UNGENERIC Podcast
Get an insight look at the process, motivation, and journey of a creative mind. Brought to you by XZBT Media.
UNGENERIC Podcast
Episode 3: The Creative Odyssey of Mike: From Digital Marketing to Mural Mastery
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What if your life was like an octopus, managing multiple creative projects with each arm? Mike, a gifted artist from Fullerton, shares how he juggles a career in digital marketing, co-founding the World of Dance, and maintaining his passion for painting. Growing up in a family of poets and painters in Whittier, California, Mike's journey took him to the International Fine Arts College in Florida, where he embraced digital editing. His path weaves together the vibrant threads of events, music, media, and art, all while keeping art as a personal and rejuvenating endeavor.
Artist Spotlight
Speaker 1all right . So I have the lovely mike here with me this evening , a fabulous local artist from fullerton , um . So just tell me a little bit about yourself , give me some background . Maybe dig deep , go back in the archives what has your life been like till this point here ?
Speaker 2oh well , um try to dig deep uh yeah , a little . E true hollywood story yeah , um , well , I grew up um in whittier um , california , neighboring city of fullerton , um , and uh , I just uh , I've always been , you know , creative . My parents were very um into like encouraging the arts . My dad's a poet , he's a published poet , and my mom is also a poet and she loves to paint .
Speaker 1So I think it just runs all over in the family .
Speaker 2Yeah , yeah , and I have a twin brother that also um , paints , um , and I think , uh , with that encouragement , it's just been um , I've been doing it since I was a kid . It was like every card that we made was you like ? Every card that we made , was you know ? Every card that we gave to someone was like oh , you have to , you have to draw the card yeah like we're giving to a friend or you know , um birthday card or anything like that .
Speaker 2So , um , but I grew up in whittier and then , um , I ended up going to uh international fine arts college in um , florida , and I was , for I got a scholarship on visual arts , so my painting- also all the way across the united states for college .
Speaker 2That's really interesting so I went all the way to miami and and but um , I actually studied , uh , digital editing because I wanted to get into the digital side and and that was kind of a new major at the time . It was a transition between the digital and more the hands-on , and so once I learned the tools , I got more into marketing . But along the way , I've always painted , always been into art and just enjoy the process .
Speaker 2I think that path , um , it is , I think it . You know that path . I'm trying to dig deeper into it , but , um , that path . I took me into more of the um , digital marketing , creative direction kind of route as a career , um and um . So now I work for a company called world of dance and I helped start it with a few partners and we produce dance events all over the the United States Plus . We have international partners where we do about 55 other dances , dance companies and and then we also I had had a TV show on NBC for four years with Jennifer Lopez and Derek Huff , and Neo was like the they were the judges .
Speaker 1Yeah , it was like the name . Was that the same name ?
Speaker 2Oh yeah .
Speaker 1Because I was like that sounds very familiar .
Speaker 2Yeah , so we started an event company that eventually got on to an NBC TV show and it was . The TV show was based off of our live events , so that's kind of incredible .
Speaker 1It's very accomplishing right there . Yeah , how many , how long did that run ?
Speaker 2for four years .
Speaker 1Four years , yeah , it's really cool , yeah , um , and did you . How did you get into ? Like that was the dance side of it , just what you happen ? Chance or was that ? Are you into dance ? Are you a dancer ?
Speaker 2uh , no , I'm not a dancer , uh , but I appreciate the , the art of it , and I think how I got into it was before that there were actually two jobs . Before that I was working in more of the music industry . It was like the rave scene and this is straight out of college and so I went from the rave scene to an event company that had produced car shows and then I went to the dance thing . So I think for me it's always been something a mix of lifestyle and media . Um has just always come to me and it's been kind of a crazy path where it's like I , I wasn't .
Speaker 2I was into music I mean , everybody's into music but I wasn't DJ , but I just loved that the you know the creative side of it and got into the digital arts , making websites and then doing print work and then video editing . So I tried to really just sharpen my tools in the creative space and then that reflects also in my personal art . But my personal art has been more of my downtime relaxing , doing whatever I want , and what medium would you say is like your personal art ?
Speaker 1has been more of my downtime relaxing , doing whatever I want . And what medium would you say is like your personal art ?
Speaker 2I would say I mean mainly , I work in acrylic lately but I started out with oil . Okay , yeah , and usually it's the opposite , but I think it was more of just , the people that I was friends with at the time were like , oh , let's try these paints , and they were definitely oils . I kept going with it , but , but yeah , so yeah , it's been , you know , a crazy mix of a lot of artistic , you know , I guess , experiments , yeah .
Speaker 1That's it , yeah , what can . Can you say you have like one favorite medium ? Is it the acrylics ? Is that your favorite ?
Speaker 2The only reason why I'd say it's my favorite now is just because it's easy to work with and I can get the work done a little faster than oils , because it's like that's a longer process .
Speaker 1Okay , and then the media stuff . Is there stuff you're , are you ? Is that like your daily nine to five ?
Speaker 2Yeah , yeah .
Speaker 1Okay , awesome . And then what about ?
Artistic Journey and Evolution
Speaker 1So you went , you were all the way on the East Coast . What brought you back to the West , just where you'd like done with college ? You're like I'm out of here , I'm going back to the West Coast , or .
Speaker 2Yeah , and I had the job lined up at the company that it was called WaveWorld and it was a website and the website was actually pretty large . Um , it had um like a million uh users and oh yeah , that race , that was huge .
Speaker 1Yeah , like what year ? What your frame ? Time frame was this ?
Speaker 2oh , this is early , like 2000 , oh yeah it was crazy huge , yeah , and it was like um .
Speaker 2The website was , um , going to the raves and recording the music and then rebroadcasting it , and we had , like um , like our like , it'd be an hour set , let's say , of the dj and we put it online and it would be using like windows media player , and we had a partnership with windows um at the time to to , like you know , actually stream the music , um , and then the website was more about like , connecting with other people that were into the music and finding the parties , and so there was quite a few people involved and it was also events , you know , very event heavy related . So from the beginning I've always been into , you know , the mix of events and lifestyle kind of .
Speaker 1Oh yeah , I feel like media and music is such like a perfect marriage . They go hand in hand . I mean , you've , anytime I'm planning a show , I've got to make a flyer for the show . I've got to , you know , advertise , somehow get people to come and raise . I mean huge deal with that Organizing those huge things , oh my goodness .
Speaker 2So back to the West coast you had and that puts you into when did you start doing like your first shows and stuff , like your own shows ? I would say that was I was actually into my late , well , early 30s with the event company that produced it and we really learned a lot from . It was called like three different names , but at the end of it it was called like Vision Entertainment . So that company eventually sold and then we were like well , me and my partner Dave were like and there's a few other partners , this other guy , myron Martin , who was actually the dancer in the group , and then Dave was the marketing director that I worked with and I was the creative director at the event company , and so we said let's produce our own event and we ended up doing it in Pomona the first time .
Speaker 1Okay , nice local .
Speaker 2Yeah , yeah , and it was a real success . And Dave had the idea . He was like let's call it World of Dance and the company name is roll dance tour . He was always like , well , we got to think , big , make it a , a tour , that um , um , you know we'll have multiple events . So so we ended up , you know , with one and three . Then , you know , just kept building up , so to where it's a . It's a global brand and has tons of events , like every year .
Speaker 1So and what was your first event ? Uh , that was in pomona what was the name of it ?
Speaker 2well , it was just roll the dance okay yeah , awesome , yeah . So the company that's that's when it started .
Speaker 1That's when I kicked off yeah that's so cool yeah and then how did it evolve into ? Um , have you done your own art shows , specifically like if you're painting some things like that ? Yeah , yeah and when did it evolve into like you doing that type of stuff ?
Speaker 2I would say . I mean , I did that probably in my early 20s , like 25 . But it was always , like you know , when you start out , you get wherever you can get , and it was a hair salon and I just , like you know , used every wall and yeah . So , and then after that I got a show , um , in Costa Mesa . Um , it was more of a group show , but I I every year I try to at least do one or two yeah , my biggest event , uh , or my biggest um art , probably , um , I guess for me it was like it was really special , it was , um , was , uh , I did powwow um Hawaii .
Speaker 2So I've met , um , met some of his names , uh , jasper Wong , and he does a lot of mural festivals , um , and he does . He actually has world world is a new name now it's called uh , worldwide walls , um , but he does a huge thing in Hawaii every year and he also does Long Beach . He's similar to us where he has multiple events all over the world . But they , what they do is they work with local businesses and they say , hey , can we use your wall for a mural ? And then , and then you know he'll get like you know , a few dozen walls and and they he builds like a whole art show around it and and he people like you know Shepard , fairey , and you know huge artists . So I was working doing murals next to these artists that are massive , you know , in their field .
Speaker 1Some of those murals are just breathtaking . So you've done a big mural like that .
Speaker 2Yeah , and that was scary because I'd never done a big mural , I know . And just on that huge scale . You're like you know what it's going to look like on this , maybe the sheet of paper that you know eight by 10 or 11 by 15 , and then to put it in that huge , how does something work like that , like what goes into that process of ?
Speaker 1doing a huge mural like that .
Speaker 2What pretty big , yeah , not compared to some of the people that are doing that , but yeah , it was big for me . Um , and yeah , I used um . First I drew it out and then I I started coloring it with my iPad , kind of just you know , getting a , um , a digital version , and it was um , what it was ? It was a , it was um , a phonograph , um , and then I put a bunch of Hawaiian native flowers drawn out of it . Is this in Long Beach ? No , this was actually in Hawaii .
Speaker 1Oh , okay , I feel like I've seen something like that in Long Beach , but continue .
Speaker 2But they do have murals in Long Beach . They do , they do . That's why I was like , oh , it sounds like a familiar piece but continue .
Speaker 1Sorry to cut you off .
Speaker 2No worries . And then yeah it . It was very colorful and a lot of people , um , you know , took pictures in front of it and um danced in front of it , and so I got a lot of cool , just feedback from that um on social media . It was used in a couple ads too , like people that were you doing you know b-roll . But it was like this is a colorful mural . Can we use it ?
Speaker 1I'm like yeah yeah , that's incredible , and just have it everywhere and get your name out there .
Speaker 2Yeah .
Speaker 1So what's your , what's your main influences ? As far as artists , you have a big one that you kind of look up to , or several that you really like , or I really like , like I got pretty influenced by Paul Gauguin , like I really like his work .
Speaker 2Cause it , it was mainly his color theories . He would mix a lot of oranges with reds and greens . That like really nice , um , you know , on the color , well , contrast , but um , um , but yeah other than that I , I , I kind of um .
Speaker 2There's a . I look online like um , sometimes I'll get influenced by YouTubers and stuff . And there was uh Carter , and he does it's like paint draw , paint mix , I think is his channel , but he does really crazy realistic paintings . But he's he's , he's always strives to do the loosest paint strokes to actually create the image . So like it's more of like step back , you know , look at it and then you see the image , but like if you look at it close it might just look like mud .
Speaker 1You're like it's a Monet , so it's yeah that's quite .
Speaker 2Yeah , it's quite a hard thing to achieve , but like , yeah , he's a great artist . I think he's done a few presidents , but yeah , other than that , you know I also enjoy the modern artists like cause and stuff .
Speaker 2I wouldn't say my , my , um , my paintings are like that but but I try to get , you know , influence , influence everywhere , um , and I usually work in series , um , so I'll , uh , I'll be like , okay , I I want to try something a little bit more surreal . Or or , you know , like one of the series I did , I I was just doing animals and geometric shapes and trying to make them work together . So I did like a deer , with , you know , big hexagon right in the middle and with it being between the horns , and then I did actually this gallery .
Speaker 2I've got fish with all these different geometric shapes in it , kind of floating in the water oh , that's cool so yeah , so that was a series and then I did another series which was still life , but I would also bring in kind of more modern , so it's almost like Renaissance style . I mean , I'd love to say it's Renaissance style , but as close as I can get , but then mixing in like a modern object , like a cell phone , oh that's funny . So , yeah , I like to play around with it and yeah , and just enjoy the process .
Speaker 1Yeah , I love that . I gotta change it up and do something different . So how many different series ? I mean it's probably been a lot , but have there been a lot of series that you've done , or one that you particularly that's like your favorite ?
Speaker 2I guess , going back to the Gagan um inspiration , I did um about four pieces that were all skateboarding pieces , because he grew up skateboarding um and um and so I used his color palette for for the painting . So it just um , you know , because it , if you , if you just do realism , it's , it's concrete and but this time the concrete's orange , because it's based off of that style and I just had a lot of fun painting it , not only just like kind of reminiscing on skateboarding at the same time and I still have a skateboard , but I don't do as many crazy tricks , you know .
Speaker 1Right , yeah , it hurts , now when you fall down . Yeah , yeah .
Speaker 2I busted my knee too many times , so I'm good .
Speaker 1Yeah , we don't heal as well anymore . Yeah , so did you do any skateboard decks at all ?
Speaker 2Yeah , I've done that in the past .
Speaker 1Usually I do some paint on it or a marker and then I end up ruining it later , but I've done that yeah , so can you share with me a memorable moment or experience that has helped shape you and your artistic journey , like something that really impacted you as far as like being an artist ?
Creative Influences and Artistic Goals
Speaker 2um , I think the powwow one was a big one , um , or worldwide walls , um , that was probably the biggest one , um , outside of that , I would say like again , my parents and stuff . They just always were really encouraging um and they would introduce me to different artists poetry artists , you know . Also , I went to a lot of spoken word . When I was younger , my dad was in what was called like slam poetry , slam poetry .
Speaker 1Oh , I love that .
Speaker 2That's really cool , the visuals you get from that are pretty impactful . You know just to always be thinking what words could be used in a visual . So yeah , I'd say that was a big , big inspiration for sure , just being around it .
Speaker 1Yeah , and do you write at all ?
Speaker 2No , I wish , I mean I tried , but no , nothing published yeah .
Speaker 1Well , you have your art , so you definitely got that down . So are there going back to you know art shows ? You definitely got that down , um , so are there going back to you know art shows and things like that ? Do you have anything coming up at all ?
Speaker 2um , just the exploits so far . Yeah , this one um , but um I'm always looking , you know I usually what I do is I'll I'll just start talking to people in fullerton and see if they're interested in showing something . And I walk to work . I constantly am around Fullerton , so it's like an easy thing , it's just like walking .
Speaker 1So everything's really close for you . Yeah , yeah , for now . Yeah , that's awesome .
Speaker 2But , yeah , I'm always open to show other places .
Speaker 1What would be your dream show .
Speaker 2Oh boy , go big , go big . My friend . I would like just to show like in , even like I would say like a Laguna kind of gallery , would be pretty awesome . Yeah , some of those galleries are just absolutely breathtaking .
Speaker 1There's some really cool ones in Palm Springs down there to those art , those galleries .
Speaker 2Yeah .
Speaker 1Yeah .
Speaker 2But the mural , you know I might try that again , cause that's that's . That's also a really good experience and a lot of people see it versus going into , you know , into a gallery and having to to come on in .
Speaker 1Right it's out there . There it is , blast it up there in right , it's out there .
Speaker 2There it is . Yeah , yeah , blast it up there . Yeah , so , and you got prints nowadays . So if you make something , people want you can always say hey , I'm a print .
Speaker 1Yeah , absolutely , what's been the um coolest place you've traveled to as far like for your art and things ?
Speaker 2um . The hawaii one was probably the coolest one I did for art , um , for my work , I've , I've , uh .
Speaker 2Recently I went to uh zurich , um , and that was really nice oh , wow yeah , we went to the alps and hung out there , um , and it was for a event . That we did was a . It was a master class event and the master class events and dances , um is where people go and and learn from like the , the best you know , like professional dancers that you know . So it'll be like 12 professional dancers and they're just refining their craft and and we called it world world of dance camp and and so that was over in Europe and and part of the , the , the fun part of the , the our event .
Speaker 2You know kind of lifestyles we get to go out and check it out .
Speaker 1Travel , yeah , and that's the best part about any kind of yeah , eventing music or because it takes you everywhere . Yeah , it's so cool . So what is , um , what are you working on right now ? Can we sneak peek into your brain and what your ? Is there a new series you're coming up with ?
Speaker 2uh , on the art side , right now I I don't have a new series totally in mind , and usually it just comes to me . So I've lately been really busy in work , working on a VR game , which is pretty exciting . So I take a lot of my computer or a lot of my creative energy Coming back to that media . Yeah , yeah , but I do . I'm a multitasker . I think I'm always working on something , so I know I'll get into it again .
Speaker 1I feel like all artists have to be . They always got like 18 pots cooking on the stove . Yeah , yeah , what's next ?
Speaker 2Well , my friend always says I'm like an octopus , Like it's like I have multiple arms going different places .
Speaker 1So you kind of have to , though yeah , anymore because you can't , just you know , have one spoon in the fire sure my boots keep sticking to the floor . Can you hear that I'm like the podcast is going to be like what is that fabulous noise we have going .
Speaker 2Is there an octopus in the room ?
Speaker 1oh my goodness those are cool .
Speaker 2These are big doc shoes , right , or oh ?
Speaker 1yeah , I mean lifelong , doc Martens , because they last forever . We probably end up dying before these go bad Totally , oh my goodness . So tell me a little bit about what it's been like as far as mixing your multimedia stuff in with your oil and acrylic . Have there been any huge like obstacles you've had to overcome as far as art or that kind of stuff ?
Speaker 2um , not really because not huge obstacles , because I've always um done my my more , my hands-on art , like my painting , and um that side of it there's not been our obstacle , because it's been more for relaxation and meditation and um just um the process . You're enjoying it .
Speaker 2So that's been more of my relaxing um side of it when it comes down to , like you know , the mural that was a little , a lot of pressure and or , um , you know , have making sure to get it done in time and and can I do this ? So that that's , those are . That's a hard moment , but , um , with my work , you know , like any , any job , you've got your deadlines , you've got , you know , to finish things and even though it's creative , um , that's where my challenge is more making sure it's done and events don't you know the dates are set you gotta get done yeah .
Speaker 2so like I'll come up with a whole creative uh style guide for the year and it's like , oh , I gotta do it again . And it's like , okay , but those are more of my challenges . I guess If I was doing art full , like art , visual arts , full time , that would be probably the same thing . Like I gotta get enough work out there to , you know , to sell it , to make a living and , you know , get a lot of gallery shows . So luckily I don't have that pressure and I get to enjoy the local Fullerton kind of shows and every once in a while doing it somewhere else .
Speaker 1Yeah , I think it's nice because we live in such a good area for that . I feel like there's a lot of little galleries or little wine bars and things you can kind of go in and collaborate with . There's a lot of live music and this space here . How's your experience been here ?
Speaker 2It's been great . Yeah , there is a teacher , steve Metzer , I think . He still teaches at the Fullerton Junior College . I took a couple of his classes just to kind of kickstart art again at one point , and he does a lot of art too locally , so maybe he'd be someone who'd be interested in coming in doing it . But um but he was a he was a little a good influence too and just getting out into the fullerton scene and doing stuff around him yeah , well , I'll just talk to him .
Speaker 1It'd be cool to pick his brain and kind of see how long has he been teaching , do you know ?
Speaker 2oh , a long time long time .
Speaker 1Oh yeah , I would love to pick up brain . So what is on the horizon ? I know you said you're working on a VR game . What's on the horizon with your event stuff ? Is there stuff coming up you're excited for ?
Speaker 2Yeah , well , we're trying to get TV show back on , so we're working on that , and then in the meantime we're just . Our main goal is to we have an event that's in July every year and it's like it's called our World Dance Summit . It's where all the winners of these events that are happening in the US and internationally get invited to compete for , like the finals .
Speaker 1Oh , wow , that's got to be huge .
Speaker 2Yeah , so we get you know over 3,000 dancers oh , my goodness , yeah , and then all their friends and family , so it's a big event at the la convention center . Um , so that's our goal . Is our main kind of um . Uh , goal is to make sure to just get enough teams and keep , keep getting um the highest quality . Uh , you know teams involved and um , and it's a lot of work for a team from you know korea to come over here , so we help them with visa letters and visa letters and making sure they have the best opportunity to get here . But it's like I said with the TV show it was based off of our live events and it's because our events have the highest , really high quality dance and it's groups of um , sometimes it's like five people , but a lot of the teams are up to like 30 people all choreographed together .
Speaker 2That's what blows my mind .
Speaker 1Yeah , all different styles yeah , yeah , because I can't . I mean , I can kind of dance but not like that , like it just intrigues me so much yeah especially when you see the huge group and they're just all locked in yeah , yeah .
Speaker 2And if you look at our I mean , if you wanna check it out , just go to Rural Dance at our YouTube or Instagram . We have about 20 million followers across our socials .
Speaker 1I bet , yeah , it's pretty big . Yeah , we gotta check that out . We're gonna put a link below this episode for sure . Yeah , shout you out all the time , and then can we find your personal stuff yeah , it's just um begin stir .
Speaker 2It's just my last name with you know little and uh at the end .
Speaker 1So nice , we'll put that out there too . All right , so , um , getting off the serious topics , I have always a question for my guests what is your favorite scary movie ? It's that time of year , but I'll ask it all year long Ooh , scary movies . It's that time of year , but I'll ask it all year long .
Speaker 2I was not allowed to watch scary movies when I was a kid . Really . My mom would be like Having like rad alternative parents and they wouldn't let you watch scary movies .
Speaker 1It was the one thing that blows my mind .
Speaker 2You know what it was ? It was my mom , really , and she got scared . I think she watched too many when she was younger and she's like not telling you older , so but but yeah , I snuck in a few . I'm sure Don't tell her . Oh yeah , no , she'll , she'll she'll listen to this and no , no , that's out of the bag . No , I like I would say I was definitely playing . Have you heard of like trolls ?
Speaker 1Yes , okay , that was one of my favorite , and not a lot of people know about that movie like what are you ? Talking about I'm all you have to watch it yeah I think I made my husband watch
Horror Film Appreciation and Art
Speaker 1it . I was like oh , sit down , you have to watch it it's so good , I like all the evil dead oh yeah , I gotta love the evil dead . Did you watch the new one ?
Speaker 2uh , yeah , did you like it it's hard , yeah , it's good , but I just like the classics , yeah yeah , I kind of wanted .
Speaker 1When she fell through the floor in the garage , the parking garage , and they went , she found the book and then it showed the flashback with the monks . I wanted that story , yeah I wanted like the origin story of the book . I'm like still hoping , like I keep putting it out in like the universe . I'm like please write that story because it looks so cool it does I mean the movie was okay .
Speaker 1I just feel like , yeah , the the classics were so good , especially the second one . Yeah , oh well , thank you so much for your time tonight sitting down talking to me , and I will um shoot some links up there with your art and your event space and all that so thank you so much .
Speaker 2It was a pleasure .
Speaker 1Yeah , have a good night .