Message Behind the Art featuring Ras Terms | Open Palette Podcast | Episode 19

In Episode 19 of The Open Palette Podcast, Brian Camacho sits down with Ras Terms, also known as James Monk, for a conversation about graffiti, creativity, spirituality, personal growth, and the deeper meaning behind the work.

Ras Terms reflects on his journey as an artist, from developing his foundation through graffiti and letterforms to expanding his creative language through murals, abstraction, travel, and life experience.

The conversation explores what it means to continue evolving without being confined to one style, the importance of curiosity and creative freedom, and how an artist’s experiences, beliefs, and perspective ultimately become part of the message behind the art.

🎙️ Episode 19 — The Message Behind the Art
Featuring Ras Terms / James Monk
Hosted by Brian Camacho

The Open Palette Podcast — Where art, culture, and community come together through real conversations.

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Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Welcome back to the Open Palace Podcast where art, culture, and community come together through real conversations. I'm your host, Brian Camacho, and this episode is brought to you in partnership with the Museum of Graffiti's Artist Studios. Big shout outs to our partners and big shoutouts to each and every one of you is tuning in week to week. We do appreciate the love and support. We do ask that you like, comment, share, and subscribe. Now let's get into today's episode. As creativity has a way of taking us places we've never imagined, what begins as curiosity can become a lifelong pursuit, shaping not only the work we create, but the person we become. Today's guest has spent decades doing exactly that. From the streets of Miami to walls and galleries around the world, he's become recognized as a master of letters, muralist, and contemporary artist whose work is consistently evolving while staying rooted in curiosity, purpose, and creative freedom. Help me in joining us today to the Open Palette podcast, Ross Terms. Peace, peace, peace. Yes, sir, man. Thank you for joining us here, man. And thank you for opening up the space here so that we can open this palette here today with us. Let's get right to it, man. Let's talk to the people. Tell the people who is Ross Terms, the artist behind the artwork.

SPEAKER_03 1:11

Who is Ross Terms? It's hard to define that, you know, just one, you know. I mean, I've been Ross Terms all my life, you know, uh since a since you know, since a youth. And now I'm a lot older, so I've experienced a lot of things in my life, you know, especially as being an artist. So to, you know, it's hard to define it just one way, you know what I'm saying? But that's that's the good thing about me, you know, as being an artist is that I get to you know expand with myself, learn about myself, you know, and you know, and stay creative through the whole process. But yeah, man, I'm Ross Terms, you know, born and raised in Miami. That's for sure. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:54

And you've been uh an artist and a graffiti artist from a very young age. Yeah. Um, I've read that you started around the age of 11, is that correct? Yeah, yeah, I started right here in Wynwood. Right here in Wynwood, right in the heart of where it's at now.

SPEAKER_03 2:07

One of my first pieces was done a couple of blocks away from here.

SPEAKER_01 2:10

Nice. And what inspired you as a young artist to get into graffiti and have this be the way for you to be able to speak and express yourself through art?

SPEAKER_03 2:19

What got me into graffiti? I mean, we're talking about the early days, you know, uh music, the street. I was always into art, you know, just like a lot of you know, writers talk about. We, you know, we're into comic books, you know, we're into the music, you know, and that's influencing me as an, you know, as uh as a young artist, you know what I'm saying? That's inspiring me to be creative, you know, the cartoons, the Voltrons, the, you know, the Captain America's, the, you know, all, you know, the the cartoons, you know, that I would watch on TV as a child, and along with the music, because I was born during the time where uh hip-hop was, you know, being born, you know what I'm saying? And I'm listening it to it. It's coming down from New York to Miami, you know. So that's that's influencing me. We're talking about as a child, you know, as well, you know, as 11 years old. Um, and then the neighborhoods, you know what I'm saying? There was already a first generation writers here.

SPEAKER_00 3:20

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 3:20

So I would see them, you know, and it would inspire me. But also the movies, too, man. You know what I'm saying? Like, you know, uh what's what what's the famous movie? Wildstyle. Yeah, Wildstyle, also um Beach Street, you know, all those, you know, those movies were were influencing us as well, you know.

SPEAKER_01 3:40

That's what's up. Yeah. Yeah. So from the early roots, you were definitely being able to tap in and see what was going on and be influenced by that.

SPEAKER_03 3:48

Yeah, I'm one of I'm one of those writers that you could kind of like say that it's almost like the same way they were influencing, getting influenced in New York. Right. For some reason, I was being influenced the same way down here. The only thing we didn't have subways, but we had the music, you know what I'm saying? We had the books, you know, the few books there was one or two or three. You know, and then we had um the dances, you know what I'm saying? And so that culture was here, you know what I'm saying? Nice. Uh people would travel. I knew some dudes that would come from New York. That's what's up, and uh bring that here. Bring that culture. But it was already here, too. You know what I'm saying?

SPEAKER_01 4:26

Yeah. That's what's up. Now, with regards to the artists that you've become since then, from the essence, and you know, when you first started and your your early influences, you've expanded your artwork across the world. You've built your own style where at times uh was based on a lot of symbolism, but a lot of uh deep messaging in your style. It comes from graffiti and it's rooted from graffiti, and those are your essence, but you've expanded to this abstract style. How did that come about?

SPEAKER_03 4:55

I'll be on man, I'll be honest. To me, like graffiti is an abstract form, you know what I'm saying? It's a it's a language, it's an abstract language, you know, where we shape, take letters, transform them, bring certain things out, add on, shape shift. You know what I'm saying? And that to me is almost the same as abstract, you know what I'm saying? Abstract art, contempt the contemporary abstract art that I'm doing. I I started it a couple of years ago. It's it's been a minute, but within the studios right now is where I'm bringing them out even more. A lot of people are like surprised, they're like, oh, you're doing abstract. But I've been doing this, you know, I started hitting it harder like around 2017. That's when I started noticing myself into. But I always did my characters that were kind of abstract as well. And to me, it all, I'll be honest, it looks like it looks like graffiti to me. Sometimes I look at abstract work from contemporary, you know, masters, and I'm like, yo, that has an element of graph involved in it. You know what I'm saying? So it wasn't hard for me to transition or evolve into seeing my graffiti, you know, go into uh more abstract, you know, into the contemporary abstract world. You know, it's very expressive. Graffiti is very expressive. You know, you you you you run through it, you know what I'm saying? You gotta run to do it, you gotta, you know, get your mind to do it, you gotta move to do it, you know what I'm saying? It's it's uh, and that's the same thing with abstract, you know what I'm saying? I don't it's uh it's not too different to me, the form, you know, to create it.

unknown 6:32

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 6:33

Well, thank you for that breakdown. I do appreciate that. Uh definitely uh shows shows within the work that you've been producing, obviously this amazing artwork that we have right here behind us. Um, I do see that you have specific characters that are very prevalent in your work. I want to speak to that. Are there are there characters that have names? Are there messages behind these characters? Can we elaborate on this, please?

SPEAKER_03 6:54

Yeah, like I said, it's a language, you know. Um I studied a lot within the you know, the conscious underground. I've been a conscious person all my life, you know, working, you know, within the spiritual realms of uh, you know, negatives and positives, you know, trying to understand myself. And at a young age, I've always wanted to do that, you know, live that spiritual life. So I studied a lot of stuff, and a lot of that influenced my work. You know, it's in my work. So the characters are, if you you know, if you study them, if you look into my work and study my work, you see um aspects of Ethiopian, Eastern, you know, Ethiopian art. You see Egyptian comedic art, you see um rastafari art, you see Ifa art, all that is embodied in my work, you know. I'm inspired by that, but I also live it too, and I've lived that life, you know. So it's an aspect in my work that you see predominant, or it's hidden in there, and if you study the work, you you you kind of like associate it with uh those elements, you know. That's right. And I and I live that life too, you know. It's a something that I live, you know.

SPEAKER_01 8:10

That's right, that's right. This is your lifestyle, this is your culture, this is what you live and breathe. Yeah, so to have that represented through your artwork is amazing so that people can connect. When when working on these projects, when working on these pieces, being here in your studio is amazing because it's just so many different great pieces that you have here and so many different perspectives. Do you ever find yourself fighting to say that this artwork is finished? Or do you find yourself satisfied at the end of your artwork?

SPEAKER_03 8:37

I mean, I'm an all-around artist. Anything you ask me that has to do with art, I've experienced. You know what I'm saying? So yeah, I mean, I do find there is elements that some of these are not done, you know what I'm saying? And I give it space, I give it a moment, and I'll return to it, you know. Some of them are completed quick, you know. Um, yeah, yeah. If you look around, you know, some of these are not completed yet because I'm giving it some time. And then I'm also, man, it's pretty dope because I get to jump from style to style, and I love that experience. That to me is like that's graffiti, but it's also, you know, it's art, you know. And you're able to turn this off, open this, you know. I'm saying, work with this material, turn that material off. Let's let's see what this does, you know. And as I get older, the process is fantastic. But it's, I mean, we're talking about graffiti, right? The process of graffiti. What do you gotta do? I gotta jump the fence, I gotta cross over here, I gotta look out, my boys gotta look out. It's the same thing. It's in creating art, I'm learning as older now that the process is amazing. You know what I'm saying? The process encourages me to get to a certain point eventually, you know.

SPEAKER_01 9:58

And what is the ultimate message that you want the viewers to take away when standing in front of your artwork?

SPEAKER_03 10:08

I gotta think about that one because like I said, you know, at the beginning, like the message is it's it's wide, you know what I'm saying? It's infinite, it's different layers. That's what it is, too. You know what I'm saying? Like I incorporate I do a lot of wild style letters, as you can see, right? And they're layers, and I I've I see life like that, you know what I'm saying? Um you know, so a message is layered, you know. The message is layered. Sometimes it's something that I'm going through, sometimes it's something that the world is going through, you know. Sometimes it's the interpretation of the observer. You know what I'm saying? That's really important for me. Um not for them to get a solid message through me, but through the image and what comes out of them. You know what I'm saying? Um so the message it it you know, it it changes. It varies from things. Yes, some of it could be straight up, yo, this is about, you know, like you know, some of these pieces. This is showing you what I call ancient futurism. I'm trying to bridge, you know, I'm saying the past and the future together, you know what I'm saying, as an energy form. Or it could be that's an arrow, you know what I'm saying? Go that way, you know what I'm saying? Yeah. Or this is just my name, it's just terms, Ross terms. So, you know, each there's messages in all of it.

SPEAKER_00 11:41

For sure.

SPEAKER_03 11:42

And it's cool, I find it cool to be able to try to cipher it out, you know what I'm saying.

SPEAKER_01 11:48

When when painting, are you actually painting for your viewers, or is this just your self-expression and what you're painting for yourself? And when what what the people are able to appreciate is a piece of view.

SPEAKER_03 12:00

Okay, so yeah, this is cool. You asked me this because I was talking to my boy about this yesterday, and I realized because I'm older now, you know what I'm saying? I'm older. I've realized that when I started, I was really painting for myself. What can I do? How can I do this? And then as I got older, the joy is in now painting for the people, creating for the people, but it's express expressed as me. You understand? Me expressing myself for the people. That's that's where I'm at with that.

SPEAKER_01 12:42

If he was to sit down with the 20-year-old Ross terms today, what do you think he would feel, and how do you think he would feel seeing the artist that you've become today?

SPEAKER_03 12:54

That's a good question. That you know what? Ross terms at 20 years old, I was militant. I was a militant, you know. I I I I had certain beliefs that I stuck with, and I was firm in that, and it was expressed in my graffiti in Miami. So I think he would look at me at this age and be like, yo, what you doing? You know what I'm saying? What you doing? Just he I know what he would say. He said, just don't stray from some principles that you started off with, but expand. Allow yourself to expand. And art should be liberating, you know what I'm saying?

SPEAKER_01 13:41

For sure. Yeah, for sure. Are you satisfied with the artist that you are today?

SPEAKER_03 13:47

Being an artist all my life, yeah. Through the negatives and the positives, I've been satisfied because you know, that's the life of an artist, you know what I'm saying? I don't sugarcoat it, I create. Sometimes the world could be a mess to me, you know what I'm saying? I create, sometimes it could be a bless to me, you know what I'm saying? Right. So, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 14:11

That's what's up. Yeah, that's great to hear.

SPEAKER_01 14:14

That's great to hear. Because I at times, you know, I sit down with all these different types of artists and I speak to different artists, and I typically am picking their brain, opening their palate, and getting an understanding for their perspectives. And it's all different perspectives that I get and that I hear from. And there's some that are satisfied, there's some that are not. There's there's people that I talk to that um artists that I work with, where at times the work that they do for others is more effort put forth than the work that they do for themselves. And I sit down and I try to get an understanding in that battle with self because ultimately that the my this is my personal opinion, and that is a subjective opinion, and where I personally feel like, are you battling with something? Like, where does that, where does that misconnection and communication begin? Because I see that to be a thing in this art world where artists are more focused on chasing the the skill set versus the style. Right? And uh in this podcast, I've been very adamant about speaking to the idea of style versus skill, as the skill will come as you build your style. And a lot of people may not understand that at times, but I'm sure you're somebody who can understand that based on the work that you have here. Let's speak to that, please.

SPEAKER_03 15:30

I get deeper.

SPEAKER_01 15:30

Yeah, please.

SPEAKER_03 15:31

Because you took you say channel, I say channel and skill.

SPEAKER_01 15:37

You say, excuse me, say that again?

SPEAKER_03 15:39

Channeling and skill, those are two different things to me. Okay because I could sit within myself and channel something, and it it creates, it's there, it it comes to be. It's a channel. I'm not I'm not going to school for it, I'm not looking at anything. This is what I need to create, this is what's working through me. Then there's skill, right? Where hey, terms, can you draw my face? Yeah, I'll draw your face. You know what I'm saying? And I live within the world of channeling more. I've learned that about myself because I didn't go to school for art. You know what I'm saying? And the little that I took, I remember I was in college, brother, for a little bit. And the the teachers like, yo, draw, you know, you need to draw some shoes, so some Nikes. I say, okay, cool, I could draw, because I could draw, you know, I could do portraits.

SPEAKER_00 16:43

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 16:44

Um, but then I brought in the shoes and they were melting with arrows, and you know what I'm saying? And everybody else drew shoes normal. You know, and I always felt like I channeled, I was channeling something else. In my graffiti too, man. If you look at my graffiti, it's it's not I I always stuck out, and it's not that I was the best, but I always approached approached it with me being able to to channel, to allow myself to not w work within a a skill set. I mean, of course, you have to get good at what you do, you know, and that's the skill part. But eventually you have to let that go and just allow what works through you, what's working through you, what's channeling through you to be able to um yeah.

SPEAKER_01 17:33

That's gonna be the best way as an artist to be able to connect to the people. You being yourself wholeheartedly, 100% authentically standing on your truth, standing on who you are, your style, yeah, what makes you feel good. And that's my main point as well when speaking to this whole idea of you know, focus on building your style. Yeah, you know, and be authentic about it. Be authentic to yourself. You you will last the the test of time, you know. If you're just here continuing to follow the same steps that everybody else is taking, doing the same characters, drawing the same exact thing, you're just another artist who's available for work for hire. And and I know a lot of people don't like to hear that. And I and I also speak to the conversation of hobby and professional art. You're this is you live by this. This is what you live, eat, sleep. This is not something that you're just doing on a pastime. Yeah, you're an artist who's uh taking this artwork around the world. You've well traveled, you've you've you've lived in different places and have been able to express this artwork in these different spaces. I'm gonna speak to that as well and how you've been able to take this artwork, these expressions, these emotions, these feelings, and have it be felt around the world so that people can appreciate it. How do you feel as an artist being able to step into these places and connecting?

SPEAKER_03 18:52

Yo, traveling is uh is a must for knowledge, for knowledge of self, for knowledge of things, you know what I'm saying, for knowledge of people, situations. I gained a lot of understanding in my travels. Um, it's important. Um man, it's it's it's been amazing the traveling, because you know, uh it it's dope that we talked about being authentic. There's a power in that, you know what I'm saying? So I'm I'm myself and the thing is that with authenticity is that in my perspective, it's not about being the greatest or the worst, it's just being you. So I present I present myself everywhere I go. I've created with tons of people. I lived in I lived in the bay, man. That changed my life. You know, California, I lived uh there almost like 12 years. Okay, and California is uh that's what I'm saying. Every I was about to say that California is unique, but they're all unique. But California opened my mind up. You know, the the East Coast has more, had a more, when I was younger, more of a strict within the graffiti world, hardcore just style.

SPEAKER_01 20:11

Yes, for sure.

SPEAKER_03 20:12

Burn. California, I was already transitioning and you know, opening up to, you know, to quote unquote street art. I went to California and I found it there. You know what I'm saying? So I was able to express myself very different. Because people think I just do letters or just do this. No, I've I've done wheat paste, I've done pieces of wood and hung over an expressway and drilled it there. You know, I've I've gotten pants painted on them and stapled them on walls, you know what I'm saying? I've gotten stickers, I've gotten you name it, you know what I'm saying? I've done it to express myself in the streets, but not giving it a title like people. People give it titles just to capture it.

SPEAKER_02 20:55

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 20:56

Me, yeah. Me, I I was just doing it, looked like graffiti, you know, it's just it's the same thing. What am I gonna do? I'm gonna go put myself on that wall. How? Uh you know, today we're gonna do Wii Paste, you know what I'm saying? So I found again, yeah, you know, it's it's about being universal. Let's say that. It's about being universal. That's important for me. Whether people see that stupid or not, is not nothing to do with me, you know. Kermit the Frog ain't got nothing to do with me. You know what I'm saying? But in my personal life, I felt good about myself to be able to express myself in different levels. And each city opened up certain things. Um, you know, Miami has its, you know, Miami has its thing. I'm you know, I'm back in Miami, but California opened me up to to artists that that do that. You know what I'm saying? Like there was artists out there that only did character base, you know, not just piecing, you know.

SPEAKER_01 21:54

And you've also been in, you've you told me you've lived in Columbia and different places there.

SPEAKER_03 21:59

Yeah, Columbia, Columbia. There was a whole I'd never seen as so much graffiti. Very humbling there too. Because you know, the writers there, uh, you know, I'm showing up there in American with American money. So you have money, you're you're you're paid. Right. And these writers are their whole pieces are done with bucket paint because they can't afford now. We used to do that here, don't get me wrong. I didn't have I'm talking about having money in Columbia, not in America. Right, right. It's a whole different thing. So we used to do that here, so I understood it, but over there, that's all they did. You know, so it inspired me to every every city also I go to that you learn about me is I like to teach, I like to inspire, I like to see the potential. You show me potential, man. I want to jump on it and feed it and watch you grow, you know. And I've I've done that in Miami. I've taught many writers, I've done it in California, I did it in Columbia, I did it in Madison, Wisconsin, I've done it in Boston, I've done it in you know, New York, I've done it in DC. But they're inspiring me too. It's not about, you know, I'm inspiring them and it's they're inspiring me because of their determination, you know. They're they're uh you know, they want to learn. So, but you gotta pick them out because not everybody wants to learn, you know what I'm saying? But there's there's those that that keep me alive, inspire me, you know, because I inspire them. It's like, you know, just bouncing off each other. So it's important for me to keep that alive. I was taught, you know, each one teach one. There's certain things that I keep alive that it seems like this generation is kind of like maybe they have new words for it, but I believe in each one teach one. You know what I'm saying? And uh I grew up studying all that and I've kept it alive, and I it and I, you know, it's about giving life. You know, I have children. So I see some of these writers as children too, right? For sure. You know what I'm saying? And the same way I'm gonna treat my child, I'm gonna treat these youth, you know what I'm saying? I don't see nothing separate. I'm not here to battle these youths, you know what I'm saying? My battling days, that's when we were young, you know what I'm saying? Now it's to sharpen each other and to be able to that's another part of myself. Remember, universal. That's another part of myself, you know, that I like to teach, you know, or inspire, or take what they got and transform it and see what we could do with that. It it's all the same, man. It's all just different, you know. I studied the power of myths. Okay, and that's what it is to me. Can you elaborate on that a little bit for us? Well, I'm uh, you know, we could get deep with that, but let's do it. Let's do it. Okay, well, okay. So as a young child, you know, I got into Star Wars. Okay. Where, you know, we're 70s babies, you know. So Star Wars became a big thing in my life. The robots, the futuristic, but also hip-hop was in that sci-fi realm too.

SPEAKER_00 25:15

For sure.

SPEAKER_03 25:16

With the planet patrols, with the Soulsonic Force, all that was so that was influencing my graffiti too. Okay. So, but Star Wars had a different element to me, which you know, you had the dark side, you had the force. You know, so it's telling us that. And I'm growing older, learning about this, and then I start studying. I love to study about things, I don't just get into things and just be like, oh, I'm doing it. You know, no, I like to study about it. So, Star Wars, you know, I learned that the creator of Star Wars, George Lucas, had his personal guru that I learned along the way called Joseph Campbell. Joseph Campbell is a master teacher. He passed away now. He's a white dude, master teacher. Why I emphasize on that? Because a lot of my master teachers are black.

SPEAKER_00 26:12

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 26:13

But I, you know, I have few in here, you know, that are white. Joseph Campbell is the reason why there's a dark side and there's a force. You know what I'm saying? Because he was teaching George Lucas about that. He wrote a book called Power of Myth that changed my life, bro. At a young age, blame Star Wars. The book shows you the myths of different cultures, different spiritualities, and it shows the connection. That's why when I talk, I'm able to understand the myths within my work and correlate them with other things. You know what I'm saying? And it could go on forever, too. It can. If you just bring out one piece, I'll start breaking it down through that. We could call them myths.

SPEAKER_01 27:07

It's what you've it's your story you've created. It's your world. We're in your world. This is Ross Terms' world. Yeah. So that's the beauty of being a unique artist, of building your own style as you create your own world. You're able to create these storylines that nobody can tell you are right or wrong. Right. You know what I mean? Yes, you can be an artist who can go off the cliff and go left with your storyline, and people may not really care for it. But once you do find your space, once you stand in your purpose and you have meaning, you can live in your own world and bring people into it so that they can experience, they can appreciate and understand. And that's one thing I really appreciate when I'm in your space, when I'm around your artwork, is that I can see my own story, I can stand here and hear your story and then hear somebody else's perspective. That's the beauty of art. And that's why that question is very important for me in this podcast is asking artists, what is the purpose that you want people to take away when they're standing in front of your artwork?

SPEAKER_03 28:08

Yeah. Well, I mean, that's it. Yeah, that's one of them. You know, that's one of the messages. You know what I'm saying? That we are interconnected and the observer can create thought, you know what I'm saying? Uh create ideas out of something that I created. You know what I'm saying? Or create okay. I always uh so when I would give lectures, I would start off my lectures. Images create a reality and are embedded to our subconscious. So those who create um images create your realities. This is my reality. You're welcome to visit it, you're welcome to talk about it, collect it, hold on to it. It's valuable. Doesn't say I'm not saying that other stuff is not valuable, but within my world, you know, I'm saying images is a a language, it's one of the most powerful languages before speaking. We I saw it. You know, before, you know, before thinking about it, I saw it. You know what I'm saying? So yeah, that's where we at. That's what's you're going down the rabbit hole. You could go. We go. This is what it's about.

SPEAKER_01 29:24

And this is what it's all about, man. This is what we're here for, man, is to tap into these different, you know, and you know, different sides of individuals and different sides of artists so that the viewers can get a better understanding of who they're looking at and who they're speaking, you know, speaking with or who they're appreciating in this case. You know, you're an artist that, like, once again, it's a world renowned. People are able to see your artwork all over the place. They resonate with, they connect with it, but who is the individual behind this? That's always been something for me that's been very important. Anywhere in the world that I go, when I'm looking at artwork, when I'm appreciating this artwork, I want to know who the artist is. I want to know their story, I want to know their purpose, their mission, their feeling. What was it that they went through that day, you know, when that piece came to life? I mean, it's the same with me, brother.

SPEAKER_03 30:10

I mean, I know I'm an artist, but I have favorite artists. Right. You know, like Romelzi is one of my favorite artists of all time. I studied him, I studied his life, you know what I'm saying? Like, I it's not just like, oh, you know, it's you know, his existence, you know, I'm saying, was an important thing, you know, I'm saying, within the movement, within cultures, you know. So I guess, yeah, man, even when I look into contemporary artists, one of my favorite contemporary artists is uh Jean de Buffet. And, you know, I don't just like, hey, you know, it's just his life, what he thought, you know what I'm saying? Yeah, it it adds on to the work, what you're saying. Sure, yeah, and it gives it more eternal life. You know what I'm saying? It it captures a moment and keeps flowing with the with with the energies. Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 30:58

And when sitting down with artists and when I speak with artists, I always uh elaborate to the idea and the stance that you have to understand that these people that are purchasing your art, they're buying into you. They're buying into your story, who you are as an individual. Yes, there are people who may just fall in love with the art piece and just buy that piece. But if you're talking about people that are actually collecting your work, they want to know the artist. They want to be a part of, in some form of facet, feel connected to that artist. You know, and that's very important. That's why the Open Palette Podcast and places like the Open Palette Podcast are here for artists. Um, so as you as artists, as you continue to grow, don't be afraid to step into different spaces and different lanes. When you want to step outside of your studio and you want to be in front of the masses and in front of the people, understand the minute you turn that leaf over, it's business. And you need to understand how to conduct yourself, carry yourself, and represent yourself, you know, so that it's received the way you want it to be received and not have somebody else tell the story for you. Because that's where the ball falls short.

SPEAKER_03 32:06

True.

SPEAKER_01 32:07

You know, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 32:08

I mean, honest, okay. So the another message would be I want people to feel good. I want people to feel good, especially during these times. I want them to look at a piece and feel good. That's it. So if I could, if I could bring that, you know what I'm saying? What's channeling through me is being expressed the way I feel that it should be expressed for people to feel good, especially during these these uh moments, you know?

SPEAKER_01 32:35

That's what's up. Now you did speak of uh different you know, different inspirations that you have within your art and and what we see here today. What are what should we as the viewers expect coming from Ross terms in the near future as this continues to build? As we keep seeing your world grow, what should we expect from you, the artist? I love when I stump these artists with these.

SPEAKER_03 33:03

No, no, no, because I think it's you you you you're gonna get it. I'm already thinking about man, I might not live that long, you know, because I have, you know, I uh so I'm diabetic. Okay, so I have to deal with that daily for sure. A lot of people that know me personally know that, so it's not an easy thing. I've been healthy pretty much all my life and you know, been vegan pretty much all my life and vegetarian, but I ended up with diabetes. Who knows how? I mean, I can we can talk about that. So I think about mortality a lot. So I I don't think too far into the future. I try to live day by day, create day by day. What can you expect from me is to stay creative, for me to stay creative. I might lose it all, I might win it all, stay creative. You know, I have children and I want them to see that they had a father that stays creative and tried his best to be a good person or to live a human life, which is good and bad, but we try to be good, for sure, you know, and that's a lot of a lot a lot, you know, a lot of things that I post on Instagram, so so blah blah blah terms is just a lot of it's for my children because I have children that read my stuff, for sure. They don't understand that they think oh well terms is flipping and easy. At the end of the day, a lot of it has to do with inspiring my children and to daily into into the so you're talking about you know what's to come, right? That's one of it, but to stay creative, brother, to stay creative. To me, there's uh you know the only thing constant is change, change is happening every day, and uh change is activated by uh staying creative. That's the only way change could happen. So I believe that me staying creative, you know what I'm saying, is is you know, future, you know, because it allows me to allow the things that are changing to to come, you know what I'm saying? And I be a product of those changes by being creative. That's what's up. You know, I eventually get there.

SPEAKER_01 35:33

Yeah, it it all it all connects and that's what's up. Uh one one one other question that I want to ask you is is um if you can never paint again, if today was the last day you could paint again, you're not dying, you're alive, but this is it. Are you satisfied with the work that you've produced?

SPEAKER_03 35:50

I've done a lot of work. Would I be satisfied if I had to stop today? I'd be satisfied that I was able to live an art life. Would I be satisfied? No, I I want to continue doing art even when I'm not in this flesh. If after this flesh, there's a place where I could go create, just know I'll be there. I'll, you know what I'm saying? We have to, I mean, return to the creator, stay creative, you know what I'm saying? So uh, but I'd be I'd be satisfied that I uh I I had the balls to be an artist. You know what I'm saying? Because it's not easy. This whole thing, man, I don't know, sometimes they put this like this whole facade of this is the greatest thing, you know, artists. You know what? You know, we go through hell and heaven every day. Yep. So if I was able to have hell and heaven every day as an artist and inspire people, I could I could stop today. Yeah, sure. Let's go. Let's stop this all down. Wrap it up, guys. The show terms is done. This is the last show. No, but yeah. That is not the case.

SPEAKER_01 37:00

No, no, it is not the case. We're gonna continue. But that is a blessing. That is beautiful to hear that that perspective. So thank you for that. Because I asked this question to a lot of artists and at times. They they shut me off before I even finished the question. Like, no, no, no. And it's just the whole idea that I mean, what is, you know, how do you feel as a you know, a you know, an artist, the individual, the person behind the work. Like, you know, because at times, like I said, we get stuck or we get lost in front of that canvas and we never feel like it's finished. The piece is done. Can we move on? Is the question. Should we move on is the question. And and and I know that you just answered that the right way, as it should be, you know. So thank you for that. I do appreciate that insight. And thank you for your time here today, man. For real, we do appreciate you here on the Open Palace Podcast. Before we get out of here, I want to ask, do you have any parting words you'd like to leave the people with?

SPEAKER_03 37:50

You know, I want to give a I want to give a shout out to the elders, the elders, male and female that inspired us to do this. You know, I think um we owe them a lot a lot of offerings. And then I also want to give thanks to the young that are doing their best to hold that uh hold on to it and keep it alive and fierce about it, intense about it. Because that's how we were when we were young, you know what I'm saying? We were intense about it. We have to. This has to be there. So um yeah, my my message would be that I want to give an offerings to the elders, offerings to the young, you know what I'm saying, and also to uh to stay creative, you know, don't allow the mind. You know, the mind is amazing, you know. Why limit it? You know, why limit yourself to it? You know, to you know, I mean, some people have to be that. Some people have to be boxed in, right? Some people have to be worker bees. It's coded like that, I believe. But some are not. You know what I'm saying? Some of us are here to flip the script, you know, throw what they say, throw a monkey's wrench in the clockwork, or you know, shut the matrix down, you know. So and and we we're also gonna do that for the worker bees too. Yeah, so yeah, if you can just stay creative to everything going on, you know what I'm saying? And express yourself as as much as you can, you know, and respect. I've been writing this a lot. Respect people, have an understanding. Love is a little hard to do. It's hard for me to love everybody, but it's not hard for me to respect. And also be authentic into in your craft, you know what I'm saying? This is me being authentic with myself to the world.

SPEAKER_01 39:52

That's what's up. And how can they uh tap in with you? How can they get a chance to be able to purchase some of this artwork? Yeah, you know what I mean? Get connected through you know, to you through this artwork with the business.

SPEAKER_03 40:02

The business, the business the business, the business part, gotta pay the bills, papa. How was it? I'm not a business, man. I'm a business. There you go. Yeah, well, yeah, there's you know, gift thanks that we have you know, agents and we have people, brokers, and people that that see our vision. For sure. They're as important, they're so important to us.

SPEAKER_01 40:23

That's right. And they're beautiful all the time. I tell people, like, you know, there's some who frown upon the idea of galleries or whatever the kid. No, you need to team with these people as long as you find the right people, right? You gotta go out and seek them.

SPEAKER_03 40:35

And it may take a minute. See, that's another thing we're reasoning about too, is like when I was young, I didn't not want to do no galleries. I was like, nah, hell no, I'm not gonna do no galleries. I just do graffiti. I mean, I ended up becoming a what was I doing? I was uh construction worker as an artist, you know what I'm saying? Because I never wanted to go into the world of art because I thought it was lame and uh, but you control your, you know what I'm saying, your destiny, unless you're allowing things to jump in that that you don't want it to happen. No, you take control of what you're doing and push it along, and the people will jump in, the right people, and then the wrong people, you just have to push them aside. Excuse me, I gotta keep going to do this. So I've done that, and I have I open doors, shut doors, open doors, shut doors, and allow certain people to come in. And lately, the people that have been helping me, the Museum of Graffiti, you know, the the gallery here, you know, I have I have an agent, you know. I'm saying that he's in Madison, Wisconsin. I have collectors, man. I have collectors that are like it's incredible. It's like a blessing. It's like an angel landed and said, yo, terms, I'm gonna be your collector. And I'm so blessed. I could be without money and I'll call up one of my collectors and be like, yo, man, can you can you hook me up? Can you help me a little bit? Yeah, man. You know what I'm saying?

SPEAKER_00 41:57

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 41:58

That's what I'm talking about. Guiding your mission, you know, getting the right people to help you and accepting them too. Some of them don't don't they're not gonna work for you. But in the business world, you know what I'm saying? You choose, nobody choosing for you. You know what I'm saying? Like, if they start choosing for you, you're gonna end up in situations that you might not like. So I'm super thankful for the Museum of Graffiti. Kat, Allison, Kat looks out for me. That's a that's a that's a brother right there. I don't he's a blessing. You know, Jamie and David, blessings, you know what I'm saying? The workers here, they inspire me. You know, like they look up to me, you know what I'm saying? They're always like, yo, turns, what you're working on, you know. My collectors, people, my graffiti crews. Yeah. You know, I still belong to graffiti crews. It's funny from each city, you know, like in California, it's PTV. Okay. In Miami, it's, you know, the the X Square O's and the 7 Ups and the STVs and the BSKs out, you know. And those are the people you keep close to you. I've been emphasizing on that too lately. It's that surround yourself with people that love you. You know, and you could catch me here at the studio. You can catch me here at the studio.

SPEAKER_01 43:11

Uh what's the Instagram?

SPEAKER_03 43:13

Oh, my Instagram is RossTerms37.

SPEAKER_01 43:16

Do you have a website?

SPEAKER_03 43:17

I don't have a website right now.

SPEAKER_01 43:19

But you can check it out at uh museum of graffiti.com or the private gallery.com.

SPEAKER_03 43:25

Right.

SPEAKER_01 43:25

All right, so check it out there, man.

SPEAKER_03 43:27

Available works, you know. You buy works, you you know, you get me within your world. Just know that you're getting somebody authentic and that wants for you to feel good, and that also I live off my work, you know what I'm saying? I want to make moves, I want to do more work, I want to work on bigger pieces, I want to, you know, feed my children, you know. Uh life. Yep. And art is life, and life is art.

SPEAKER_01 43:50

That's right. So tap in, y'all. That's only right. Thank you once again. I appreciate your time. Appreciate you allowing us to open this space here. Tap in. We'll be back next week, y'all. Open palette podcast. Peace. Peace.