No. 14 Free Loader Artist Feature: Mario Humberto Kazaz

Mario Humberto Kazaz, a featured artist in the Free Loader issue.

Meet Mario Humberto Kazaz, one of our featured artists in the Free Loader issue. We thought to take him aside for a quick minute, and find out everything that allowed him to hold into the artist that he is today. We questioned his inspirations, fond memories, and how he manages to stay disciplined and true to his artistic self along the journey of his creations. Every artist has a story to tell, and it seems Mario weaves his story very well-as if he paints a picture within the minds of those he speaks to. We know, he did it to us too!

Mario, can you tell the readers a little bit more about yourself and your upbringing/background?

 Of course! 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 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 significant 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 relate 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 kept 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. 

In terms of your art work, can you tell us how long you have been working as an artist and what pushed you to start this journey?

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 fulfil my dream and that dream was to create and enjoy life as an artist. In 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 it 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.  

 How do you stay motivated to keep on creating art?

I accidently stumble into a rhythm. At the beginning, I used to work on paintings that would take me weeks to finish and there was no structure when it came down to work ethic. I would go to the studio whenever I felt inspired, but all that changed one day when I was working on a new piece, I felt very inspired to create that one painting. I remembered I had a deadline for that one piece too, so I worked on it literally all day and night, taking small nap breaks often until the piece was finally done. That one day when I finished the piece I decided to take a two-day break, to brainstorm on new ideas for the next piece so I found myself going for swims, hanging out at coffee shops, pretty much lounging while putting ideas together for my next piece and it happened. On the third day, I had come up with two ideas for two paintings, and I pretty much stayed at the studio for 3 days until both pieces were done. I was very surprised with myself that I was able to create, in such a short time so I decided to try the process again and it worked. So now after a finish a painting I take a two-day break and after the break I lock myself in the studio until the next painting is done.  

What pops in your mind when the term freeloader is mentioned?

Mmm.. I guess because my history is in the graffiti world, but every time one of our crew members would tag along with us to go writing at night-they didn’t have any paint or materials to create with us, so we would called them a “fucking freeloader!”. That is what comes to my mind. Memories!

I have noticed that you have a great influence in your art from Andy Warhol, do you use the same mediums and materials as he did i.e. the print templates etc. or do you use different methods?

Yes indeed! There is a big influence in my work by Andy Warhol, he did set the stage for many of us to get ideas and create from influences that the media feeds us, so yes. And about the materials, yes, the silk screen process that Andy Warhol utilize, I also like to play with. Even though I indeed use silk screens for my paintings, what sets me apart from Andy is the fact that I also incorporate other mediums such as oils, aerosol, ink, acrylics and stencils. But yes, I am a huge fan of Andy’s work, I want a Warhol’s!

What do you hope your viewers would take away from ‘The Very Thought of You My Love’ piece and the ‘Gnossienne Number 2’?

Both of these paintings are about love, joy and life. So I would just hope that the viewers would sense the emotions that both of these two pieces of work represent, and they turn around and remember their first love, their aspirations, their reason why they keep pushing towards those goals. But mostly, that life is beautiful and vibrant, and that one day it will cease and that’s why they should be vibrant and enjoy their spark of life for as long as it last. 

Are there any subliminal messages in ‘Gnossienne Number 2’ that you can tell us about?

There is definitely a message in this painting, and it is there for you to see it right away. The thing about art is, it can mean something totally different from one person to another. When I was creating the painting, I was listening to Erik Satie, the composition made the mood so subtle that I felt in peace throughout the process, I felt optimistic and I wanted to share that feeling with the viewer. The quote “there are no limitations to the mind except those we acknowledge” is such a powerful reminder that we must be in peace and also, centered with what we want and how we want to feel. At the end of the day, we are what we consume and we not only consume nutrients but also thoughts. The sky is not the limit and we must use our time to reach what we want, even if is just a crazy adventure. 

What piece is your favorite between the ‘The Very Thought of You My Love’ and ‘Gnossienne Number 2’?

I love them both! Because they both represent two different emotions, two different stages of what I was going through during those times. I will have to say that yes, working on the piece of “Gnossienne number 2”, I felt more at peace during the process. The mood was completely subtle and relaxed and it felt almost like time stood still or at least slowed down every time I laid hands on it. On the process of “the very thought of you my love” the setting was different, there was a feeling of love in the air and there was lots of jazz music and lots of wine and yes, a lot of memories that came to my head during the process, memories from the days I used to live in San Francisco, CA. Hence the color of the back ground, I was trying to get close to the one of the golden gate bridge.

Do you have any social platforms where people can find your work and keep up to date with your latest artistic developments?

For the meantime, INSTAGRAM. I am working on a blog, but that is still in the process. You can find me here on IG: Mario Humberto Kazaz (@mariohumbertokazaz)

You can find all of Mario’s exclusive featured art content directly from our issue of Free Loader, which is open to pre-order from now!

In the mean time, check out Mario’s other amazing pieces down below:

Written by: Fatima Elmusbahi