Once upon a time I was the founder of a small grassroots nonprofit that was focused on boys in single parent homes. Our first fundraiser was an art show competition that allowed students from various high schools to submit their art and have it hung in a local art gallery in Uptown. It was a huge success! The kids were super excited to be featured, we had plenty of people in attendance, a DJ, an artists' panel and live graffiti painting. This is how I met
Hatziel Flores. He along with fellow artists Ray Albarez, Jeru, and the late great Minus Won participated out of the sheer kindness of their hearts. They shared their story and inspired some kids who want to be artists themselves. So it was a no-brainer to tap Hatziel for this feature.
I'm invited to his home for the interview (which is not the norm for him because he is notoriously private). Upon my arrival I'm greeted with open arms. "Hey man! I"m glad you made it. Come on in, make yourself at home and grab a beer. I'll be with you in a minute" he says. As I walk in there is a full blown photo shoot happening and Hatziel is interviewing the people being photographed. I immediately settle in with my Heineken and the rest of the house full of on-lookers and take in the show. Apparently they are the subjects of a new art series he's currently working on. You can sense his enthusiasm for the process. “When I first started doing art my inspiration came from anger, hate, frustration and things like that, but as time progressed I started running out of that fuel. So then I had to start drawing my inspiration from somewhere else”. So it would seem that now his inspiration is fueled by others. “Their life becomes their own portrait and I grab the intensity from their life and put it on canvas and hopefully other people can see that projection” he says.
At 14 he was introduced to hip hop culture and started to get involved with Graffiti. This became an extremely important element for him and his artistic development. Graffiti helped him to express himself in a more uninhibited manner. He soon became familiar with different mediums and through this his style evolved. Today he incorporates those same urban techniques bringing to life work of an edgy modern surrealism. He begins to lead me through his home showing me some of the work he has exhibited on his walls from other artists. As we walk throughout, he explains to me the origin of each piece and we eventually arrive in his in-home studio. A large black and white mural of a woman is on the wall as well as some other pieces that he has lying around that he is preparing for upcoming exhibitions. His demeanor becomes calm and more subdued for the brief time that we are there. This creative space is a place of solace for him. A place where those aforementioned inspirations manifest in to works of art. “In art you have to be true to yourself because if you’re not people are going to see that. If you paint crap, people are going to know that it is crap. Real recognizes real." he says.
Most creatives are passionate about their chosen craft and I'm left feeling how deep his convictions are about it but not just for the art but for the city as well. "I love Dallas! It treats me well, it treats me very well" he says. This is intriguing to me as we are not necessarily known as an artists' city. So when I asked him about the climate in Dallas for local art he had this to say: "The thing about Dallas is that it is still being exposed to this type of art. They’re still babies in that respect. But I give it the next 5 years or so and they’ll catch on. It’s been some of my motivation to stay here because I want to be part of that movement. I have faith it’s going to happen. There are lots of talented artists here and they’re all doing their part to make sure the city comes together. Because of that now we have huge names coming here to do murals. So it’s just a matter of time before they stop looking outside of Dallas and start taking advantage of the people who are already here and who are great and represent that and push that forward. The thing that’s missing is big support from big galleries here. It’s getting there but we still don’t see that huge backing where they’re giving the home grown talent a shot. But I’m not gonna give up on my city."
And with that he has managed to transform my hopes for this city into his own personal canvas, painting a scene in my imagination full of inspiration and optimism about the future of Dallas.
