Faces of Antyx: Kerz
Our newest addition to the Feature Friday blog, Kerz!
Growing up in Italy, surrounded by graffiti art and having parents who were artists, Kerz developed a passion for his art. This was furthered when he moved to Canada and his art teacher at the time recognized his passion and skill level and inspired him to take it to the next level. As a self-taught artist, he has worked to create art that represents his home and culture while simultaneously being able to express himself and his ideas. His love for being creative and drive to travel the world and go to mural festivals to create murals is his biggest motivation!
From creating canvases for the commission on Kijiji to connecting with businesses for mural opportunities, Kerz has made such an impact on the Calgary graffiti scene. Recently he has created a headshot mural in Kensignton, a 1000ft Hawaiian theme mural for a swimming pool and an exterior mural and art installation for a dispensary! Even more, he has recently picked up 3D modelling to create digital graffiti models.
Creativity blocks; they happen to everyone. When we asked Kerz what his biggest opposing force was during his creative journey, he said “Yourself”. His advice for pushing through this is “instead of getting frustrated, go do your second hobby”. This advice aligns with his biggest suggestion for finishing a project “if you get frustrated, leave the canvas alone for a day or two, and then when you get back to it you’ll see what you need to see and what you need to correct”. For a mural, he recommends taking a photo so that you can see it on a smaller scale and see if there is anything wrong with the composition. “It’s an emotional instinct that you have with yourself”.
Kerz has collaborated with Antyx for many of our mural camps and has joined us this summer for both our Village Square and Bob Bahan mural camps to teach different techniques such as colour scheme, composition, how to mix paint, create clean lines and more! While the transition from in-person to online program sessions has been quite the change from what we’re used to, Kerz has embraced it fully and says it’s been “Really cool; giving them not just a space to be creative, but you’re inspiring them which is really important to me”. Having youths reach out and follow his progress while also seeing how the youths progress and grow as artists is something Kerz values highly.
His advice for youths to stay motivated is to: “Do what makes you happy! Whatever it is, art is not just visual art, it can be dancing, it can be musical, just being creative is really important in life. Really push your creativity and see where it takes you especially with the technology that is available today”.
“Spend the time to take what you love to do and stick with those dreams.”
Over the next week, you’ll be able to see updates on our youth’s designs and progress on our Instagram @antyxarts. Be sure to also check out Kerz’s Instagram @kerz.xxv to see his creations!