Meet Julian Coleman | Artist

We had the good fortune of connecting with Julian Coleman and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Julian, what led you to pursuing a creative path professionally?
I’m not sure if I can say with confidence that I’ve actively pursued an artistic career because it’s something that sorta manifested itself. Crafting things, drawing and painting all began as an intimate practice for me growing up to better understand myself and the world around me. As I grew and dived deeper into my crafts I became the typical bedroom artist. Posting pieces of mine to social media and gaining a little traction here and there. It felt good at times but it wasn’t anything I saw a future in. Honestly, it wasn’t until recent that I started to gain confidence in my craft.
When I was younger I always had this immense love/hate relationship with my art that held me back and turned me off to the idea of an artistic career. But as time went on and I went through my formative years playing with different styles/mediums, learning new techniques, and figuring myself out, I soon realized creating was the only thing that gave me any real sense of purpose.
Something I couldn’t find at some job or in a classroom.
Wether it’s painting, story-telling, music, whatever. Doing literally anything that lights up that creative part of my brain is where I’ve found my value.
Once I fully understood that, I had no other choice. I do this because it’d feel wrong not to. It’d be a disservice to myself.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
I’ve been creative my whole life but my true journey as an artist started around my sophmore year in high school. At the time I felt a bit lost and I was actively trying to find myself through various methods (some better than others). After a little soul searching I realized painting had became an outlet for me in a really turbulent time in my life. It was a practice that gave me a little insight on the things I couldn’t really put into words, the feelings I thought I’d never feel or gave any thought to, painting started to show me there was more to myself than I had originally thought. When I started painting most of my pieces weren’t refined and relied a lot on pure emotional rawness and this negative kind of energy.
My pieces were messy and morbid because as a teenage boy that’s all I really had in me at the time.
My recent works have felt a lot more personal and hopeful, there’s a lot of love in them when you look. It’s beautiful to know as I grow my art will grow with me.
I’ve switched gears from the dark hellscape I was so used to creating and been leaning more into a dreamy refined state while trying to keep the aura of that emotional rawness I was presenting a lot in my early pieces. I feel like my art is a direct connection to my unconscious mind and I’m proud that that extremely personal link has evoked genuine emotions in others and sparked real conversations with people. Connecting and sharing ideas with others on a level beyond what a conversation could do simply because of the images I make. That’s all any artist could ask for really.
As I continue this path I’ve learned there really is no right or wrong way to be an artist.
All I know is, as long as there’s life, then there’ll be another opportunity to rectify what can be rectified, and to improve what can be improved, and an opportunity to coexist with whatever can’t be rectified.

I just want everyone to know everything will be ok and to enjoy life the best you can.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
I’m a bit of a homebody really, I like to stay in and watch movies and weird lil animations and love places that sell those kind of core essentials. So I find myself at Videodrome a lot, they have the best selection of films, tv, animations, documentaries, weird stuff, whatever, I love that place I spend more time than I should there. When I’m going out on a casual day I find myself spending my days around Piedmont park! I like to skate around ponce with friends or at Old fourth ward skatepark.
We normally grab drinks down at Victory off the belt line or go to one of the restaurants in the surrounding area after a sesh.
On the weekends if I wanna hear some good jazz I’ll hit Gallery 992 on a late night (they always get me right especially if that crazy man Jordyn Perry on the drums).

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I want to shoutout my cool as mom Janice Sampson. My teacher, my best friend, my counselor and my biggest supporter. The person whose loved me unconditionally and like no other from the moment I came into this world. She’s someone whose encouraged my creativity over the years and pushed me to be better. She likes calling to tell me about her new ideas or a vivid dream she’s had that I could somehow work into my next piece. I love our long talks about spirituality and the state of the world and what my next painting might look like. Sometimes we even deep-dive into a storyline from one of my scripts or short stories. It’s beautiful to share these things there’s something special about sharing moments like that with a loved one. I truly think art has brought us so much closer.
She wants to watch me grow as an artist and as an author/creative herself it feels like we operate on a plain past mother and son. I feel like my mom really see’s me for who I am and what I aspire to be.
She’s really been my ride or die and I couldn’t thank anyone more than her.

Instagram: @petpossum @somebrainsoup

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCnSvBLjfT5x3Q2f4w4chrDg

Image Credits
Kitty Kolodziejski @vaguelypissed (for personal photo)