Today we’d like to introduce you to Omar Juarez.
Omar, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
My story starts when I was living in Tijuana, Mexico. Growing up, brothers were heavily into Art. Naturally, I found myself creating art as well. My inspiration came mainly from street art such as cholo writing and graffiti. Later, I found myself influenced by music. I went through different waves of art but I have to say that I never really fell in love with any of them until just a few years ago. I guess you can say I made my own style of combining the horror character, wolf man, with chicano art style. It was the first time I really connected with my work. It wasn’t long until I realized how much others connected with it too. This was definitely an eye-opener for me. Just having so many people coming up to me and telling me how much my work inspired them was such a great feeling.
I started posting more of my work on Instagram and eventually, I got hit up by Dan Auerbach from The Black Keys and we ended up working on an animation music video together. I would say this was a huge pivotal point in my art career and a was huge success. The music video was featured on websites such as Rolling Stones and Vice noisey to name a few. This ultimately landed other gigs like having Art shows in other cities and multiple opportunities to be part of about a dozen music videos. Today, I am humbled to have had so many opportunities to work with great artists from all regions of music. I truly look forward to what lies ahead.
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?
I would say the biggest challenge I’ve faced on this journey has to be that I felt I was spending too much time creating art and not enough time envisioning it. I look back now and think to myself how I wish I could’ve seen it sooner but I was just not in the right mindset yet. Having the ability to see the final piece almost in its entirety was definitely a challenge that I didn’t know even existed at that time but now I understand it.
Please tell us about El Oms Art.
El Oms art comes in many forms. What started as art on paper has evolved to art on pins, apparel, music video animation and now film work. I can’t say there’s any one thing in particular that El Oms Art specializes in but most people who are familiar with my work will recognize the wolf man character fused with chicano art style. I’m most proud of my animation work. It really took my work in a whole different direction. I never really put much thought into video since I grew up with all my work being put to paper so when I had the opportunity to try something new it was one hundred percent experimenting. Watching my work come to life in full motion form was an experience I’ll never forget. I feel the thing that sets me apart from others would have to be having a vision and executing it without ever doubting myself.
Do you look back particularly fondly on any memories from childhood?
My favorite childhood memory is interestingly a very simple memory of my older brother, Sal, that would eventually play a big role in who I am today. I remember there was a place down the street from our house that would sell home-made corn tortillas. Underneath each stack of tortillas was a piece of paper that was used to pick up the tortillas. Sal would grab these papers and take them home to draw on them. But it wasn’t so much what he drew that was intriguing it was how he drew everything. He would tell a story of each character as he drew them one at a time and slowly would create an entire world of characters with different roles and abilities. It was at an early age that I got exposed to art in this form and has immensely impacted the way I see my artwork today.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.eloms.art
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/el_oms_/
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