Jeff Tocci was born in the foothills of the Adirondacks, next to a frozen lake, exactly at midnight 36 years ago. He is currently thawing out in Brooklyn. His work focuses on social commentary through representational, narrative work, often utilizing satire and humor to explore social and economic topics in a direct way. Though the subject matter changes, his intention remains the same. He aims to call attention to the facets of our culture, that remain unexamined, misunderstood, or under appreciated.
In this episode, Jeff discusses:
-How his main form of Resistance is finding free time to be able to work on his art.
-If your passion is art and you make money another way, you have to find a job that you can make as much money as you can in as little time as possible so that you have more time for your passion.
-His advice to hang on to ideas that you might have when you are not available (or motivated enough) to put them into creation.
-How he has had some ideas in his head for over a decade, and how to determine when it is the right time to bring one of them into existence.
-How he is able to better express himself and his opinions/views of the world through his visual work than he can by any other means.
-One of his earliest creative memories.
-How many things in his life have come and gone, but art has always been there.
-If you don’t have too lofty of goals monetarily, then you can’t really go wrong with art.
-How creative passions are just like exercise, and you have to keep working or else you get out of shape.
-How time slows down and your experiences are enriched when you travel to new places.
-Technology and the way that it affects our lives and our creativity.
-His greatest inspiration, his mentor, Robert Cenedella.
-His upcoming show as well as his plans for the rest of the year.
Jeff’s Final Push will inspire you to be the person that DOES instead of the person that TALKS ABOUT DOING!
Quotes:
“You can’t really set a specific time during the day for inspiration.”
“I just go on intuition with pretty much everything in my life. It kind of presents itself. You just have to get out of the way and let it happen.”
“You really just have to be a conduit for the ideas to express themselves.”
“People have a greater response to my visual work than anything I’m going to say, so it’s kind of a no-brainer.”
Links mentioned:
Your Creative Push Episode 13: Interview with Yuko Shimizu
Connect with Jeff:
Website / Facebook / Instagram
