My Palace in Dallas: Joey Brock
“Solitude requires you to move past reacting to information created by other people and focus instead on your own thoughts and experiences – wherever you happened to be”
With the world start getting back to normal as time progresses, I continue to wonder, what have I accomplished last year? Obviously aside from all these things that helped that endless void in my heart, I’d like to believe I came out of this quarantine experience stronger and being able to appreciate the chance for total solitude.
This is the exact idea that gave birth to this project, I want to know, I want to see, more importantly, I want to document what the people around me have become after this unprecedented year, they can be artists, comedians and they can also be the people you meet daily on the street (which is quite hard cause apparently people in Dallas don’t walk at all). What is it that they do? What are their stories and what does their Palace in Dallas look like?
Without further ado, allow me to introduce, Joey Brock! He is a good friend of mine and has been killing it in multimedia artwork integrating stitch work, amazing photography, and many other materials to create mesmerizing and creative portraits. This guy is a nice and gentle person, and he is kind enough to open up his studio/home and let me tell his story through my lens and my dumb words!
Hi Joey, how are you! Looking amazing as always! First of all, thank you so much for having the time to sit down with me, before we start, would you mind telling everyone who you are?
*chuckles* Who am I, I am a mixed media artist with various types of works. My collection started out as a social practice on discrimination and has since evolved into contemporary portrait work over the last three years.
I’m originally a Texan, grew up in Colorado, lived in Chicago for a while which apart from the cold is my favorite city to live in. I am proudly 53 and it feels pretty good actually, to be at this point in my life.
“Yes, old people also have opinions and thoughts on things.”
I know we’ve briefly talked about how your journey to becoming a great artist but how do you get to where you are now? Especially looking at all the things you’ve accomplished throughout this and last year!
I spent my early years on a farm In Texas with my wonderful family that adopted me, and we had this rural lifestyle that mostly consists of farming, hunting, and such so I wasn’t exposed to things that maybe would’ve started me off as an artist at a young age. Fast forward I ended up going to fashion college and got a degree in fashion merchandising, ironically enough I didn’t end up having anything to do with fashion. Although educational wise because of that I would say I was properly introduced to color theories, basic art history, and such in school but I didn’t fully realize I wanted to be an artist until much later in life, in this case, it’s 30 years old for me.
(J: Wait that was considered much later In life? Joey: in gay years, yes)
My partner at the time came home with canvas and paint supplies telling me I needed a creative outlet and that’s how it started as he encouraged me to do something creative. I was selling work pretty easily as I research and practice paintings, and I believe having some level of talent that people appreciate, a great amount of tenacity was what kept me going till now.
Was there a make-or-break moment for you throughout your journey?
One of the turning points for me was when I got into The Craighead Green Gallery. I had a studio in the Cedars back then and did my own shows, promoted them with my PR person and I got one of the directors of the gallery to come. After coming to the show he ended up buying one of my paintings with his partner and that’s how we had the connection! We continued talking and he ended up getting the head of Craighead to check out the studio space, which he wasn’t super excited about at the time. “Who is this guy, ok fine it’s Scott’s friend I guess I’ll come out of obligation” you know the normal response you’d have, but he fell in love with my work and decided to have my pieces in the gallery as soon as possible! The most amazing thing was they sold all my paintings at the show within two weeks and offered my first show for summer. Looking back it was a big leap of faith and they bet on my connections to bring people in but it was a huge opportunity and a big moment for me as a new artist.
Was the direction of your work back then similar to the concept you’ve got going on right now?
Oh no no no, it was definitely not as content-based as it is now but more abstract, I would say. I was a new artist who didn’t go through the full educational process like most people, and I didn’t really know what I am as an artist more importantly, who I wanted to be as an artist. As a result of that transforming or growing process one would call it, my show gets more and more progressive as time goes on and it really confused a lot of the buyers like “Oh he’s changing it again, what’s he doing right now” *chuckles*.
One of the big turning points in that regard was when I did a huge show, a lot more conceptual, which I thought would be a huge success because I really pushed myself and spent a lot of money on framing and cool materials. It turned out to be a complete flop! It was a real humbling experience that brought me back to earth and got me re-evaluating who I am as an artist. I still think it was a great show though, even if it wasn’t as commercially successful as I hope it would be it was eye-opening for me and I did explore different sides of myself during the process.
Are you a Dallas local? How do you feel about this city?
I have a love-hate relationship with this city. I’ve been in Dallas since the late 90’s when I moved backed from Chicago. As an artist you always want as many spaces as possible to do my work so the cost of living here is really good, if it were any other west coast city it probably wouldn’t be as ideal as where I am now. Dallas is a good hub from a shipping and travel standpoint, with people moving in and new things sprouting here and there but ultimately, I don’t think the vibe here really suits who I am.
I am still going to be here for the time being I imagine with work and everything else being so time-consuming. It’s definitely a great city and props off for getting more and more diverse, but I don’t see myself being here forever.
I’m sure there are places that want your talent and extraordinary skills along with passion in art everywhere, in your opinion, what makes Dallas stand out among all the other cities? Is there something special about the painting/art scene in Dallas?
I’ve met a lot of great lifetime friends here and there is a lot of warm people here, for the most part, people here are warm, but I think we could be a little bit more open-minded. I do gradually find my own tribe throughout the last years after I changed my own vibration, I’ve allowed more positive entering my life.
It’s been a beautiful experience for me as I start having a set of fresh and younger friend group that keeps me on my toes, and more aware of what is going on while bringing my own wisdom into the mix from a business standpoint.
Dallas can offer a lot if you change your energy and it really does attract those who vibe with you, yourself included. As for the art scene in Dallas, I don’t think it necessarily matches my work so I don’t think Dallas is the best place for me workwise no slam on Dallas but with how people respond to my work, self-presentation is the best option for me.
Where do you get your inspiration from? Are there any daily rituals or certain moments/things that inspire you the most?
I get my inspiration from everything! So I tend to be a little bit perplexed when I hear people saying they have creative block cause my biggest problem has always been more like a creative backlog. There are so many opportunities for you to challenge yourself and try new things all the time! The biggest challenge for me at the moment is on this series I’ve been working on discrimination and social justice, while in a really saturated market I want to focus on how I can make an impact on that and how I can elevate them onto the next level.
I’d like to spend more time and make more complex work that focused on the LGBTQIA+ community because I want to use my voice and work to uplift people in our community and show their identity by submitting more onto narrative-based shows. Of course, while making it in the way utilizing the portrait works I have going on for now.
For me, Inspirations come from everywhere! More importantly, people are inspiring which is why I focus on mixed media portrait work. Through this project, I’ve met so many people, friend groups in so many ways which really enriched my life. The interactions I’ve had throughout the process are priceless, especially when what I am doing elevates the everyday people and show everyone how beautiful we all are.
It also has a lot of finding self-love within art, a lot of people struggled with it for a long time, I know I did base on growing up gay in a small town during the AIDS crisis. Losing so many friends during that time and how the gay community was demonized had a profound effect on me and how I view things, which is how interacting with people was so inspiring and powerful to me. As more and more marginalized groups in all different spectrums come together, the power it holds really was what inspires me and fuels my work, and ultimately, I think that is the direction we need to head towards as a whole.
Obviously, 2020 has been a hard year for everyone, take me for example I had several sobbing episodes under my own crappy Ikea work desk during last year. What I want to know is, while being cramped up together in this house, how did you manage to stay happy or, remotely not sad? Especially with the various impact, it had on the industry you’re in, what got you through that year?
Well, I moved into this space right in February in the midst of the shutdown and met my amazing neighbor/best friend Kelsey Heimerman who is like my sister at this point and I couldn’t ask for a better friend and neighbor to spend my pandemic time with. For me, I’m an introvert at heart despite popular beliefs and I’ve embraced the fact so I stopped forcing myself to be an extrovert, which can be challenging in this industry because you have to put yourself out there.
I am what you would call an intuitive highly sensitive empath, which means that I read and pick up on people’s energy, and a lot of times someone would come in the room, and I would feel super weird. I would then have to take a step back and realize I’m actually absorbing their energy so as a result of that, being around people is exhausting for me. One great thing that happened to me during the pandemic is that obligations no longer exist, and I can just be home in my own space! I no longer feel like I HAD to go to this at opening or I HAD to hang out with these people for the sake of being there, which is actually an easy transition and peaceful for me because it took out all that stress of having to interact too much as well.
Now with things start going back to normal I have to start doing all the things the galleries used to do for me like networking and all, the obligations and the events start doubling down and I have to transition and learn how to say No again.
When the whole pandemic and quarantine starts, like all people, Kelsey and I start going a little crazy but overall, we really enjoyed all those peace and quiet. Don’t get me wrong there was a lot of anxiety at the beginning because we don’t know what to expect but not being pressured to do things was a silver lining for me. I can focus on my craft and be productive without having people or things breaking my focus which was ultimately a good outlet for me throughout last year.
You have a really amazing-looking house and really the layout was just how I’ve dreamt for mine! Could you show me your favorite or, what is your favorite/prized possession here?
I have collected many art pieces that are not my own which weren’t on display at the moment but my favorite piece is the one on top of me right now! It was an amazing piece, a little impulsive but I don’t regret it at all. It’s an oil painting titled “Parade” by Jay Wilkinson, it’s probably the most expensive purchase I had but I love it.
As for my favorite corner aside from the couch that I recharge my energy and nap on, it’s that little corner by my bed with this sculpture and the neon lights. The wooden sculpture was from a friend of mine titled “Black Bunny” by Rick Maxwell (The wood is actually burned!), and the neon light was a piece I designed in 2017 for a solo exhibition called “Flow”, I was really excited when I got to install them into my home as both pieces are pretty significant for me.
One of my other favorite pieces is this graphite drawing piece, I got it at the Art for Advocacy event for Dallas Children Advocacy center which I’ve donated to them about 6 times now! The proceeds go to support children who have experienced sexual/physical abuse or witnessed traumatic crimes so for me this is a really important cause and I got to have this from that auction!
Another really important object here is my grandfather’s work hat; he would wear this with a wet handkerchief to keep the heat out when he work on the tractor throughout his life and this is what I’ve always associated him with. I didn’t keep a lot of his stuff when he passed away because I’d rather have things that either have use in my life or I can display. Our memories of our loved ones are not in their possession but our memory together so it’s the things that hold memorial values to me.
Oh and look at this sculpture I bought at Marfa, it’s made with concrete and resin.
pieces are shown below in the following order
Top Left: “Parade” by Jay Wilkinson
Top Right: “Black Bunny” by Rick Maxwell, “Flow” installation
Bottom Left: Marfa Resin piece
Bottom Right: Dallas Children Advocacy auction piece
Before we wrap this up, is there any advice you would like to give to those who are curious about getting into this industry? Or is there anything you wished you could’ve known that you wanna tell your past self?
I think education matters and that is what I would tell my younger self. I would love to approach many things in a different way and how you see or approach things is mostly based on what you expose yourself to or how you were educated. However I will also say it is not what makes or break your career as long as you have tenacity or talent, there are plenty of people who didn’t make it with an art degree and vice versa for those who don’t. I would say having a business mind and understanding how the industry work, making what type of art you want to create is really important. There are so many ways to make art, you can make it for the money, for education, for the sake of making art, but it all comes down to deciding what kind of artist you are trying to become.
I would also say building a network and how to navigate business and relations are vital to being successful however you want success to be, there are so many talented people yet to be recognized so I would say having tenacity is really important and what I value throughout my journey and what I would tell the others as well as my younger self.
Again, thank you so so much for having the time for me especially opening your place up for me and showing me around! One last thing before I go, is there anything on the horizon that you are excited to share with the world about?
I’m excited that I will be represented by Aspen Gallery and currently I am planning on constructing something that is more narrative-based, it is still a work in progress at the moment but I am excited to see where that leads us to.
