Interview
Randy Morales (Creative Vice)
US Navy veteran Creative Vice fuses nostalgia and graphic expressionism within his street-pop artworks. The choice of subjects within his artworks is strongly influenced by his experience growing up in the 90s. Carrying on the theme of feeling like an outsider much of his life, Vice focuses on characters that he would consider less ‘obvious’ to the masses, but more emotionally evocative to those who recognize them.
Vice has been a creative all his life, although he has not always had the opportunities to show his expressive range. After completing his military service and his degree from FIDM, Vice began as a fashion designer, working for major fashion brands.
It wasn’t until his TV stopped working that he had an artistic revelation: TVs are meant to have pictures. Even though his TV was broken, instead of just throwing it away, why not paint on it? This sparked his venture into creating visual artworks from recycled materials, and eventually creating original paintings on canvas.
What is your background and how did you start your journey in the art world?
“My name is Randy Richard Morales, also known as Creative Vice. I’m from Washington state. I'm a US Navy veteran, fashion designer and all-round creative. I started my art journey as a kid, designing clothes and drawing pictures, but was told that one had to be gay to choose to be a designer, and that one doesn’t make money as a creative. Being a young African American and Puerto Rican male in Washington State already made me different from all the other kids. So I chose to hide my creative side and just go forward with life, day by day. I ended up in the military since I had no other plans in life. But I still found myself doing creative things during my free time, just to pass the time.
I started my first clothing brand, and this got me into FIDM. From there, I got a job working at Alo Yoga as a design assistant. Once the pandemic hit, I was let go from my job. Unemployed and with nothing to do, I became more creative. I started making masks and doing random things. After painting on my TV, I started to upcycle random TVs and anything I could paint on. I got re-hired 3 months later, but still continued creating works of art.”
“I honestly can’t stop creating. I can be in mid-conversation with someone and they’ll say something that’ll get an idea forming in my mind; all the while seeming to be paying attention to them.”
What inspires you?
“Inspiration comes from everything. I get inspiration in my sleep. I literally would wake up from dead sleep at 4 in the morning with an idea of a song, a story or a painting. That’s where the name Creative Vice comes from. I feel like my vice in life is to create.
My current art collection is based of emotions. I use my signature marble pieces as a way to share what’s going on. Black is used for more of my negative emotions, while white represents my positive emotions.”
What themes do you pursue? Is there an underlying message in your work?
“The themes I pursue are very similar to my own personal lifestyle. I have my street self, which goes back to my 90's nostalgia art. I have my casual and dress-up self that goes with my contemporary and abstract art. All my art has a message. Since I don’t like to share my thoughts or feelings, I prefer to put them on canvas.
In my dimension works, when you see the black and white marble, you see what I like to call boxed emotions. It’s like if you were to actually see my emotions in real life, you would see that I box everything in instead of sharing it. So the marble reflects what that looks like - just all mixed together in there.”
How would you describe your work?
“My work is meant for you to dig deeper. I love to use the marble center not just to show my negative and positive emotions, but to also have you look into it and see what your mind can create out of the lucid images. Another way I want people to dig deeper is with my nostalgic pieces. I use characters from my childhood that not a lot of other artists use. When you see one of my nostalgic pieces, it’s meant to trigger a memory. I want people to think back and remark, ‘I forgot about that’ or ‘I remember this from when I was like 5.’”
Which artists influence you most?
“It’s hard for me to pinpoint which artists influence me. I don’t like to study other artists’ works because I don’t want my work to be compared to that of other artists. I'm really trying to build my own lane of artwork and be identified as a true creative.”
What is your creative process like?
“My art starts with my love for music. In the same way that my art is filled with emotion, I listen to music that has emotion. A lot of Brent Faiyaz and Partynextdoor — anything to trigger that emotion and get me in the mindset of remembering why I like to create.”
What is an artist’s role in society and how do you see that evolving?
“An artist’s role in society is to influence, provoke emotion and inspire others to create. Evolving is by more people unlocking their creative side, and wanting to explore creativity.”
Have you had any noteworthy exhibitions you'd like to share?
“You can see my works online at Art Space Warehouse.
Website: www.creativevice.co
Instagram: @creativevice
