When we think of cultural curiosity, what’s a way to push through the noise and better connect? Getting a bit weird, especially if you’re a creative in times like these.
“We’re analyzing [culture] in a different way and consuming this very differently than other people,” designer, art director, and artist Steven Erazo shared with Ben Dietz and Kyle Raymond Fitzpatrick on the latest podcast. “When I’m thinking through all these different ideas that I have in my mind, I keep telling myself, ‘I just need to get weirder.’”
This is something we all agreed on, and that has come up before in conversations with other guests. For example: at the start of January, in our conversation with Antonio Gary Jr., Ben espoused why you have to get a little bit weird to be different. For creatives, this feels even more relevant given what we do is being ingested quicker and quicker, commoditized as to soften difference. Steven was speaking to the idea of oddity as it relates to developing an art practice and trying to figure out one’s visual point of view — but also how the subject relates to identity in a world that objectifies each of us. This may sound isolating but is ultimately a way to bridge build.
“As a gay man in Los Angeles, I feel like you fit a certain look,” Steven continued. “I need to get weirder because that’s where the really fun and divergent ideas are coming from. That then lends me to being more open to these other spheres that I’m not typically tapped into. I’m almost getting invited into younger spaces…because of a conscious effort to be tuned in and look for it.”
A recommendation, in case you’re feeling a bit stuck this mid-February. Catch an unpacking of the recent Super Bowl, a detangling of the art cultures of Los Angeles and New York City, and an exploration of why someone like Mr. Lindsay only trends with older audiences, all in the full conversation above and on YouTube and Spotify.
Find more from HIP REPLACEMENT on YouTube, Spotify, and Instagram. Be sure to follow Ben Dietz over on Ben Dietz and Kyle Raymond Fitzpatrick over on The Trend Report™ too.
