BALTIMORE — "It's a way to create the art through painting that you can take the paintings and put them on garments and you can hang the art, wear the art, become the art."
If you haven't noticed from a quick peak around Bryan Robinson's studio, he's all about creating.
"I was that student in the back of the classroom drawing, doodling and the teacher thought I was doing biology or chemistry whatever. I was creating these characters called boneheads."
"What can you tell me about this one?
"That's called nurture and you look at it it's like a mother or sister....this mother or sister that has to determine which child gets the cereal.
From his bonehead illustrations that he created as a teenager to his animations and clothing line, the self-taught artist has created a brand called the Black Genius Art Show.
"As a child I wanted a dog so I started drawing pictures of dogs, so I wanted my art to reflect the things I wanted in life. I never got the dogs by the way though," Robinson laughed.
By day, he teaches Pre-k in Pigtown.
"I like to ignite conversations with kids and see where their mind is," Robinson said.
Before COVID, you'd see this community artist all over town at festivals like AFRAM and ArtScape selling his work.
He was expanding and just before the pandemic he'd moved into his own space.
"Once COVID hit that whole community aspect that I thought I could bring into the brick and mortar it ceased. It was restrictions on people can't come in, so when that happened I was left to come into this empty building and create," Robinson explained.
Now he's creating shoes! Robinson was selected by Vans for their Foot the Bill campaign. In an effort to help struggling businesses the sneaker company picked entrepreneurs to design a shoe, and sell it on the Vans website.
"I'm able to design my artwork on up to 1,000 pairs of shoes and it goes nationwide," he said.
He gets to keep all the proceeds and that's making his future a lot brighter and his canvas a lot more colorful.
"I think I'm living my dream. I like to wake up in this. That's my motto, create every day and I feel like every day I wake up, I'm living in what I love doing, creating art," Robinson said.
