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Meet Bob Motown

Today we’d like to introduce you to Bob Motown.

Bob, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
I grew up in Hollywood. Both of my parents are immigrants and artists who met here while following the creative current that runs through this city. It’s that same current that keeps me here still.

Coming from a family of artists, I never really thought about not being an artist myself. Creativity has always been the driving force behind everything I do. While I originally set out to do music as a way to set myself apart from the painters and designers, I grew up around, something about visual art pulled me back in.

As a teenager, I became totally obsessed with graffiti and later the burgeoning street art scene. It was this tiny community that sparked my interest in printmaking. First, I just wanted to make my own posters, but soon I became enamored with the craft of screen printing. By my 20’s a friend of mine had started a small print and design company called Two Rabbits Studios. The name taken from the fact we were both known for using rabbits as a motif in our street art. We created 100’s of original gig posters, art prints, and other printed items over a just a few years. As well as printing for friends and clients a like! The creative workspace we shared downtown became a buzzing hub for creative minds. Working alongside fellow screenprint junkies like Hit+Run Crew further inspired a deep love for the print medium. Its ability to create so many multiples drove us to explore new ways of thinking about art. How you can make something that by nature is a duplicate into something truly original and unreproducible.

But spending identical days making identical copies takes its toll. I needed something new. So I left the company to set out on my own as an artist and illustrator. I packed up and moved to London to reinvent myself as, well, Myself! I cut back on printmaking and focused on painting. Developing my own personal style, with its own visual language and aesthetic. Traveling, painting murals, doing art shows, doing illustration as a full-time gig taught me alot about myself. About how important to me total creative freedom is. That leads me back to Los Angeles.

I met my wife on a trip back to see friends and never left. We are both artists and come from such similar approaches to art that not only did I find someone who I love, but someone who understands the creative journey.

Being back in LA has been its own journey. Returning home after leaving, you find a lot has changed. The art scene had shifted and I had grown up a lot. I kept my head down and stuck to illustration and making art mostly by commission. I was able to scratch my printmaking itch by working with my long-time collaborators the iconic Hit+Run Crew.

In recent months my focus has changed slightly I find myself drawn to different mediums. After the lockdown started and a number of exhibitions got canceled (including a solo show in London) I decided to jump headfirst into these new directions. Pivoting slightly yet again. This time around, I feel as if I have gone full circle. I am coming back to making music. More specifically, the place where art, craftsmanship, and sound intersect. I’m hoping my next journey on this creative corkscrew will take me to somewhere I never expected.

Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Is it ever smooth? One of the big challenges I have always faced is not having any formal training. Everything I have done, I learned from trial & error, hours of research, and surrounding myself with other people who I can learn from and also teach new things to. Interpersonal issues are a fact of life, and they produce their own challenges. Learning how to navigate people is probably the number one skill any entrepreneur should have.

Please tell us more about your art.
I am in the business of making art. Be that my own fine art, commissioned pieces, commercial illustration, or some random product design. I have worked hard to not just make art for other people, but with them. I am the artist, and I try to approach each project as a collaboration rather than just another hired hand. I work mostly on illustrations for garments and products these days. With a special focus on how to create those products in new and unorthodox ways. I love pushing a medium to the edge of the box to create something that others might not have thought to try yet.

Is there a characteristic or quality that you feel is essential to success?
This might sound odd but I don’t do this work for any other reason than it feels like it’s my life’s purpose. I don’t have this job so I can make money to go do other things I enjoy more. Being creative, making things and learning new stuff is the only thing I want to do. Sure, I like drinking wine on the beach and watching TV on the couch. But I have to do those things so I don’t exhaust myself following my passion. That being said, drive and self-control have been paramount to whatever level of success I have achieved.

Contact Info:


Image Credit:

Look Mum No Hands, Megan Motown, Serio Press, Pizza N Such

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