Al Baseer Holly
“Hi, I’m Al Baseer Holly. I’m from Philadelphia but I practice out of Los Angeles California. I love to create. I’m just a creative person that needs to create to live or else I don’t feel right.”
Was there a moment that you knew that you were going to pursue your talent as your career?
“I did music first I was a rapper. And it was a moment with that but in phase two as a contemporary artist solely, I never pursued it as a career choice. It just kinda happened. A moment happened that made me feel like Oh wow okay, I can go two ways with this. I can take it very seriously or I could just you know whatever. I looked at it as an opportunity to take it very seriously.”
Can you share that moment?
“I did a friend of mine’s Birkin bag, just as a friend cause she’s the homie. She posted my email just cause and it was like if you want your bag painted this is the guy xyz. I just happened to go to my email later that night and I looked and it was like inquiry inquiry inquiry… How much for a bag? That was the moment when I was like oh okay, I’m taking it serious.”
If you could tell yourself a secret at the very beginning of your journey what would it be?
“Be very intentional and make sure that you follow exactly what it is that your heart tells you because we can get pulled and dragged into different directions in this life and it often takes people off their path. I’ve been knocked off my path a few times and took some bad advice, been taken advantage of just like we all have in certain situations.”
How has fashion connected to your art?
“Well I feel like it’s all one thing. I know that fashion falls under the category of clothes but to me I think fashion is style and I think style is all kind of things. They’re aligned they just are. I feel like that about your living space. I feel like everything is the same. If you can paint why wouldn’t your living space be a reflection of your art? If you could dress then why wouldn’t your crib be nice? If you have that quality, then it should trickle down into everything. It’s taste, period.”
What is your favorite item in your closet?
“I have a Jeff Hamilton original jacket that’s of my art. I think that’s kinda cool cause there’s only a few of those in existence and I happen to have two of them. Two different ones. Not too many artists have a Jeff Hamilton jacket. Everything in the closet is an art piece, you know what I mean. This (ethan storm top & wave pant) is an art piece you’re a creative you’re an artist, it’s just different mediums. It’s all art to me.”
Is there a special piece that you like to wear while creating maybe a routine?
“I don’t have any routines. I have a stack of paint clothes and whatever’s clean I just grab it. I don’t have nothing I like to paint in I don’t have no music necessarily that I listen to all the time. I just go with the flow I just do my thing. I don’t have those kind of routines.”
How do you feel when you complete a creation?
“This piece right here is the latest piece. It’s a piece I did with me and fellow artist and my partner Christina Martinez. The feeling when this one was complete was like damn okay. Very satisfying. Very liberating too because it’s like you can strictly make a painting of your younger self with some elements that’s from your current self and a whole life story can be explored from just looking at that image, not even knowing the full story. But you can just kind of teleport and go there just from looking at it and I feel like we both felt that once we were done with it. This one tells a different story and it’s gonna be one of those pieces.”
So I know you got some pieces in your closet! How do you feel about those pieces?
“I feel really good about that because I know I have stuff from eras. Designers who no longer work with this clothing company. These collaborations of clothes that I know are timeless. I’ve never been a hype-beast so to speak. I don’t mean that in a negative way, I’m just saying I’ve never been like that. I’ve been more of a piece collector like the Saint Laurent long wool peacoat, that I can give to my son and it’s still gonna be a good jacket. I’m into pieces like that so I have a lot of that kinda stuff where there’s no time stamp on it. It won’t play out. This is timeless stuff (ethan storm top and wave pant) you know like it’s not a trend or a fad. It’s a piece. You want this forever so you take care of it. So I believe in pieces and I have a lot of them.”
What was the last song that you put on?
“The actual last song I was listening to that I put on was my record “Cross the Boarder” remix”
