Upon entering “The Artivist” exhibition inside the Center of Creative Arts (COCA) ‘s Millstone Gallery, visitors viewed a message by its creator, Brock Seals.
“The direct path to becoming who I am is to navigate away from labels and titles. They never truly define my talent or give a true representation of what I have to present,” Seals states.Â
His reflection on his work continues with him explaining if he were ever totally satisfied with his efforts, it would be similar to exposing Superman to ‘kryptonite.’
“It would diminish my skills and individuality, and I can’t go for that!” he wrote.
He affirmed on that first exhibit wall he wants to be a representative who breaks barriers for artists and inspires them to be their authentic selves.
“Join me as I shade the status quo with the stroke of my paintbrush,” he wrote.
The showcase documented Seals’ journey over the past two years on how he’s transformed into an artist turned artivist (an artist with a passion for activism).
“I adopted the term [artivist] after hearing someone refer to me [as that],” Seals said.
“Being an artivist is about using my art as my voice on politics and other issues affecting the community. I need to speak out about specific topics because I represent my community and others similar to me.
“St. Roulette” (a Russian Roulette board with multi-hued hands placing roulette balls in slots marked with St. Louis zip codes), “Heritage” (an STL fitted cap he customized in collaboration with St. Louis Cardinals), and more were featured in the exhibition.
“I wanted to give my community a space within the art because many people follow me for being from St. Louis or a rapper,” Seals said.
“Art is new to them. I wanted them to feel welcomed when they came in. They can see stuff they recognize and feel comfortable being in an art gallery because many people I know have never been to an art gallery or seen art as something fun. I wanna make art comfortable and accessible to my people.”
Seals released an album and action figurine of the same name with the exhibition.
Last year, he painted the word ‘Reparations’ on a street in front of St. Louis City Hall in response to injustices that inspired the Black Lives Matter movement. It’s what he says inspired an album and the single “Reparations.”
“This is me reacting to all of the major issues affecting our Black community. All the artwork I was creating was in response to that,” Seals said.Â
He says the idea behind the action figure comes from his interest in wrestling figures.
“I was like I wanna make my own in addition to the artivist album,” Seals said.
Recently, Seals hosted a 314 Day pop-up event in the same space as his exhibition, where he sold hoodies he designed. Every purchase included a Vess soda, an order of fried rice, and a unique painted box.
“We celebrate the crib any and every time we can,” Seals said.
“Every year, 314 Day gets bigger and bigger, so I took advantage of having the gallery space. It lined up perfectly because I wanted to bring people here [COCA] to celebrate the city with my art.”
With the trend of NFTs becoming more popular, Seals decided to join the phenomenon, teaming up with the digital platform EUCLiD unveiling his own called “Genesis Block.”
“The NFT inside is called an infinite object. It’s a small frame that plays the NFT,” Seals said. “We’re giving you something physical and digital. We thought it was a good time to collaborate and make something good for the city.”
Learn more about “Genesis Block” here: https://eucliiid.xyz/brock-seals-x-euclid/.
Products from Seals’ 314 Day collection are available for purchase: https://march14.bigcartel.com/.
