looking backwards?

SPEAKER_01 7:17

Yes, yes. I think in my early childhood I had some social problems, you know, like couldn't socialize with much people. So I stayed at my place, like uh drawing. And then when I grew up and the second marriage of my mother died, I failed that course in school. And my my teacher said, Hey, where's your home? Or you know, and I didn't write anything, any number or any letter, and they failed me. Was that because of you were going through grief and you just I didn't knew at the moment, I didn't knew at the moment, but after lots of psychologists, you know, stuff, they realized this that I was going through a bad episode in my life and I couldn't concentrate in school. But there was one psychiatrist here in this school, a visionary. He realized that yes, I was failing because of the school system, not because of my problems in my life. So this case he came with this system, this new system, that I needed to bring my homework in drawing instead of a writing. Wow. Yeah. That was a very interesting. I was quite uh like didn't understand much at the start, but the teachers like could adapt well to this. So I bring the Napoleon stuff draw all the history class draw.

SPEAKER_03 8:32

So instead of doing the writing or the essay format, you'd present, say, the an history of Napoleon in expression of drawings and all.

SPEAKER_01 8:41

Yeah, this worked like maybe for two years. That is kind of visionary. It is, and I think it helped also like younger uh students that had myself problems that didn't want to socialize much or so.

SPEAKER_03 8:53

Was it a system that the school implemented after you?

SPEAKER_01 8:56

Yeah, it wasn't like the Rat Lab, maybe. But it was great for me. I saved the year and I saved it the second, the next one. But yeah, then these drawings were posted there in the hallway so other people can see them. Uh, it was very intelligent from him, and thank you a lot. Roberto Balaguer is the guy that invented this uh system.

Drawing As Language In School

SPEAKER_03 9:16

How did he know that you had a talent for drawing?

SPEAKER_01 9:19

Were you in class just I was always drawing, man, like always drawing characters and world of fantasy, my books and uh my notebooks, yeah. Always, always, always. And I did actually fail another course. I I failed one in secondary school and another in high school. Okay, and the high school was like the last year of this uh school, let's say. But I was 18 at that moment, so I needed to go to university, you know. In my country at 18, you finish school and you go to university. But because the second year I failed, so I was behind two years. So I went to a night school. So I was there with these old people, not all like grown at 40 years coming from work, or maybe a girl was pregnant there, but I was with there, you know what I mean. So you were doing night school. Night school as well as the school that you were doing in the day. In the morning, I entered uh technic high school. Okay. So you didn't need to finish high schools to go to this place. My my mom told me you're not gonna be a drawer, you can't work on being a drawer. So I got into graphic design, that it was like the shape form of a drawer or uh expressor in somehow.

SPEAKER_03 10:37

Yeah. Yeah. Did that seem like a natural progression to you from the art that you were creating to go into something that was graphic design, shall we say, is more practical in its use. It's more problem solving than it is expression?

SPEAKER_01 10:52

In some way, the graphic design like ordered my mind, let's say it gave like form, shape, order, structure, yes, like all the graphics, all the drawings started like falling into these spaces where everything was okay, you know? And um did your mind not feel like that then?

SPEAKER_03 11:16

My what? Did your mind not feel like that while before graphics?

SPEAKER_01 11:20

Maybe not, maybe not.

SPEAKER_03 11:21

I don't know. I'm just I'm trying to because I'm looking at some of the work that you've created in the drawing formats that I've seen. Obviously, we've shared some of your work, of course. And there is a darkness and uh an energy to the drawings, shall we say? It seems very free and sporadic and does graphic design pull that into structure. Maybe is that I think what I'm trying to say is your mother's guided you towards a technical thing because we all understand that potentially you can't make money as a drawer, as an artist, the starving artist. So that's that's the same thing as in Uruguay, it's universal, right? Yeah, sure. Don't be an artist, you'll be living in a bridge under a bridge.

SPEAKER_01 12:06

Yeah. I think it wasn't conscious at this moment that this was happening, but I think me and also lots of artists in the history of the world had like some kind of trauma or weird uh childhood. I wouldn't say mine was like this of uh horrible. I was very variable, I had lots of cousins and everything was right.

SPEAKER_03 12:31

But but can you say that because now you're older? Yeah, yeah. And you've dealt with it, like you say, you've yeah, you've done the work on yourself, which we all need to do to address.

SPEAKER_01 12:41

I didn't fight my demons, but yes, uh part of the way.

SPEAKER_03 12:45

But you have warriors inside to help you fight your demons because you've built that resilience. And this is part of the reason we connected. We spoke about this, the darkness, and we've both got that love of embracing the darkness and not being afraid of it. Yeah. Does that sorry, does that come from I hate to say it, but your experiences of a child? You've you've been through some very dark stuff and you've come out the other side more resilient.

From Dark Drawings To Broader Expression

SPEAKER_01 13:10

I think I did. I think I did. I think uh I don't see today as a bad thing. I see it more like a blessing. This thing that happened to me connected for sure with my creativity side and with my inside me, you know, in my business. And it made me do like so much dark art and um Is that how you would describe the work that you create?

SPEAKER_03 13:34

In in that drawing sense, it's dark. Not now.

SPEAKER_01 13:38

I mean I try to use lots of different ways of expression. That's why I can call myself an expressor. But at that moment I was more into drawing more dark stuff or bizarre art. Yeah, drawings that were a bit of disgusting, or maybe some near to porn, yeah, dark black and white.

SPEAKER_03 14:01

Do you have an idea where those images are coming from then? Not really. No.

SPEAKER_01 14:06

Not really, not really, but maybe of a darned feeling I felt when I was a child who I I I I don't know, maybe, yes.

SPEAKER_03 14:12

But it's interesting because you've got that dark feeling and that melancholy, but there's also that romantic in you, I think. Because when we met at the gallery, I was drawn to a couple of pieces and they were yours, and there was lots of text involved, and they were very much about love and loss and passion. And again, that's where I think the connection lies. We're two dark souls, but inherently romantic underneath.

SPEAKER_01 14:39

Well, yeah, it's cheesy saying it, but there's no light if there's no dark. Yeah, everybody knows that. So I think if you want to make uh good art or if you want to express yourself, you should get like fully connected with your feelings, and maybe like some traumatic things in your childhood can connect you with that.

SPEAKER_03 14:58

As an expressor, yeah, have you ever had any problems with the things that you want to express?

SPEAKER_01 15:04

Felt vulnerable or yeah, maybe maybe, but in words, not in expression with artistic ways. No, no, never I would like to draw anything or express in any way. But connecting, talking, or expressing myself in with words, it was difficult. Like it does the common language, you know.

SPEAKER_03 15:24

I found that with many other art guests that have been on the podcast, they say the same thing. It's often easier for them to express through their art, but to be asked to talk about that art or trying to do it.

SPEAKER_01 15:34

It's difficult, it's difficult, it's difficult.

SPEAKER_03 15:36

So, should we go back? We should give some structure to this, shouldn't we? Should we go back and say you studied graphic design? Yeah. Because that was the road you can make money, you can do jobs, you can do these things. You're studying graphic design in Uruguay. Where do we go from there?

Drugs, Psychedelics, And Music Awakening

SPEAKER_01 15:51

Well, that's where my path in expression started to take a bit more. I started using like softwares, I started expressing myself in other uh with other techniques. I added video, animation, the digital art, all my drawings in the traditional way, started to process them in a software. Uh, and also there is the music. I started music production and electronic music. Where does that love of music come from? I don't know, but I did try uh some drugs in 1920 or something like this, and I think like my senses with music woke up. Yeah, opened. It opened, yes.

SPEAKER_03 16:34

What experiences do you did you have with drugs that you felt opened you up potentially? Not necessarily to music, to be an experience.

SPEAKER_01 16:43

I have to connect myself a lot.

SPEAKER_03 16:45

Um like which drugs at all? You're lucky or I don't I don't we don't necessarily need a list, but was were there any I mean we spoke on the way over about you doing ayahuasca.

SPEAKER_01 16:55

Yes, yourself up to the ayahuasca. I was like the the the final boss, final stage, let's say the final boss. Uh I just followed uh this uh colleague from my high school to a weird party I'd never been, and I found like a lot of people like so freedom, so so so nice, so kind. And uh yeah, I started with some hallucinations uh and everything that I tried, like MDMA, XSC, and everything. It started to connect with the things I was drawing at the moment, you know, when I started to create like this uh universe of characters, I was like flipping with the this universe I made of aliens that extract the woman from the earth and bring them to another planet where the aliens were playing music and the girls were dancing. And the aliens we just played music, they didn't do anything weird.

SPEAKER_02 17:48

But I have tons of drawings of that era. Yes. The psychedelics definitely took a hold.

SPEAKER_03 17:54

But that then opened you up to feel freer to start creating, playing music.

Shared Techniques Across Art Forms

SPEAKER_01 17:59

Yes, uh I understand music like in so other ways. I started, I listened to, you know, uh pop, hip hop, rock, cumbia, there's cumbia in Uruguay, but then I started after electronic music and after drugs, I started listening to jazz, experimental, I don't know, house techno, drum bass, folk, indie, like a lot of things that I never saw them, you know. I understand the texture of the sound. And when I fully understand uh how music was, I started seeing that the techniques that you use to create the music are the same techniques that you use when you draw, and the same techniques that you use when you dance.

SPEAKER_03 18:42

Can you say more? What do you mean by that?

SPEAKER_01 18:44

That you're not like an artist, you are an expressor, and the art is the way you use to express yourself. And there are lots of ways of art, and you just need to know the technique, and that you have contrast in the in photography, you have contrast music. When the bath drops, there's a contrast with no rhythm and rhythm. I don't know, colors, black brush and the white brush, you have contrast, you know, everything is connected, and you just need to know how to express yourself and know these techniques and then express yourself, and that's it. And that is going to become like your new language. Yes, and I call myself that I call myself an ex person, not an artist.

SPEAKER_03 19:23

Well, it seems that way there's graphic design, drawing, music. So you you DJ, you make music, yeah, you make art.

SPEAKER_01 19:32

I also did graphic design for uh you know labels or records that you put music on it, so it's like everything is connected.

SPEAKER_03 19:39

Everything is connected. But that's what I think as creatives, we often forget that we are multifaceted, we have many skills. Yeah. But we put ourselves into a box of like I have for 25 years. I'm a photographer, I couldn't possibly do a painting. I'm a photographer, I couldn't possibly do a sculpture. I'm a photographer, I couldn't possibly do a poem. Exactly. Whereas I realize that's not the case. I've always been a creator. I guess I've similar to you, I've always been an expressor. And that's where the connection comes. It's so interesting to me that I've met a similar soul that's sort of like, yeah, and slightly to express.

SPEAKER_01 20:13

It takes so much weight off your shoulder saying, become an artist, you know, like what is an artist? I don't know. I think also I just want to say something like, of course, you can go into Google and look what's the definition of art. But I think that the people that are more really into art and expression, there's somehow, or in one moment of their life, there's they like make their own definition of art. Because every art every expressor has their own story with art, or art help them to go through stuff, or art help them to whatever. So you just may make your own definition of art that suits you. We are the art. We are the art, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 21:00

Okay, so you're an expressor. But how do we get from Uruguay to Barcelona where this weird guy walks into your gallery where you're working and asks you to be on a podcast? And in Uruguay, what are the influences apart from the music? Are you getting influenced in terms of art, artists?

SPEAKER_01 21:56

When I started getting out from my neighborhood and gaining conscious about expression, I got out of that place and that people and started to surround myself between people that are uh similar to me. It's weird, but some of them has a weird childhood. So they are deeply connected to their emotions and they express through art. So I think I for sure get inspired of my friends, uh my group of people that was there, that is there already. Uh they're still there.

SPEAKER_03 22:28

But were you aware of the you know the quote-unquote famous artists growing up? They weren't influenced, you weren't studying them in art class or no, no, not very much. I mean to your own style, being influenced by the people around you.

SPEAKER_01 22:42

Of course, you see things from there, from here, good artists like in Europe, good artists in uh North America, and uh good artists in in South America. Who is a good artist in your eyes? In my eyes? Someone that has not made like it's not perfect, maybe, you know. Some something whenever when you listen to music and you hear like the voice has this noise uh that it's not very nice when you feel very it's so true. It comes from the deepest uh part of his heart. Or when you see a painting and it's not fully perfect, you know. Uh that's for me is uh good art or a good expression, let's say the error, they're not perfect, they're wrong, like this artist or this expression is trying to show, they're broken. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 23:35

I'm definitely drawn to the darker quality than artist.

SPEAKER_01 23:40

Yes. And you should see my my couples along my leg. If they hadn't had this trauma in their childhood, they wouldn't be interested by me. Really? Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 23:50

Okay, so how do we go from studying graphic design in Uruguay to finding yourself in Barcelona?

Starting Over: Work, DJing, And The Gallery

SPEAKER_01 23:57

So I did graphic design parallel to creating music, producing music and playing music like 10 years of my life from the 20s through 28. Um then Uruguay is a very small country. I I should I wouldn't say like I reached the top, of course not, but you you can see the ceiling like there. And everyone that wants a new opportunity and can leave the country, yeah, they live to find their shop in life. So, what made you decide on Barcelona? Barcelona is the warmest city to end up, you know, same same language, the weather is very good. We even have the same tiles on the streets in Uruguay, we have the same sign. Really? Yeah. And uh we have the same tree. The you know the tree of this uh yellow thing that got into your eye? We have it here in Barcelona and also in Uruguay. So very familiar, yeah, it's very familiar. I don't plan to live here like all my life. I would like to buy another city in Europe, expand myself. How long have you been in Barcelona?

SPEAKER_03 24:59

Two years in the house. And what does that look like for an expressor living in Barcelona? Can you tell me a little bit about your life and how you live, how you work, how you make your money as an expressor?

SPEAKER_01 25:10

I had this job as a graphic designer in Uruguay, and they told me like, like uh quit, come here and we will hire you again. So I came with that promise and didn't happen. I came here to be more developed in music and also design, of course. But graphic design didn't work very well. There's a lot of jobs here of graphic design, and there's a lot of people trying to get into these jobs. You see a job application, and there's 500 people per really smapness.

SPEAKER_03 25:42

So was that difficult, bearing in mind you reached a ceiling point in Europe? I didn't reach a ceiling, I was seeing a ceiling. Ah, okay. I would never put myself in that uh position. There's always a place to grow. Yeah, but was that harder moving to a city in England? We have a phrase, a small fish in a big pond.

SPEAKER_01 26:00

I wasn't a whale in Uruguay, I was a big fish, maybe. And here I am like just uh how do you say the baby of a frog? Yeah, tadpole. A tadpole.

SPEAKER_02 26:11

A tadpole, it's not even a fish, but it's very interesting. I mean, that means that there's a lot more way to go.

SPEAKER_01 26:18

So at that moment where I wasn't able to work as a graphic designer, I say fuck it, you know, like can I say about work here? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Say fuck it uh with graphic design. I'm just going to look for a job that gives me money and let me buy records and gear, so I fully go into music. So music was even when you came up, the music is the stage, it's the second stage here in Barcelona. And uh for my luck, I found a job where I can draw.

SPEAKER_03 26:44

But there's an interesting but there's an interesting story to how you got there because the music got you that job, right?

SPEAKER_01 26:49

Yes, yes. I am working there because I met some people here in from electronic music when I just arrived and they were looking for a DJ to play in a live stream because a very big DJ from USAID was investing in this streaming, live streaming in this gallery. I never went to. And the people, the crew of this big DJ asked for local DJs to participate. So they asked me if I wanted to go. Of course, free, they didn't pay me anything. I was happy to be playing. I just arrived in Barcelona, you know. So I got to this gallery, very colorful, very weird. Yeah, they did a live streaming of me, and they this guy played, and that was nice. A year after I was working in this place.

SPEAKER_03 27:33

And this is where we met, isn't it? Yeah, this is where we met in the same store. In the same store, in the same store. And it's yeah, it's a very interesting space, and there are now some explore inspire create stickers in that space. But what an interesting way for you to earn your living.

Mentoring, Resilience, And Self-Acceptance

SPEAKER_01 27:50

So you let's say I got connected to my early childhood now. So I did drawing when I was a kid, yeah. So was there a time when you didn't really draw? I mean, I was always connected to drawing where while I was doing graphic design. I had this kid, like uh I was a personal teacher to him. How to say like personal teacher, yeah. Um tutor. I'm a tutor, I was a tutor for this uh 10-year-old uh kid, and I was teaching him on how to draw. He has this drawing, so he was the same as me when I was a kid, you know, has these books with drawings of him, uh, of chapters and stuff. It didn't have this form yet, so everything was rusty. So I I tried to not to teach him, but just to have fun with drawing and express ourselves with drawing, giving back to somebody else. Exactly, exactly. So there's a say, uh, you're always gonna one day be something to someone somebody was for you once.

SPEAKER_03 28:57

How oh my god, Lolo. It's so interesting you say that because I'm I mean, we've had this connection, we spoke about why we've got this connection. I'm going through some stuff at the moment. I put it as I have grown into the man that I needed when I was a kid. Right. Does that make sense? Yeah, for sure. Is that what you are the man that you I'm the man that I needed when I was a kid. Right, right. Do you think that's the person that you are now? Like you say, you're giving back to I never You're giving back to a young, a young person with your creativity. You want to have that influence, you want to be a positive inspiration. Yeah, and like we said about the podcast, it's only about inspiring people to try and do the stuff that inspires them. We've got one life, we have to live it. Yeah, you're right.

SPEAKER_01 29:40

Um, yes, and if I put it. I mean, I I I never thought if I I am the man I would like to be when I of what I was a kid, but I am very happy of what I am and what I have become.

SPEAKER_03 29:54

For sure. Okay, different question. Yeah. At the age you are now, what would you say to the younger you? Keep on going. Yeah. Just don't change anything. Yeah. Flug it up, miss it, uh, fail courses, keep on your drawing.

SPEAKER_02 30:09

No regrets.

SPEAKER_03 30:10

No regrets at all. No regrets at all.

SPEAKER_01 30:13

It's interesting, isn't it?

SPEAKER_03 30:14

When we go through these dark times to reflect on those.

SPEAKER_01 30:16

But I told you it was a blessing for me. Now I can see it. Now I can see it, of course. I mean, it was maybe traumatic for a person that were people that were like next to me. I know they did it with lots of love, but I don't know, my mom, man, she's a warrior. She tried to she tried to find a place to this weird brain of mine. Is that why you had some therapy and things like that? Yeah, I did 12 years of uh therapy with the same person, then the school thought, hey, this this therapy is not working, so I jumped between five or six different uh psychologists in one year, then came back to the same one. I don't know. I did a lot of therapy in my life.

SPEAKER_03 30:53

Do you think there was a breakthrough, or do you think there's something that you learned from doing all that therapy?

SPEAKER_01 30:58

Yes, yes. I learned to observe myself, I learned to think about myself and study myself if I am wrong or not, or if I am true or not. Yes.

Therapy, Balance, And Deep Emotions

SPEAKER_03 31:10

I think that's important. And I've I've done a little bit of therapy as well, and I think it's that idea that sometimes we know so much to know why we're right, but we don't know enough to know why we're wrong.

SPEAKER_01 31:21

I thought about this also, and I thought of this theory I made of the relativity. Like you are not gonna be able to know so much this end if you don't go to the other side, you know. But this is fully wrong, so now you can like know the other way so much. Or does that go back to balance? Balance again, black and white, light and darkness, yeah, I know.

SPEAKER_03 31:45

And that's where we got that connection. We've both got those dark souls, but we're both very open to leaning into that, to exploring those dark elements where I think a lot of people don't want to go there, no, of course.

SPEAKER_01 31:57

It's scary. I also had a kind of theory there about layering the emotions in the brain of a person. Like, how is normal that that the deepest emotion or the bizarre feelings or the dark feelings are always like in the most deep part of yourself? Well, uh, to access that thing, you have to be connected to your deeper side. And that's the only way that you can extract the deeper feelings and bring them to the outside layer of your thing, order of layering your brain. And that is also connected to art and expression. I mean, if I am seeing a piece of art and it's disgusting, or is horrible or is dark or is heavy, and it's connecting to my deepest feeling, and I think this expressor did a hell of a good job. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 32:48

Art should emote feeling, whether it's good or bad.

SPEAKER_01 32:51

Connect with my deepest in way, uh in good or bad, yeah, for sure.

SPEAKER_03 32:57

Do you feel like you're leading a balanced life as an expressor with your music, your design, your art, your drawing?

SPEAKER_01 33:04

No. No, it's not a balance. They all work together, and when I understand something in one branch of art, I can translate it to other branches of art. Yeah, they're not battling. And sometimes I don't draw for a lot of time, and sometimes I don't do music for a lot of time, and sometimes I don't DJ for a lot of time, or I don't do graphic design for a lot of time, but then I do it, you know, and uh I I uh it was there with me, you know, and I had I'd been progressing creativity and ways of thinking that I can uh like uh you know Is that what you mean when you said things like there is contrast in painting, there's contrast in music?

SPEAKER_03 33:47

You can explain.

SPEAKER_01 33:48

The techniques are the same. You're not losing anything if you don't do one branch of art. And you're moving fluidly between all of them all the time. Now I am more into music, yeah. Yeah, for sure. And that's what I want to go. I wanna do now, like this moment of my life.

SPEAKER_03 34:06

And what does that look like in Barcelona? Are you DJing? Are you making music for other DJs? Are you playing out? Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 34:12

Yeah, I uh I finished uh setting my studio at home. It took a while. I've been like three years since I wasn't making like interesting or feeling good about the music I was making. Uh now I am reaching, so I'm happy. Um I am I have two records releasing uh for next year. Amazing, maybe, I don't know, one for sure, one maybe, let's see. But I'm happy that uh this is happening and I feel very happy in this new studio, expressing myself through music a lot. And being in Barcelona for music, electronic music is great. This is everybody's here. All the DJs from the underground are here, all the DJs where I come here.

Music Focus, Releases, And Scene In Barcelona

SPEAKER_03 34:55

What does that look like? Is it I mean, I'm an old man now, but you know, a rave scene, is it warehouse parties, is it what does that look like in Barcelona? Is it clubs?

SPEAKER_01 35:04

Is it there there are some clubs, yes. Race, not much, because neighbors have been being like our enemy the enemy of music. But yeah, there are very clubs that have a lot of viewers from all around the globe. Yeah, I played in some of them already, so I'm happy for that, and keep on growing, yeah. And you just keep growing by playing out more, making more contact. I have uh I have now I run a record label. Uh I I did my first release from an artist from Uruguay last year, and I'm planning to do the second one next year from a friend from Leeds. From Leeds?

SPEAKER_03 35:44

Yeah. Oh, interesting. He's living here now. A friend from Leeds that lives here. Yeah. Wow. He just moved. He's trying to uh learn the Spanish. Is he? Well, God, we should I was about to say him and I should have a conversation, but no, we probably shouldn't. He's a very deep artist. You should know him.

SPEAKER_01 36:01

Really? And I had this residency in a club that now shut down, so I don't know what I'm gonna do. And I have another residency in a small club, but with my girlfriend, and we do parties there. Yeah. Cool. Once or once a month or two months.

SPEAKER_03 36:18

Yeah. So you really are the expressor. So you've got a record label, DJ producer, graphic designer, artist. I missed anything else?

SPEAKER_01 36:29

I draw, I graphic design, I video edit, I produce music, I do DJ.

SPEAKER_03 36:35

You are the epitome of living a creative life.

SPEAKER_01 36:38

I am feeling good and I feel good around the around the expressionism. Yes, and I try to make my living between all of the things. None of this I can tell from my job, I can live from this. But each of them brings a little bit of joy, a little bit of money, yeah, a little bit of uh communication with people, a little a little bit of a.

SPEAKER_03 37:00

And I don't know. We did we discussed, I don't know whether that's a South American thing, but previous guest on the podcast, Boxy Trixie, he was very much the same, didn't want to consider himself an artist, was just someone trying to lead a creative life.

SPEAKER_01 37:14

I think uh nobody wants to tell themselves they're the artist, to be honest. But it's difficult to to if you compare like with the old artist like that painted so much realism on the ceilings or the huge pyramids or Michelangelo is still commissioned by the Pope, so that was essentially a job for him. Yeah, you're right.

SPEAKER_03 37:36

Even though we look back and go, wow, the Sistine Chapel. And he didn't do it alone. Yeah, he did it with a team of people. You're right, you're right.

Label Building And Community

SPEAKER_01 37:43

Yeah, I don't know. I know why. Maybe it's something from Latin America that we are humble and we are like uh maybe I don't know, we were colonizers, so we are like the newest person in the world, you know, that we feel this way. But not much to be honest. There's a very uh power and influence from their Rio de la Plata, uh energy and people and expressionists that are hitting very hard in the globe and history of music and history of art, for sure. For sure. La Garra Latina.

SPEAKER_03 38:19

Where does that take us then? Where does that lead us? This is, as I say, quite a random episode. Anyone that knows me will know that I don't care about somebody's following, I don't care about how famous they are. There's just gotta be a connection, and we found that connection. But where does your connection with all of these creative things take you next? Do you have any goals, any future goals?

SPEAKER_01 38:44

Yeah, I try not to project so far, to be honest.

SPEAKER_03 38:51

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 38:51

I don't know, just to live the moment and concentrate on what's happening nowadays, and then we'll see in the moment we can improvise in the moment where do we go and where do we express on how or how do we express? I don't know. Very fluid. Yeah, fluid is able to move. One day uh somebody was trying to explain something to me, like a new technique or something a long time ago. And I said, No, I'm not using the same, I don't want to learn this, I'm into this now. And this guy told me, Hey, don't worry, like knowledge doesn't take space of your mind, it expands yourself in your mind. Yes, I don't have bigger plans. I would say, I would like to say in this uh podcast that recognize yourself. If you are an expressionist and you use art in a certain way to express yourself, uh don't be shy. Accept it. You don't need to say that you're an artist, you don't need to get to an artist level. You can say that you're an expressor and uh study yourself, study the deep emotions of yourself, you will find like musical stuff there, and uh you will connect with people that is very nice and feels good. Like us.

Living Fluidly Without Big Plans

SPEAKER_03 40:01

Yeah, that's how we connected. Yeah, sure. I literally read the words that you were creating and I probably took some pictures of them, and I was like, oh my god, I connected that so much. And like I said to you, I'm in Barcelona for a number of reasons. One was supposed to be an exhibition that of some of my work, whereas I was trying to be the expressor. But also there, as I said to you, there's there's something about finding that connection with you. When I came to Barcelona, one of the craziest cities in the world, two million odd people, and I came here to try and find some clarity and some silence, and I found connection. And I appreciate you and appreciate the time that you took to be patient with my Spanish and let us connect over art and creativity and expression. And yeah, I appreciate you for doing this random jumping on the podcast. No, it was amazing. Thank you a lot, also. And I feel like I've made a a lifelong friend. Every time I'm back in Barcelona, I will be coming to check in with Lolo. But Lolo, do you know what we haven't done, Lolo? Giving people your actual name. Or is that or we do we not tell people the government name?

SPEAKER_01 41:11

It's a secret. My real name is Rodrigo. Rodrigo Juan Sosa. But I don't use Juan. I use more like Rodrigo Lolo Sosa.

SPEAKER_03 41:20

Where does Lolo come from?

SPEAKER_01 41:22

I don't know. I was born and was called me this. I think my sister made it up, and then my mother used it, and my cousin used it, and my teachers used it, and my bosses used it.

SPEAKER_03 41:32

Oh really? Everybody. Everybody. Like nobody used Rodrigo to be honest. Lolo is my name. Yeah. Lolo is his name. And that seems like a good place to end the podcast. We do have a closing tradition where we ask the guest that comes on the podcast to give us a quote that inspires them, but also someone in your world, in your expressive creative world, that you think could be a good guest to come on the Creative Nobeland podcast in the future. And I'm guessing that'll be when I next come back to Barcelona.

SPEAKER_01 42:03

Yeah, uh, I can think about a very close friend. She is about an expressor like me, for sure. But he's also like an agent of healing the time. It's very complex. Like the work he does is very complex. He lives here in Barcelona, and we met through art actually.

SPEAKER_03 42:27

What's his name?

SPEAKER_01 42:28

His name is Gatriel. And he's an agent of time. Yeah. Yeah, he heals the time with uh spreading the word of a guy called Valum Botan. That he was the inventor of this theory of the synchronary, that it's like a different way of perceiving the time rather than the calendar. Wow.

SPEAKER_03 42:54

Yeah, it's very that sounds complex, I'm not gonna lie. I mean the tiny brain is a little intimidated by that already, because it's huge agent of time.

SPEAKER_01 43:02

He has a very deep and and uh very unique way of life and thing uh the art, and uh, he also does a lot of expression, like other apart from the agent of time thing. He does a lot of art in walls, graffitis, uh drawing, digital artists. Yes, yes, very good.

SPEAKER_03 43:22

He sounds like he'll be the perfect, yes, interesting and inspiring guest for the creative Nobeland when I come back to Barcelona.

SPEAKER_01 43:29

We actually met in a workshop. Really?

SPEAKER_03 43:32

Yeah, I'm back in New England You met the Agent of Time back in New York. The Agent of Time. Yeah, that's what I'm gonna have to call the Agent of Time. He is the Agent of Time. Yeah, for sure. I'm intrigued to see. Akenteca. I mean Agent K.

SPEAKER_01 43:45

Agent K. Yeah, he called himself Akenteca.

SPEAKER_03 43:48

Does it?

SPEAKER_01 43:48

Yeah, he I met the Agent of Time, and he's one of my best friends, to be honest.

Names, The Agent Of Time, And Jung’s Quote

SPEAKER_03 43:52

Wow. Well, I think that could be a very interesting conversation. And what about a quote, Lolo? Have you got a quote for the creator?

SPEAKER_01 44:00

I do have a quote. I don't know where I read it or somebody told it to me, but once I know of this, I got stuck in my head and it actually helped me a lot to go through a lot of situations and uh think about my arts. And yeah, the quote it says, no tree can grow to heaven and let its roots go to hell. Like more or less what we were talking uh now uh on this podcast. Yeah, you've got to have the strength and go deeper to find the exactly go deep, deep, deep, and you will like bright for sure. It's a bit cheesy, but you can say like there is no light, if there's no dark, it's cheesy. But if you say it like this way, it's cooler.

SPEAKER_03 44:38

And it's what's really interesting is you didn't know who the quote was by, did you? Cool. It's by Carl Jung, who is the forefather of exploring the shadow, the darkness, all of those things. All of those things that we've connected on before we know. Yeah. I actually never looked it up, or maybe I did and I forgot. I don't know. Yeah, very young, and seems like a good place for us to end this very random episode of the Creative Noeland Podcast. Very interesting. But Lolo, gracias on Blue. Thank you, my man. Thanks for listening to the Creative Noeland Podcast. If you found anything in this episode useful or inspiring, please consider subscribing or sharing it with a friend. You can also help the podcast by clicking the support the show link in the show notes or by grabbing yourself something from the Creative Noeland shop. And here's the bonus. When you join the community through our website, you'll get a special discount code that gives you free shipping on all orders. So, before you buy anything, be sure to join the community. Every bit of support helps us keep sharing these inspiring stories. So, thanks again for listening, and until next time, explore, inspire, and create.

SPEAKER_00 45:56

Better to have a short life that is full of what you like doing than a long life spent in a miserable way. And so, therefore, it's so important to consider this question. What do I decide?