Heyy y’all. I am super excited to kick off The Chai Series with Justin Gilzene aka Club-Bum. I got the idea for this series a couple of months ago and here goes my first feature! I can’t think of anyone better than Justin to be my first interview. Justin is a super dope, young artist from the Bronx, NY. I had the privilege of chatting with him about how he got into painting, what influences him and what keeps him going. Check it out below!
ME: When did you get into painting and what made you pick it up?
JUSTIN GILZENE: Three years ago, February 2012, I was 20 years old in culinary school, miserable, working at Cheesecake Factory and a yardhouse and had to be up at 6AM for school. The dean said you’re failing, what’s going on? He asked me what makes me happy, I showed him my sketchbook and he suggested I go to art school. I had one semester left in culinary school, but I didn’t finish. I quit Cheescake Factory when they asked me to work by myself on Valentine’s Day, I quit the yard house… I was jobless. That’s when my friend Josh who is a painter introduced me to the canvas and encouraged me to start painting.
ME: When did you know painting would be “it” for you?
JUSTIN GILZENE: In 2013, I had my first big art showcase, the Raw Natural Born Artists, 500-600 people came. I received lots of acknowledgement, but no one was buying. We were wrapping up and a guy asked me about my Biggie piece. I gave him my contact info and he said he’d get back to me. I’m thinking, “Yeah, that’s what they all say.” The next day, I was reading to my students when he called and said, “I’m ready to make a payment.”
ME: What keeps you going?
JUSTIN GILZENE: Faith in God and being true to myself. I believe in myself, I know good things are always going to come. Being around my muse keeps me going too. Teaching pre-school in 2012, I was influenced by the students to be an artist. I did art to help them learn a letter, a word, numbers… they quickly adapted. That’s how my style came about, cartoon animation, pop culture figures. I wanted to create art that appeals to both adults and young children. Kids are my number one muses, but everything influences me, life, what I see, hear, know.
“I believe everyone has a cartoon figure that is them. For me, Kermit is my spitting image.”
ME: I’ve seen your style evolve this past year. Can you talk about the evolution of your style from when you first started to now and what makes it unique?
JUSTIN GILZENE: Every painting I do has a deeper meaning than what the eye usually sees. There’s a duality to the character and the persona, they coexist, it’s never random. The concept is always the hardest part.
When I started off, I was doing one-dimensional figures and using plain colors like grey, but this soon evolved to more colors. I had an exhibition in Brooklyn in 2013 (or 2014) and did a theme on bullies from different movies and how they correlated with life, Ms. Trunchbull represented the teacher bully, Deebo the neighborhood bully and the shades of grey represented their sadness and sorrow. After this, I started juxtaposing cartoons with pop culture and celebrity. I did that for about a year. Towards the end of last year, my friend said, “Man, I’m tired of seeing these juxtaposition characters, you need to evolve.” At first, I took it to heart, then I thought, “Yeah, he’s right.” That’s why I keep in my circle; he keeps it real with me.
This new work kind of just happened. I was drawing Mickey to be the Mickey character as you know it. I was dealing with a girl and she made me upset. I took my frustrations out on the painting and it just happened. I thought, “Hmm, let me post this on social media and see what people think.” People were commenting saying they liked it more than my other style. I wasn’t sure if I should be offended or not. I was in a weird mood. They liked it, but did I really like it? That that goes to show what expression means to people. I started running with this new style, expressing more, adapting to it. I like it more.
ME: I love the goofy piece you did.
JUSTIN GILZENE: Yeah, I did that with the kids at Harlem Hospital.
ME: That’s awesome. Speaking of kids, they’ve come up a few times. It’s obvious you have a big heart. I know you’ve done quite a bit of charity work and you like giving back where you can. You once said, “I sketch. They paint.” Tell us more about this, what are you doing with the kids and why giving back is so important to you?
JUSTIN GILZENE: I am the Art Coordinator for Harlem Children’s Zone. Part of my job is to do murals on eight or nine walls. It’s fun interacting with them, getting their ideas on what to put on the walls and I get to make it a reality. Their minds are plagued so I want to do as much as possible to affect the negativity in their minds through art.
I’m also working with Harlem Hospital. The Chief of Staff recently commissioned me to update the Pediatrics Center.
ME: Wow, that’s great. Has faith played a role in any of this? How has your faith helped you grow as a painter?
JUSTIN GILZENE: It’s helped me in life in general, not just as a painter. Since I’ve grown up, I’ve seen some friends not doing so well, one friend in prison, some are just continuing that cycle. I look at myself, “What am I doing?” Life is a choice. God blesses us with choice.
“I imagine how God must feel if He’s dealing with that for everyone in the whole world.”
ME: What keeps your faith up?
JUSTIN GILZENE: You never know how someone feels until you feel what they have felt. I think about how disappointed I am when I am trying to help someone and they aren’t listening to me, continuing in their own way after I show them. That breaks my heart. This made me open up my heart and soul. I imagine how God must feel if He’s dealing with that for everyone in the whole world. My faith inspires me to do good, to do better. God has blessed me with this passion and love and I want to do as much as I can with it. He blesses me with new ideas all the time for my paintings.
I always pray when I wake up, before I go to sleep, when I eat, when I’m walking home, I pray for creativity.
ME: Prayer is key. Do you have any life defining moments that have shaped you that you’d like to share?
JUSTIN GILZENE: I remember this day in high school, I was angry, not angry angry, it takes a lot for me to get upset. The day started off rough, then, at school, everyone was bothering me. I was talking to one girl and she got upset, her friends were goofing around with me, taking my shoes, holding me. They were playing, but I wasn’t in the mood. So I punched what was near me, a glass window. My whole wrist was cut open, I saw my bones, I cut a tendon. The doctor said I was .5 cm away from cutting my main artery. See what happens when you don’t make the right choices or don’t take the time to think and evaluate the choices? If I would’ve punched a little harder, I could’ve bled to death.
ME: Wow. That’s deep. What about with art, any defining moments you can think of you?
JUSTIN GILZENE: Honestly, it’s all the time. People saying you’re my role model, I believe in you. Even kids saying they look up to me. Whoa, me? I’m just a human being. Comments on Instagram, people saying I commend you, keep up the hard work… I’m grateful for all of that. That fuels me to become who I need to be.
ME: What does creating with purpose mean to you?
JUSTIN GILZENE: Based on my passion and love, I want to share it to help inspire, to motivate and to help everyone see our own flaws and the flaws in the world. I’m not scared to talk about the injustice in the world, politics, race, white supremacy. I’m not afraid to talk about love and hate against our black people, black on black crime. I want to talk about these things through my art. It’s not about the money. Someone asked me why I do my canvases so big. It’s a reflection of how I was raised. I never had my own space. I always had to share. The big canvas is creative freedom, freedom to express; I’m in my own world. I don’t really like doing things small. My purpose is to get the message out there. I’m putting it in the atmosphere, the universe, into everyone’s world. I want that impact on everyone in the world, to build a legacy based on my art and the love I put into my art, into people. That’s why I’m living.
Thanks again Justin, can’t wait to see all the exciting things you’re working on!
Keep up with Justin’s work, @club_bum on Instagram and keep an eye out for his work in the Harlem Hospital gallery and Pediatric Center later this year. If you’re interested in commissioning or purchasing work, you can reach him at justingilzene@aol.com.
With love,
Carin
Moti Laine 