Rob Lee: Welcome back to The Truth In This Art, your source of conversations connecting arts, culture, and community. These are stories that matter, and I am your host, Rob Lee. In today's episode, I'm reconnecting with a Baltimore-based visual artist whose hyper-realistic oil portraits center black subjects with the depth and dignity.
Through bold color and scale, his work challenges stereotypes and uplift themes of joy, identity, and self-worth, offering powerful narratives for future generations. We last spoke back in 2022, and I'm excited to catch up. So please welcome back to the program, Elijah Trice. Welcome back to the podcast.
Elijah Trice: Hey, how you doing, man? I'm good to be back. I'm existing, man. I'm out here in the universe. My shirt's wrinkled. This is what we're doing.
Which one figures out? It's been a long day. I'll tell you that, Madhura. I was trying to not act like that was the case when we got started, but long days when you're busy out here running a media empire is what I was told recently I'm doing. But thank you for coming back on. Before we get into the main crux of the day's conversation, I want to have you reintroduce yourself to the folks that maybe missed the first interview that we did back in 2020, Tony too, and maybe the folks that just aren't familiar with you.
So if you could, please reintroduce yourself. So my name is Elijah Trice. I'm a visual artist, architectural designer, and sometimes furniture designer based here in Baltimore, Maryland. My work is rooted in storytelling of the Black experience, highlighting the everyday experience of us, making sure that people understand the significance of our existence, of the impact that we bring to this country, to the impact that we bring in general. I just want people to see just how dope Black people are, and I want to do that through my art. Okay, I like that.
See, we're already starting off strong. And here's the thing. This is why I like giving folks, like there's a few other details in there. You know, you said furniture, architecture.
Like what, hold on. Right now, that's... So when did that come, like the furniture piece, when did that come along?
Because I don't remember that when we previously chatted. Yeah, so because of my architectural background, I went to Morgan State and I graduated in 2019, yes, 2019. Part of my education there, my background there was digital fabrication. And we actually, one of our projects was to build a chair. And Evi had us been in the program, the architectural program, and Morgan, if you're listening, you know what I'm talking about. So the test was, you had to, the sign up was you had to build a chair out of all wood or MDF, which is like a wood composite material that you usually see like cabinets or IKEA stuff made out of. We had to build a wood chair, design it and everything. And if the professor sat in it and it broke, then you don't get an A. I don't think they fail you, but you just don't get an A plus. You don't get the best for it.
You're probably like, okay, the design was cool, but it broke. So maybe you get a B, a C. No, no, hold on, hold on. I got a question that relates to that then. So, and also I pulled my chain out so we could feel like we're in accordance. So when you have that sort of exam situation where the professor is sitting in the chair, do you say like, yo, can you get on the scale first? I want to make sure week to week that you're, you know, you're grading on a scale right on a curve.
I want to make sure that the scale is in my benefit as well. Yeah. I definitely told my professors to sit a certain way on my chair because I knew because I designed it at the time and I had very little experience at this time. I was, this is, this is such a long time ago at this point. I knew where my weak points was and I got better at it as I started to progress in that. So I told her, hey, look, hey, be careful, be real gentle with my baby right there.
You know, I want, I want, I want to be able to take that home and show that to the parents, you know, so yeah, no, but I've gotten better ever since. And to go to, and back to your question, when I went, when I went to grad school, I was broke. So I did not want to, I didn't want to buy all my furniture because I knew how to make furniture. So I was just like, well, and I love wood furniture.
My fiance will tell you all about that. She hears it all the time, but yeah, I love wood furniture. I just built my, I built bookshelves. I built closet shelves. I built my coffee table. I built all the important things that usually would cost an arm and a leg and all I did was have to buy like feeding furniture, like, you know, sofas and mattresses and stuff. So, and ever since, every time I've gotten a new studio and anybody that's been on like my Instagram page knows, I always make like a big, a brand new, I don't even know what kind of table it is, but it's like a long, huge table with a castor wheels on the bottom. So that helps me with holding on my supplies while I paint.
So every time I get a new space, I'm like, up, I'm going to Home Depot. Right. It's, that's one of those things before I move into this next question is one of those things that quote unquote, it's like a man skill, right?
Where, you know, I know so many, like when I bought my first house, I've been here almost 10 years. And as you remember, there's always he sort of fake conveniences that are presented higher or someone and if I can comedian, it's like, you're just like hiring a dude with tools. I was like, I have tools. So, you know, I had to get a cage to put around my heat pump or I had to build like, because my closets are small and they're high up, but they're small. So I was like, you think walking closets.
So I was like, what can I do? And I get inspired by visuals. So I looked at, you know, those like the black iron poles. I just made like a shelving unit out of that.
That's probably like eight feet tall. And it's been my house for the last eight years serving as like my closet, my closet set up and I was able to mount this cage around my heat pump to protect it. But also I was able to buy kind of your thing of you going to the studio, you're like, all right, Home Depot is part of this trip. And so I see that and it builds, it builds confidence and it's a, it's a tactile thing that I think just the courage, perhaps to do something and make it very much yours. Like the furniture in here is mine. I did that.
It has, has my butt print in it. I did that. I think I also benefited from the fact that, and that's true. I benefited from the fact that my parents, they were young when they first bought the, when they bought their first and really only home. They was lived, they've been living there the whole time.
Like my whole childhood pretty much. And they very much so had to do most of the work in the house themselves. They would hire people to do the obvious things, but they got you, they, they put the crown molding on the wall and did all the painting and they built a lot of the furniture, like some of the furniture that we have in the house. And as a child, I saw that and I didn't realize how big of an impact it had on me. And maybe that has something to do with me also getting in the architecture initially before becoming a visual painter as well. So had an interesting journey for sure. One, one quick thing I'll add that's because it connects to Morgan, I'm an Morgan alum, you know, you've, you've been around me. You know what the visual is, right? And remember, I'm like studying for finals, you know, and you know how that period goes and my parents, this is like their first house that they bore after we moved out of Lafayette projects in East Baltimore.
And it was lovely. We're going to move in this giant refrigerator and it's like, Hey, junior, you're big, big, can you help with this? And my brother's just chilling. And also by the way, we're going to redo our bathroom in the basement.
And we're going to put a tile in the kitchen. So I'm involved in all of these things while I need to study for my finals that I was in a four class. I was not doing well in. So those first homes and those sort of your free labor, we got you. Yeah. Pretty much. Yeah. Yeah.
You're definitely getting used to this. So switching gears into the art thing. So you definitely touch on the visual art. And I think sort of those, those other details around the architectural and the furniture provides some insight on who you are, that individual, but I think, you know, with art, I've read that art doesn't tell you what you are taught art tells you who you are. So who are you in that regard and how is that presented through your, through art? I am someone who believes in our stories and our history and also just the history that we're making currently, you know, I believe in documenting that. I believe that we need to do it before other people do it for us. And I think that's important because obviously we've seen so many instances where history has been rewritten and you can argue that it's kind of happening now in some instances.
Um, where there's a lot of important key facts that are just missing or just overlooked. And I feel like that's how a lot of people in general feel, especially when it's people from other communities looking into this one. Um, people don't really feel seen.
They don't really feel understood. And I think that it's important for people. Um, I think that's important for people to be able to have something that they call theirs.
You know, like to have something that represents them. And I feel like that's, uh, that's really a big part of what I want to do in my practice, what I have been doing. Yeah, that's, that's super important. I think of, um, and thank you for that because, you know, to a degree, I'm, you know, the goal is to do very similar thing as far as like documenting the sort of real, real story from the real people, not the sanitized one that goes into the editing process that goes into the type of questions, the type of conversation. And, um, you know, I had a head of review, um, or comment recently on a YouTube.
I thought was really funny. You know, I'm talking with, um, Isaiah Winters, um, you know, that's one of my guys, um, we're talking about sort of him documenting like just fascism as it's happening and just going there to these places. And the comment was, yeah, DEI is racist and you guys accomplished nothing by this conversation. And I was like, okay, I think we are doing something. I think we are getting it right. Yeah. This park is really tight.
Someone got really tight and it's a, it's a 90 second clip. And I was just like, all right, cool. And it, and it's like getting the perspective of I'm now 40, but two black men who are in their mid thirties to forties and just like, this is what I'm seeing. And this is, you know, how I'm going to describe it and let the record state, you know, is sort of that.
And I think using one's art, using one's, uh, creative perspective, you can't help, but to show who you are through it. Like I'm very transparent. I'm, I'm into some weird stuff.
You know, I always have some off color jokes. I always have some bits, but I'm a very curious individual and I want to get into the mechanisms of how things work, especially from very talented folks. That's it yourself. Like how do you do this? How do you make this, this happen? And I think prioritizing folks that look like us, frankly, you know, it's just baked in and it's hard at times to get that across without being very on the nose about it.
Cause that's not, that's not what I do. Agreed. Yeah. And I think, um, and I think that's the interesting thing.
I think, uh, we might've even had this conversation slightly last time. I think I mentioned the artists for she, Johnson and Matt, I always butcher the quote, but he basically was saying how, um, we don't necessarily have to call things, like say the word black before certain things. Like when it comes to us expressing ourselves and giving ourselves space, making space for ourselves, we don't have to say, they called it a title and exhibition black hair.
We can just be like, hair. Yeah. This just so happens to be black people in this exhibition and, and, and it's showcasing black people's hair. You know, as soon as we, as soon as we put certain words before, what we're actually trying to convey, I think he called it like censoring or throwing stuff into like the white ether, whereas basically like, you know, everything is centered around the idea of whiteness as opposed to just, just being, making the story about you.
Yeah. You know, instead of censoring whiteness, just sensing yourself. You don't even have to censor blackness. You can just censor yourself.
You are, you are black. So essentially that just happens naturally. You know, so, and I think that's important with a lot, with a lot of people, what some people are trying to do, some other artists are trying to do because it just seems like we don't have to force it upon anybody. And also when it comes off that way, people from our communities and beyond also feel a bit more comfortable approaching it. And it, I think more people can relate to it.
As soon as you throw certain words in front of it, people are like, Oh, okay. All right. That's, that's nice. But, you know, Yeah.
I think in an effort to, perhaps in an effort to pay homage and to qualify it or to whatever, adding that qualifier in, in the front of things, like it was something that's so trivial and stupid. It was like this pop punk video I saw, it was just these young black guys just doing a song that sounded like it was from the nineties. And I was like, this is great. And it's just like this YN pop punk music. I was like, there's no, of YN.
I was like, you're using that for the clicks and for the SEO. They're young black guys. Now, if you said I'm pulling out the switch, then that's a different conversation we're having, but he's just talking about anything that, uh, taking back Sunday or blank eight 182 would say back in the day. And I'm just like, looking at it, I say, who's this for? You're trying to target a specific group and the music in itself is universal, but adding that qualifier to it. It's like you're trying to segment it. And I'll leave that before moving into this next one with, with this. You've seen American fiction, right? Oh yeah. And that's literally a scene that talks about that. Yes.
Yes, yes it is. Where sort of the books are qualified. It's like, well, this is an African American. It's like, I don't know if this is what the topic of this book is, it's a genre.
And it's, it's really, it's really there and it sticks out. And I don't know, like, I think we work really hard at times and it's just like, let the work be what it is. So someone's experiencing the work and they could just say, you know, you only have black people in there.
Well, the artist is black. Then there you go. Versus, Hey, I'm going to set this precedent. Now you're going there expecting like, yeah, it's going to be what, who's black story is this? So you start getting to all of these other elements that have nothing to do with actually is the work good.
Is it, is it interesting? Right. Yeah.
Cause you talk about everything else except for the words once you get to a certain conversation for sure. So considering lineage as a defendant of portraiture, right? Um, how, how does that history combined with like the stories of your family and friends influence your focus on conveying those elements of joy, elegance, self-worth in your work and, you know, sharing our stories that frankly, authentically. Yeah. Honestly, it's almost kind of an extension of that.
It's just like, I feel like there is like this overarching theme of struggle and stress and that's usually attached to the quote unquote black experience. But, and that's usually coming from outside of the community. Um, but what people don't realize is people find joy in anything.
Yeah. Like people, cause you kind of have to, you know, I mean, if thing, if we, if we always worried about the negative, we always worried about what's wrong in our lives and we would never, ever, ever be happy. So I think people, specifically black people have made the best of their situations throughout time.
And that's honestly kind of like the backbone of the practice. Like I really want people to see like the regality of us on an everyday basis. Like we come out, we style and you know, we, like people come in. Like women coming out with their hoop earrings and we have a certain flag to us, we have a certain energy to us that people just love.
I mean, outside of us, we love ourselves, of course, but like it's just, it's something infectious that we have. And that's what I want to capture because there's so many stories out there to be told, um, and ideas of like the joy, the elegance and the self worth. These are things that not only have we combated, but we've overcame over all these years and I feel like art is such a wonderful way to showcase that. Um, just people being themselves and that just being joyful. I think that's also what artists like Derek Adams, um, and even like Amy Sherrod, a lot, a lot of these artists also pride themselves off of like they don't necessarily have to speak to the specific experiences, but just showing the work.
Derek Adams had a, had a, had a series. I don't remember what it's called, but it was a series of work with just people at the pool. Yeah.
You know what I mean? Like it was, I never saw the work in person, but it was amazing to work because first off, a lot of people like most people have in like suburban neighborhoods, I'm assuming there's pools, like, you know, there's pools in like certain neighborhoods, but doesn't really matter who's at it. That's something that anybody can relate to. Yeah. You know, but it's just the fact that it's a lot of smiles on black figures, black subjects, which is not something that showcased a lot.
Usually straight fates, usually about some sort of historical context, which is okay, but that kind of tipped the narrative on its head. Just showing that and seeing, Hey, you know, like, what's wrong with just being joyful and being happy and just enjoying life, no matter what's going on. We all got to do it. Yeah.
And going, going back to the, the, the, the smiling part in depicting folks in a state of joy, depicting black folks in a state of joy. I had a photo shoot recently and I just remember the photographer, he has been on a podcast before, right? And he's like, so Rob, you actually smile. He's like, you smile a lot in the podcast.
He's like, but you have this. I was like, yo, look, I'm from the nineties. We didn't smile then everything was Timbalands and, you know, your lips are closed. He's like, yeah, we're going to need you to follow a bit more. And I'll say, all right, cool.
And so, so yeah, no, it's real, but depicting that it makes folks who are the viewer, I suppose, more, more comfortable. And we all to your point, we're all like down, like for, for a pool day, for a day of like maxing, relaxing, what have you. And, you know, I like, I like floaties.
I like, you know, pool noodles, what have you. It's me. And, um, and I think this kind of the nice segue into this next question, considering sort of, I think, I think being black, right? Is, is, is one, it's lit. It can be a little dangerous is lit. It's authentic.
It's real. And especially in today's world, those things are like amplified. So within your work, how you choose to depict figures and so on. Like, does that inform you to go in more of a hyper realistic lane or talk a bit about that? Yeah.
Well, there's two things. Um, one, the hyper realistic aspect of my practice actually came from my experience, well, my background in architecture, because I was so technical. I was taught to be technical at every, at every turn.
So everything is straight lines, perfect. Like that's just how it was taught. Um, and I didn't realize that, that translated into my practice until recently. So that's one, but two, um, in terms, once I did realize that, and I realized, oh, that realism is the path for me. Um, I wanted to, when it came to painting subjects, I wanted to add more saturation to the, uh, to the subject space, to the skin color. Um, I just wanted it not exaggerated, but I wanted it to visually pop off the canvas as much as possible. I wanted people to feel realer than life. I want people to feel that you can just walk up and touch that person and talk to that person. Um, and I did that through certain techniques, like, uh, like glazing and, um, like lighting techniques when I was doing my photo shoots with these subjects, with the conversations that I was having with them. Um, these are, these are just some of the things that I was doing to be able to get that emphasis.
And that's why, like they come off so vibrant. Sure. Um, it's not just wonderful, nice backgrounds and like it's, no, it's the fact that it's the expressions. Um, it's the, the conversations that go with it because those are documented as well. And the colors is always what gets everybody. So, you know, adding a little bit of saturation into the skin tone and even the clothing, like a certain level of detail, it helps. Yeah.
No, that's, that's, that's great. And I've heard that echoed in that you're trying to, in, in capturing photos, and while I'm capturing portraits, the, trying to capture the essence of the person and just through sort of that interview, that definitely plays a role in it. There's, there's a hollowness that can be noted when you see that the person really didn't sit down with the subject.
They didn't answer the essence of the person or what have you. There are certain micro expressions that could be caught when you had that conversation, you were there with the person for 30 minutes an hour or what have you. You're like, yeah, I see that twinkling. I see that quarter, you know, that 10% smile, that thing comes through and it's imbued in the work.
Um, you know, I, I almost, this is so pop culture and so stupid, but I almost think of ghostbusters too. It's just like, yeah, we got Vigo here. We got him. We know he's evil. We can see it in this portrait. It's a great portrait, his oil, but we can see that he's evil and he's going to take over the world. I imagine the portrait.
We need to capture his, his malfeasance. That's actually a really good example, but yes. Yes.
It's true. And, and, and also when you do sit with somebody, I don't paint, um, I don't paint from life, but it feels like I am because I sat with the person. I had a conversation with them. I took many, many pictures of them while we're having this conversation. And, um, and because of that, I feel like I know that person just a little bit.
If I don't, if they're not already my friend already, I, you know, this is my first time meeting that person. I have a good understanding of how they sit, their posture, um, how, how, how, why their people get, um, if they do certain expressions, if their eyebrow goes up, when they say certain things, you know, like some, you know, like the rock, you know, but like I pick up on those things and it makes it easier to create the scene when you're painting them. You know, so, and also when you pay from a photo, because it's flat, if somebody paints directly from a photo, it kind of a little lifeless, like you said a little bit, but when you paint from anything to do, that's the process, that's what's going to happen.
But if you're painting from life or the process I took, you can have a better understanding of how to best represent that person because you've seen them at different angles, you've seen the lighting, how it hits their face. So it just, you know, that all of that plays into the result. Yeah. And I, I relate to that, you know, and doing, and doing that, right? Like, you know, realistically, we've, in the last, what, from 2022 to now, we've seen each other three times.
We did two years that we saw each other last year. And I find that, you know, that's just transparency there. And I find that people always say to me, like, you know, you like to home me, it's like, you know, everyone, how do you have the time to friendship and relationships? I was like, I barely know any of these people, but through the conversation that you're able to, a very short period of time, build a rapport and have folks like kind of open up. And I often hear this and it's probably similar in the, the interview process as far as doing the portraits that, you know, oh, you actually captured who this person is in a different way. And I find in the, the artists that you'll see in this visual, um, Xenia Greatass, that worked us behind me. Um, she mentioned in an interview that we did that she actually captured who she was as a person.
That's, that's what she's saying to me. First is just, yeah, you can have me answer questions about my work and purely process and so on. It's like, there's a person that made this work and often that's left out of the conversation. Yeah.
You know, and I think the same thing sort of is the, the sort of flatter two dimensional, it's like, sure, it could be a really good interview about the work, but there's something that's not a fully formed individual in that conversation or in that portrait. Right. Yeah.
1000% agree. Yeah. I'm trying to act like I'm better at podcasting now. So have you, have you, um, explored like other like styles and experimented, um, or maybe even seriously considered like shifting much more of your focus and attention to other styles, other mediums over the last like few years.
Yeah. Um, I have a strong admiration for textile artists and for abstract artists, sculptors, really anybody outside of anybody that takes a different approach to their practice than paint, cause paint, painting comes fairly naturally and easily to me, the repetition, but I will say abstraction is something that I've always wanted to explore. I have, but I never really found like a way to make it to incorporate it where like the pieces, the works that I'm creating are cohesives. So that's still something that I'm still searching and I'm still strategizing. I'm trying my best not to think too hard about it. Cause that's also something I realized a lot of abstract artists have always told me like they'll come in with an idea or not. And then as they work, it just kind of creates itself. It kind of forms and that's the way it is with portraiture too, but you have like a template almost like you have something that you're aiming for. And I feel like with a lot of abstract work, like sometimes you, you don't really need like a certain end goal, a certain guide to get to where you're trying to get to. And I'm not going to lie, I've always envied that, but, um, that's something that I do want to bring into the fold at some point. Um, and maybe even some sculpture work at somewhere at some point, I have a background in fabrication, three day fabrication, um, and CNC, uh, routing.
So thank you, Rizvi and thank you Morgan state for that. Um, but, uh, I have, I have experience with that. So I think at some point that's something that I might incorporate as well.
And thank you. Um, that's, that's great to see sort of what that, that, that progress looks like and what that differed direction to that curiosity. Like you admire how these folks do this. Um, and you know, I don't do it as much, but every now and again, I go off the cuff. Like there have been some times where, cause you know, you, you probably got the, when I sent over the initial message about doing this interview, I was like, any things you really want to cover, you know, buy all of that stuff, this update, it just so gives me a framework to work within, right?
And there are sometimes I just don't get anything from the person. I'm like, I'm going to go into this one blind. I was like, I hope I'm good because it's going to go everywhere. And I think kind of playing with it, like not having a set plan as like, well, what am I curious about with this person? Let me step back and almost frame it as if I'm talking to this person in the wild.
Not in this sort of, um, it's somewhat contrived. We know that we're meeting at this time. We know that we're meeting through this medium and we know that it's for a separate time, but you know, being able to, why is this person interesting? Why am I interested in this person and what sort of learnings and insights can I gain from this person that I'm really curious about and going back to really stripping it down. It's like, and I'm thinking about sort of like other people, you know, when he talked about, um, like, I know Rick Rubin talks about this, um, the, the process and the work and all of that stuff is not for the audience, it's for you. And I start thinking about what I'm doing. Like it's not necessarily art somewhere in the journalism lane, but I'm not having these conversations because I think this person is going to think it's interesting. I think it's interesting. So I'm going to ask those, those sort of questions. So when I don't have that sort of framework and that guide at the minimum, what's interested about this person, did not start from there and it can go in any sort of improvisational direction. We were circling that a bit on your process currently, in the last five years or maybe in the last three years since we talked a couple years back.
How have you refined your process and shaped your vision? Is it an elevated version of what it was? Have you like, all right, I'm going to move this out of this.
This is no longer part of the process or something I might return to later, but it's not part of the current process. So speak on that a bit. At first, when I first started painting, my subjects came to me kind of naturally because there was just people that was close to me in school and other artists that I was come across. So I was meeting as I was gearing up and as I was starting to understand my own practice and also getting introduced to the art world. At first I was just curious. I just wanted to know everything. I wanted to know about the people that I want to know about my peers.
I wanted to understand how they got to their point, what struggles, what issues they had. Because I'm somebody who really is thoughtful about my approach. I'm usually very meticulous.
I plan a lot. That's changed. But I want to come to my work. And because of that, I just was like, I just was, I wanted to know everything about this because this was a new experience for me, a new world when I first started to paint.
Sure. I went through so much of my life not painting. All of a sudden it's my life. So I wanted to know as much as I could. But now I've gotten that fundamental aspect of my practice kind of out the way. And now I structure my work around themes. And I think I'm way more intentional about why I'm painting now. Not just painting to paint or not just painting because I think that certain people like you said want to see it.
I used to paint celebrities. I don't do that anymore. I don't want to do that. If I want to do that, I'll do that. But I don't have to now.
And I felt like I had to at that time. Now I approach it like, for instance, like the current series that I'm working on. For the first time, I'm kind of tapping into like my childhood. And the work and the series of work that I'm doing right now is just centered around how innocent and how I want to say whimsical my childhood was when I look back at it. Maybe it was different when I was actually in that time. Maybe I'm like, oh, I don't I don't want to eat these peas.
I don't want to eat these broccoli, mom. But what I remember as an adult was running around in front of my apartment, playing with all the neighborhood kids, you know, having friends come over to sleep over is playing PlayStation one, you know. So I mean, that's but looking back at those times as an adult being being brought down by everyday things and bills and taxes and your job. It's easy for us to forget, for us to lose that inner child. And that's something that I've been trying to tap back into on a daily. And because I'm doing that, I feel like I'm gaining a piece of myself back. And I thought that that was just interesting.
And I think there's something that's worth exploring. And what's the name of the series? Oh, it's untitled right now.
OK, that's untitled. No, and I think that that's really good because, you know, I always revisit over and over and over again, the same sort of sources, whether it be, you know, the Austin Cleon, whether it be the Rick Rubin, as I mentioned before, and we can't lose those those pieces of us. Like, you know, I've mentioned that a couple of times this season, maybe once or twice last season, I had this old art bag that my grandmother, she was the same as this and it seems to us. And it was like elements of like an art bag and then it needed to be mended. So it had elements of my dad's bag as duffel when he served Vietnam. So it has that and it's got like basically all of my creative stuff from when I was very young as color tonsils in there, as like markers, drawing guides, all of these different things. Because that was the experience that I was having as a young as a young person.
And the thing that I wanted to do. So when you think back of I need these peas, it is more whimsical time. I think of that as well.
And there's something about it that, you know, pops for me. Like, I remember who I was at that time. You'd be the storytelling thing was there. Right.
I used to just sit there and make up stories about movies that I knew no one else watched because my dad used to always write movies from blockbusters or Hollywood video to really Yeah. Yeah. And I was like, yeah, y'all seen diver broke.
Yeah, I've never seen this before. Here's what happens in the movie. I'm like actively spoiling the movie, but it's me feeling the gas of a movie that obviously I hadn't seen, but I wanted to be cool. Or me trying to make up my own characters for my comic that I was working on as a kid. And that connects to I don't care if people like this.
I don't care how I'm going to get it. You know, you're supposed to have an anchor and illustrator or write or all of these different things. I was like, I'll just do all of it. And that's what it was.
And that same set of traits is there doing this. You know, it's just like, oh, why don't you do video like that's another person? Why don't you do this?
That's also another person. I think I rather keep it as self contained. And that's sort of a through line creatively speaking. That's just kind of how I go about things. But thinking about it without if you were touching on sort of the the doldrum the day to day, the sort of, I'm going to pay for this. Like, man, I lost it. Like I was sharing before, like, you know, that was a real consideration of potentially losing my gear yesterday on the train. I was like, yo, is this over? And I find it older. We do more of that. I think going back to Morgan, you know, I was in the initial class for their earnest program.
I was the only male to finish and I always will hold on to that to finish from the initial class. Right. Go ahead.
Go ahead. And I was final. And I just remember at one point, I think, you know, I was really good like first semester, second semester, not as good.
Fresh mirror. And then I remember like midterm, second semester. I'm talking to one of my buddies.
I was like, yo, I can't hack it. I'm going to drop out. And it's automatically these things to stop building in these pressures and these stresses and having to tap back in. It's just like, well, first semester is so easy. College experience is sort of a transition.
And it's just like, just go back to how you do things. Don't get caught on what you got the scholarship. So here's all of this pressure. Right. We're saying things kind of, you know, there while you got this new funder, you know, you made it make some really good work that people are going to find interesting and make sure you're only interviewing the top people. Make sure you're doing those nipsey hustle portraits after he was, you know, sadly taken away from us.
Do those things that's going to hit versus the things that you actually care about. Right. And those are, and they go back to when you were a kid. Yeah, you can argue a lot of us was amazing artists as children, just drawing with crayons and markers and playing with paper. Like those are things I can't even imagine myself doing now. But if I tried and if I really tapped into it, I could probably make some amazing stuff. Like this, like I think that was, that's a common through line with a lot of people, a lot of artists that I, that I talked to as well.
Like they kind of try to approach their work as if they're a child or as if they're still children. Because at that time you didn't care. You felt free. So, and honestly, like art making or creating in general should be a free kind of experience. You know, it should be cathartic in a way.
It should be able, you should be able to enjoy it and not feel and not make it feel like a task. Yeah. Were you a Legos kid? Oh, yeah. And Lincoln Logs. Yeah.
All of it. The reason I asked this, this is unrelated and I'm going to go into the next question, you know, but I remember when I was a kid, we used to go to department stores, right? And you know, those little sensors or what have you, they would sometimes just fall off. And I would go through and collect little sensors and just little knickknacks, sometimes hairpins and different things. I would make almost sculptures with these things as a kid. Like this is how this comes together. I can make this and it was an attempt for me to make a transformer because we were so broke. I couldn't afford that. That's how wild it was.
And now if I still had that skill, I do not. That could be something like, you know, here's my sound materials exhibition. Yeah, exactly. I used to do the same thing. We're trying to make Beyblades, like replicate Beyblades and like the letter.
Right. And just trying to, I did the same exact thing with sound materials. And it is interesting that if you really look at some of those top artists, a specifically abstract artist, a lot of them, the work, people, I don't want to call it simple, but there's a simplistic approach, at least from the, from the view with I of how they get to that result that you see on the wall. And I know a lot of people try to, they almost try to shame certain abstract work, like, anybody can do that.
Anybody, well, okay, well, you try to do that. Like, not only is there a process to get it to look like it's easy to do, but to be able to tap into something within yourself where it's like, you know what, I love the energy of this. I love the way this makes people feel. I like the way this makes me feel. And it's reminiscent of a certain time in my life when I felt like that all the time. That is not easy as an adult with responsibilities of kids, you know, with family, with other people that you have to manage in your life and your job. It's not easy to do, you know, like that's something that you have to be very self-aware about.
And I don't think a lot of people are, honestly. So it's, it's a skill. It really is to be able to tap into that. And that's a good segue into this, this next question. And I'm thinking as broadly as possible with distractions here, but for a way of, you know, setting an interview that distractions take away from our curiosity. How do you devoid, how do you avoid distractions and kind of stay curious? Yeah, for me, I get distracted a lot, but what I do, I've realized that I got used to working hard all the time. I got used to working through the night, whether it's on my, on my practice or whether it's for school. And having to wake back up four or five, four or three hours later for presentations at Morgan.
Like I got so used to that. It's impacted my sleep schedule. It's impacted my mental health. It's impacted a lot of things in my life.
And once I really start to hone into my practice and start to understand how much it really mentioned me, I decided that I need time, I need to make time to reflect. I need to make time to reminisce. I think back to me and my fiance's trip to Italy. We went to Italy, we went to London and we went to, oh, in Paris in the same trip.
And I was the first one I've ever left the country. And I almost did a whole series just on that because like at one point I took the time to relax when I got back from that vacation. And it's kind of like, we was talking earlier, like you kind of relive that moment in your life. You relive that time and realize that was amazing. Like I need to feel that now. I want to feel that all the time. I want to feel that every time I look at this piece that I created.
Oh, I want somebody else to feel that way when they look at this piece that I created. So as far as like distractions, I have healthy distractions. You know, like I'll probably, I'll throw in a little bit of TV here. I'll probably read a book with people, an audio book, a podcast.
I'm listening to your podcast. So, you know, like I do do those things, but in some way, maybe even like some busy work, but it's all, it all kind of comes back to inspiring me to get back to the work. So it never really feels like a distraction, even though from the outside in, you know, my fiat is like, you should probably finish that painting. And I'm like, oh, I'm going to get through it.
I think you're right. I think having sort of those, those healthy distractions, one can file under this process. And the other ones, well, it's like this person's work, you know, you're not as good as that work. I think that those are the distractions and those are sort of the, and those aren't the ones that you're choosing. So I think maybe, yeah, I think the true way of going about it, because yeah, I mean, it's easy to get distracted. Like I could be headed to just in the simplest term of like distractions.
I could be headed to doing an interview at a place. It's like, I need to stop here, get coffee. And then I get some inspiration just randomly. Technically, I was not on goal. I was procrastinating or going outside of my thing. But if I spend like an hour on, you know, something that's really not, not my choosing, I just get, you know, down the rabbit hole, down actually being distracted. So it's like, how are you using it?
It benefits sort of the overall flow of the work. So I got two more real questions and then those rapid fire ones. And this next one, I want to talk a little bit about residency. You had a recent residency in Maryland Hall. Can we talk about that experience and any key takeaways from that?
Man, so with Maryland Hall, first off, it was an amazing experience. It was two months long and there was a two-month exhibition that got extended just a few days ago to, I want to say mid-June. I think it's June 13th.
I don't know when this comes out, but make sure you go check that out. But I learned, that's why I really learned the importance of stepping back and reflecting because my last studio, my last studio that I had, I was paying for it out of pocket. And, you know, it was like, it started to feel like a bill.
And, you know, I was able to do things that I wanted to do and I loved that space, but it added a lot of pressure to being able to just create, you know, and I didn't have the space in my home to do it at the time. And once I got this residency, it was free. I didn't have to worry about paying for anything and I got a stipend. So it was amazing.
And it gave me, I think, 500 or so square feet to just play. And because of that, there was days where I just sat there and I did nothing. I just looked around like, you know, just like taking in the experience or even those are those moments where I kind of looked back and I just was reflecting like, like just trying to think about what that next move is. But it's often times we don't really get time to just slow down and just to shut the brain down. We just are always on go mode. And I'm somebody that's always on go mode.
I have my schedule is insane. And whenever I was in the studio, I had to cut it all out. Turn some, some lo-fi music on.
I don't know. Like, some, some real soft music. I listened to some Cleo soul, like something to get my mind right, you know, just and I, and I was going out and that would allow for me to create almost from the soul. And it really, really helped.
That was something that I took away from that. And also because there's a solo exhibition at the end of this, it's two months like I'd stated. And that was my first ever solo show, which is an accomplishment for me.
I've always wanted that. It's always, it's a goal of almost pretty much any artist, especially if it's attached to a residency. I learned the importance of planning a solo exhibition. That's what I learned. I learned how to be a lot more organized with my thoughts, be more concise. I learned that I cannot, I can, but I should not do everything by myself.
Definitely not. If you don't have to, I had a team of people that I was super enthusiastic and willing to help me. They did, they did the promo for the work. They did reels for me, my Instagram reels, and they promoted that.
They even, they helped me install the work and they're probably going to help me de-install it. And you know, like they were always there. And I felt like because like I always had to get it out the mud kind of mentality. Maybe that's just the bottom on me. I don't know, but I just, I just always felt like I had to go a thousand percent in. And sometimes I still do feel that way.
I just didn't know how to slow down and I didn't know how to accept help. And that's something that I truly learned how to do in this moment. And because of that, the work and the exhibition turned out amazing. The turnout was great. Like people came and I would have put too much stress on myself.
And I would have missed something or I would have like complained like, oh, I wish I did this better. But that's something that I really learned from that, from that experience. And I can't wait for the next solo exhibition. So I'll be better.
Well, I'll be more well versed in that. And that exhibition is nothing else matters, right? Yes. And so give us, give us a little background on that one.
This is a quite evocative title. So there are specific information behind that. And just give us sort of the core ideas around that. This is sort of like the last real question that I have. So I want to give that up to you.
Yeah. So anybody that's seen my work before, I usually have a solid background, a vibrant color or whatever color. I always tell people the background colors usually are picked because they exude the aura or the essence or the feeling, the emotion that I get from the subject when I speak to that person. Or even just what the, what the types of energy that they give out. So it could be like a very bright yellow, orange.
It could be a cerulean blue. Like it can, there, I just have so many different ways of attacking the canvas in that way. But what I wanted to do was usually those backgrounds are a solid color. And usually I feel like a lot of artists try to overthink an exhibition. They try to make it super intellectual and it needs to have all these elements.
And, and then in my, and in my experience, I think, yeah, you can have those elements, but don't force it. And I think that was what, when I had that light bulb, I just was like, I was trying so hard to be like, I need to be like this and he is going to be fired. If I do this, I need to have this. I need to tell people that I need to make sure they know I know about this, you know, but it just, it was just that, that process of just overwhelming myself. And then when I looked at the actual images I was painting, which one of them is titled hide, and it's titled after hide park in London, because that's, that was the trip that I took. And my fiance took a picture of me sitting on a bench. And in that moment, I remember saying it in my head. I didn't say it all out. I sit it in my head.
Nothing else matters. Nice. So this, this felt the moment I was sitting, it was the most peaceful park I've ever been to.
The most quiet it's my ever, my brain has ever been. And I had, and if I wasn't in the process of going through that reflection, I would have never came with the title. I would have never came with the idea. Nothing would have been cohesive.
And on top of that, maybe you can call it a double entendre, but because I always focused on the subject, I don't really like, I don't want to add any extra noise to my work. I want them front and center. I want you to see.
I want you to hear these people that you're looking at. And in that regard, nothing else but that person, nothing else but that subject, nothing else but that story matters in this instance. So there's a lot of different meanings, you know, I mean, people can get what they want from it, but that was my inspiration. Is there anything else from the actual stories of each piece?
People can interpret it however they want and they can relate to it however they want. Yeah. That is tight. I was guessing that was the sort of lane because I'm one of those sort of thinkers. It's like, yeah, so it doesn't matter, right?
It's just the subject, all this other stuff, the big scheme of things, just me and you right here. That is one of those. Team over thinking. Yes.
Cutting to a little gang. So that's kind of the real questions. You know, you covered those. So now we get to these rapid fire questions as we get down to the last few moments of this run it back episode. So here's the first one. This is the one I'm not going to bury the lead. I told you there was a meme related question. So here's the first one and you know how to do this.
Don't overthink these. So I think of that Michael Jordan meme. I took it personal, right? It's effective. It's very much my energy is nequarius. The notion of taking something personal, you know, even if it's a minuscule flight in practice, right? In practice, what is an emotion that kind of drives you to get something done? Oh, and I'm mostly that gives you. Uh-huh. I think I actually more so have a story that relates to that. I think I had another residency in Providence.
It was the water fire water fire accelerate program. And we had our final exhibition and somebody somebody came up to me and was like, oh, like I love your words. I was blah, blah, blah. And I said, oh, thank you.
I appreciate it. And I was like, I'm really surprised that you priced it that way. I'm surprised you probably could have priced it higher. And I was like, it was kind of like a small dig, but it was kind of like a compliment. And that just was like, I mean, your work is probably worth more than that. But it was also kind of like, you know, I priced it this way because there's a certain, I have certain rationale to that, but you come in and tell me, I was just like, okay, I'm just going to let that slide.
Yeah. Because I respect this person. But I just was like, I'm not going to, I'm not going to trip on that. And literally that meme was something that came to mind when that happened.
I just was like, no, no, let me, let me embody my man, my man, Jordan. Because I can't, I can't get into this right now. You're just looking at a product. Like I'm going to update this.
You're like, you just point that. Thank you. I appreciate it.
And the thing is moving. This is why I know we're on the same vibe here because I'm like, you don't think I know how to price things. But then also it's just like, your work is very good.
I appreciate that. But let's go back to the part where you don't think I know how to price things. But we're on the same page. I can get it. Yeah. All right. That's a good. Yeah. Yeah. Petty knows if Petty does. So this is sort of the other, the next one. How do you keep calm during those times of intense pressure?
I've been working on sort of a breathing exercise just to kind of like get everything out and then kind of go into the thing. Much like again, another basketball reference, you see people in the playoffs. I know that Jaylen Brown was doing this a lot. Let me take these deep breaths before these free throws. Looks like it's something easy you could time out on. But because they're easy, you could time out on them. You're not giving them their due. And it's the pressure of being in the playoffs. You could be going home tomorrow.
And he did. So how do you, those times of intense pressure? Ironically, the actual act of painting, act of creating is my, that is my peaceful place. You know, that is my calm space. Instead, it's music. Sometimes I walk over, I live in Federal Hill and I walk over to Federal Hill Park or I walk to some park and or I ride my bike. Like these are just some of the things.
But the biggest thing is painting because even though I am a painter, I am a visual artist. There's a lot of admin things you've got to do. You have to sit in front of a computer. You got to apply it to a million things.
You have to respond to messages, respond to emails, just like anybody in any industry does. But luckily for me, what my practice, what my art business is based on is actually what I'm passionate about. It's actually what I love to do.
So luckily I can always just go back to the basics. I can just lock myself in that room and pick up my brush and I don't ever clean my brushes off before I go to sleep. So first thing I do, I clean the brush off.
I'm sorry, all the all the all the painting periods out there, you can hate me. But yes, I have to clean my brush off before I start. But once I get to that point, I can be in there for hours. People say it's that flow state. That's a real thing for me. I really get into it and it gets to a point where she got to come in the room and tell me, hey, it's like three o'clock in the morning.
You got work tomorrow. I've had also breaking Elijah Trice does not clean his brushes. The flow state, I've experienced that a few different times during sort of those marathon like outside of like writing questions, like writing questions I try to go through. And I'm actually writing them. I'm not just copying, group or saying there are certain things that overlap, but generally I'm going through and I'm writing questions.
And I can get into a groove doing that, but sort of just the art of conversation. It's just like a warmed up. They're like almost using the fitness thing. Once you get kind of warmed up and it's like, all right, I could just, I can knock out a couple hours of these. And, you know, I've done live radio for like, I think it's like four or five hours, like straight of the interviews and so on.
There are gaps in there, lolls, but doing interviews straight up or even doing like, you know, interviews with folks during music conventions and things of the sort. It's just like a certain stamina that's there and kind of being locked in that nothing can really faze you. That's the thing. Like I'm on my pivot and I'm really focused in this area. I'm locked in as they say. So yeah, so here's the last one I got for you.
And this one is a recent addition because you said something that I was very curious about. So very simple. What's my background color? You're talking about backgrounds earlier.
The Lord Lee, you know, you said the, the reality of things, Lord Lee, that's that's who I go by. What is the background color? I'm curious. I'm curious whether you have the, you've seen me in real life.
You have now had two podcasts. I'm curious about that. Yeah. I think your background color. I think your background color would be, I actually want to say maybe like a, like a pale blue or like a, I want to say maybe like a washed out, like dioxide, purple. Like these just all like really, really like, they're kind of like, they kind of have like a regal kind of effect to it, but they also have like a bit of an, at least from my perspective, they also have like a really positive kind of aura about them as well. And also I think like just in general, I don't know if people, I don't know if you've noticed this, but like if you look at a lot of portraits specifically of people of color, blue always hits, like always hits as a background because you have the melanin contrasting that blue. Like it's kind of like it, it all, it contrasts so wonderfully.
It's amazing. So, and also the background that you have right now, like, I'm looking at and I'm like, you know what, I can see that. I can see that. And that's great. I mean, the regality of it all, like, I had this running bid and we were closed out in the second, you have this running bid about, you know, you think about what you're going to paint your house, like downstairs in my first floor of my house has a really deep navy blue.
And I'm like, yes, that's reality. And I was like, hmm, maybe in the studio, my painted ox blood, blood of my enemies. I don't know if the torture chamber where I make my, my bones, I don't know. If that inspires you, maybe it inspires you. Why not? You go again, you know, in this river of blood and got back to Ghostbusters.
So that's kind of it for the pod. I want to thank you so much for coming back on and spending some time and catching up with me. And I'd like to invite and encourage you to share with the listeners where you can follow you, check out your website, all that good stuff that you have coming up.
The floor is yours. Yeah. So you can follow me at Elijah Trice, E-L-I-J-H, trice, p-rice, dot, art. And then you can follow me at, you can find my website at ElijahTrice.com. Contact me, hit me up.
If there's anything, any, any opportunities or any, any, any pieces that inspire you or any pieces that you're interested in, I'm always open talk. Um, yeah, that's how you can find me. And there you have it folks. I want to again thank Elijah, Trice for coming back onto the podcast and reconnecting. And for Elijah, I am Rob Lee, saying that there's art, culture and community. And then around your neck of the woods, you just have to look for it.
