Part 2: Create your own luck – Inspiring Interview with world renowned DJ/Producer/Musician/Actor and Artist Goldie
Photo by Gus Coral
So what motivated you to carry on after being rejected in the early days, what got you through those difficult times?
The one thing I do have is the capacity to love. Ultimately I love life and I love work. I remember playing in Copenhagen for four hours, and seeing all these kids loosing it to music was amazing and I really love the fact that I can create that magic in whatever form.
How did you go from doing graffiti and break dancing to then becoming a DJ and producer?
It’s exactly the same thing. It was just my roots having my finger on that pulse of what’s going on at the time.
Artwork by Robert Tirado
So what is your job description these days?
If I were to give myself a job title I would say alchemist. Alchemy is one of those crafts that people don’t practice much anymore. What I do is applicable to any medium. If I want to go and do a wall now, just give me the paint and the time. I can stand there do an outline and complete a piece. If you give me a kiln with some alginate and some gold, I can change the form of something that is solid, into something that is fluid and back into a solid again. The one thing that I think you have to appreciate in this life, is we have the opportunity as humans to be able to change the form of things.
Can you come up with good ideas at will and how conceptual is your thinking?
Graffiti is one of those things that can be completely conceptual all the time. You think up letters you put them together. You can create all these characters no matter how fantastical they may be or how far fetched.
I think graffiti writers were like the very first version of apple macs. In their head they had a certain amount of hard drive and they had a certain amount of memory. They just had to apply those files to what they were doing.
Artwork by Robert Tirado
Art schools try to teach you to be conceptual inside and graffiti writers have a natural inner ability for this. All art is imitation. So what you do is you take the idea and you then bend the style which is very creative. It’s very difficult to teach someone that externally. It’s an internal process and I think that all college and university does, is allow you to have the patience to sit with yourself so you can learn that type of thing.
People who go into the studio for the sake of just making money aren’t really conceptual. They just want to rip everyone else and use the same formula. I wouldn’t have been able to make something as conceptual as “Mother” for example, if I hadn’t have been a graffiti writer. Because I wouldn’t have known how to arrange, to build, to process, to have patience with the actual piece of work.
Artwork by Robert Tirado
When you put a piece of work out there what do you think about? Do you worry if people don’t get it?
Your not suppose to get it! Art is never the answer it really still always remains the question. If that didn’t reign supreme in my own thought process I would already be over. Because I have to keep asking questions, “what if I put this sound into that thing there, what if I loop this, what if I get a channel player to play my vocals, but sing it backwards and play it note for note, it’s still a question.” If I thought I had the answer then I would become egotistical.
Is health and fitness important to you?
I do take it easy. I go swimming and do 30 lengths every morning. That and five elements acupuncture are the two things that I do which are really good for me. I don’t eat just rabbit food. If I have steak its got to be organic and I have good quality fish. One of my friends just died from drugs and he was younger than me, things like that really affect me.
“Envy” Artwork by Goldie
What does success mean to you?
If we really wanna question our existence, to me its “what has this person done what have they really achieved”. Not financially. I’d like to think that you could put all my work together and go “fuckin hell, we really underestimated what this guy does because he’s done a lot of great creative work”.
When I think about things like leaving this planet, I just wanna know if I’ve done enough work. Can I leave enough stuff on this planet so I won’t be forgotten straight away.
Photo by Guillaume Kayacan
What are your thoughts on fear does it hinder you or drive you?
I don’t fear anything really. But then fear for me, was the fact that at a young age I was getting abused by Uncle Johnny. When someone is taking advantage of you and making you do terrible things that’s fucking fear!
The fears you had to face at a young age then were rational fears, so do they help you put irrational fears into perspective?
Yeah exactly. I think humans have fear by default because it’s one of the survival emotions. It’s an emotion that in the past kept us alive and has done for centuries. I say to my daughter ‘What are the three most important things in life?’ and she says “Love, time and memory”. Because if you don’t remember these times you may as well have been dreaming. That’s what’s really important to me, if I put those three things juxtaposed with each other it kinda keeps me going and there’s no fear in that sense. Because fear for me is in the past. Artwork by Goldie Tell me what are the biggest benefits you get out of leading a successful life? I get out of it that my daughter can read all this stuff after I’m gone and go ‘my dad was a great man’. That’s my ultimate goal. I just want to be remembered for the things I’ve achieved. What I get out of it is something I never got out of school and ultimately beyond me there is something far greater. So tell me more about your career choice? I go through the process of healing my own heart. Working out who I am in a very slow meticulous way. It’s always through the arts that I try and find out more about myself. That’s kinda been the story of my life for a very long time The one fundamental thing I’ve realized as an artist is I’ve had to learn to just let go. Art is a thing that you have to let go of it. It’s part of the process. Because you can’t make anything new, unless the mould is completely empty. “Teddy & Hammer” artwork by Goldie Has the way you work changed over the years? When I’m painting now and doing all these large images of women, printing and rendering them, I’ve got the formula it’s relatively easy. I’ve done the hard bit. I’ve done my time on the street doing graffiti, learning how to put colors together. I’ve sort of done my University. So whatever I do now is like having fun. I’ve learned all of these different things and I believe it’s to help other people understand them or talk openly about them. To give some kid a bit of inspiration. I’m fucking 43 years old, I think the only thing that has kept me young and kept me sane is art and music. I’m very youthful even my old mates say you don’t look your age. That’s because I’ve been doing this shit for years. Art and music does really keep you on your toes. I mean mentally, yes it’s frustrating and I have to slay more demons than everyone else, but there are more angels at the end of it. “Apocalypse Angel” artwork by Goldie Thanks Goldie your work has always inspired me and I know you’ve given our readers lots of things they can start putting into practice right now. Like connecting with the best people within the industry and focusing on the most important aspects of your craft. For more info on Goldie www.myspace.com/goldie_art Interview – Angel Greenham and Co Editor – Justine Gardiner Additional artwork by Robert Tirado Special thanks to Eddie Lock and Gus Coral Additional photography Guillaume Kayacan
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http://www.myspace.com/goldierufige
www.twitter.com/MRGOLDIE
