Today we’d like to introduce you to Mario Kazaz.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
Well, I wouldn’t have said I was a prodigy artist since the beginning, like Pablo Picasso and many others but I would say that my childhood and a huge part of my adolescence shaped my way to become an artist. As a child, the youngest of three, I did spend a lot time by myself. My mother was very busy and my brothers were significantly older than me so I grew up with a lot of me time. Time that I did spend reading a lot, mostly magazines; fashion magazines because my mother was very into fashion and did spend a lot of time watching TV in mute, because I hated the sound. I would just look at the things that were happening on the TV, and I noticed how we were being sold multiple of things through the media. That left an impact in my style because there is a huge reference on my work that relates to those early stages.
As a teenager, I used to breakdance and wasn’t much into art, but an event happened and that was my mother marrying a gentleman who had a son the same age as I was. When we met I noticed immediately that he was into graffiti. He carried a backpack full of markers (pilots and acrylic markets), spray paints and mail stickers. He was a graffiti writer, had baggy pants and didn’t care much. We got along really quick; he wanted to learn how to breakdance and I wanted to be a rebel, write and do bomb letter graffiti. I was known as “Ozen”, that was my name. A year later into the future, we completely swapped passions and I no longer cared to be a boy, but to keep on tagging up places and doing more and more graffiti style art. Hence you can see a lot of that street style vibe within my paintings.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Mmm, I have been an artist all my life and I know I wanted to be one, live like one, have the essence of one, ever since I was young. I know I wanted to do it but I never truly placed myself in the journey of becoming a full-time artist until back in 2017.
Like many creative people, I also had a full-time job, a career that I hated but, was more than paying the bills. I had a career that allowed me to travel the world and enjoy life with the money I was making, but every time I went back to work I knew that wasn’t going to be going for long, as my soul was asking me to fulfill my dream and that dream was to create and enjoy life as an artist. At the beginning of 2017, I wrote a letter to myself, telling me that I owed myself that dream that I had always wanted to have, and that year I threw myself into becoming a full-time artist. It was very scary at first but I quickly realized that if I was able to make it, I started selling pieces and it gave me the confidence to just keep on pushing. I am still pushing. It is hard but not impossible.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
Well, I am a contemporary Artist. I have been creating since I was very very young but at the age of 30, I took my passion and made it a career, decided to quit my job and dedicated myself to a full time artist. I would say that what sets me apart is my style, I tend to focus on the contemporary lifestyle of our modern world through the viewfinder of fashion and pop art, so that is my voice in the art world and that’s what’s sets me apart from others.
What matters most to you?
Art matters to me the most. Everything in my life is art.
Contact Info:
- Email: kazaz03@gmail.com
- Website: www.mariokazaz.com
- Instagram: Mario Humberto Kazaz
