At the moment, the creative world feels like it is simultaneously thriving and suffering under it’s own weight. With the advent of various creative platforms and social networks, we:

As an unintended consequence of this level playing-field, potentially inspiring work regularly gets lost in the drone of our perpetual creation. To help elevate quality content, social platforms ingrained algorithms as an attempt to dictate substance. It’s a nice idea, but creativity is not binary. With the obvious limitations in algorithmic curation, there are plenty of people trying to make sense of it all through a variety of lenses, and motivations.

Understanding that navigating these filtration systems is a path to creative validation, people have begun focusing on the destination, not the journey. This shift has come with a sharp increase in blind trend-chasing and a general lack of authenticity in creative work. Many people feel an obligation to fall inline with current trends for fear of failure or rejection, even if it’s not where their passions lie. Instead of utilizing these amazing tools for personal growth, they feel pressured by them into conformity.

I believe that creativity lacks a destination and exists as a continual progression; there’s never a finish-line, and everything can always be better. If someone operates under the assumption that they have all the answers, they are doing themselves a great disservice by stunting their own creative growth. To that point, it’s important to continually broaden our horizons to gain a more thoughtful understand of the world around us– taking in the good with the bad. If we look for inspiration in familiar places, we’re bound to miss opportunities to innovate and progress– it can be hard to see beyond what’s already been done to find new or refined perspectives, techniques, or styles. I’ve also found it valuable to routinely challenge my interests and value systems to either validate or refute what I had held to be true. It’s a humbling, yet enlightening process, that others might find useful as well.
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The realm of creativity is inherently devoid of absolutes. It’s fluid, and malleable to exist as whatever is most meaningful to you. It’s also confound with the unknown, and thats where it’s beauty lies. Nobody has a definitive answer for anything– no matter how loud they yell, or how big a stage they stand upon– it’s almost all entirely subjective at the end of the day.  While I do have a lot of combined experience and exposure to what's out there, I'm still learning, growing and getting inspired all the same... so I don't pretend to be the ones who actually has answers.

Basically, this is what I hope to do:

I'm planning to share work that I find interesting, insightful, or provocative in the hopes of catalyzing creative growth in myself and others. Everything is meant to be taken at face-value where it’s merit is determined by each individual. I'm offering context here, not answers.

I'm not pretending to be the first to have these thoughts– some of them are pretty widely-held beliefs. As common as the sentiments might be, they aren't typically vocalized or actualized since critical (or even alternative) perspectives can be demonized and written-off as counter-productive... and that's just dumb. I understand that I skew to the contrarian side of the spectrum at times (partially why I feel the name is so fitting), but I do so with the goal to positively influence the creative community. I'm not anti-anything, I'm (cogently) finding my way like everyone else and trying to do my part to elevate the creative baseline. A rising tide lifts all boats.
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I know that this can’t be all things to everyone. It’s something great to achieve in theory, but attempting to do so invariably convolutes and undercuts any purpose that isn’t explicitly to please others. I have my own values that guide me (and subsequently this channel), and I want to place those at the forefront; even when they don’t resonate with others for any number of reasons. I also understand that this will be prone to personal biases in taste–which tend to be darker, progressive and more provocative– and that might not be appealing to everyone either.
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While it might not made for everyone, I definitely want to welcome everyone. Especially those with alternative perspectives to encourage constructive dialog around those differences– we need more of that now than ever it seems. You also don’t have to be a creator by profession for this to provide some value. Everyone is inherently creative in some capacity, and I hope to inspire and involve those individuals all the same.
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Part of the reason I wanted to do this, was that I was already doing all of this on my own, but purely for my own benefit. When I design I collect inspiration on Pinterest. When I browse Instagram, I like and collect images that I find inspiring. When I listen to music, I make playlists. I felt these action were very helpful for me on my creative journey, and with a little extra work, I could formalize it for others' benefit as well.