We had the good fortune of connecting with Joseph Watson and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Joseph, what role has risk played in your life or career?
I think about risk in the same way I think about gambling. Without taking a risk, it’s hard to imagine that I could gain that win. I like to take smart risks, meaning that I’m willing to take a somewhat minimal loss to somehow have a gain in furthering my career as an artist or creating a higher visibility for my art. Early on in my career, I clearly remember taking various risks in order to succeed. These risks ranged in everything from quitting my weekend job to launching my own business at the age of 16 or 17 years old, to dropping out of trade school to attending one of the most prestigious art schools in the world (Art Center College of Design, Pasadena), deciding to working in the video game industry and eventually opening up my own art gallery. Now that I think about it, I don’t think that I would be where I am today without taking risks. To some degree, I feel that everyone should take some kind of risk if they can afford to. They should always ask themselves if they are willing to lose what they have in order to be in a better position in life.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
Anyone that views and knows my art will tell you that it is all about capturing the reality and struggles in life. The thing that sets my art apart from others is the unique way that I portray the stories behind the images that I create. As mentioned before, I am where I am today professionally because of the various risks that I took early on. All of the risk that I took in the past didn’t result in immediate success. Each of them gave me something to learn even if it was from a risk that failed. Really, it’s not such a bad thing to fail and I’m sure that you have heard this from many other people before. It’s so true, as long as you wisely apply what you learned. I can’t say that it was by no means easy to get where I am today professionally. It was always a difficult thing to pursue a career in art. Fortunately, I have been quite successful in various areas of art over the years. These include everything from being a children’s book illustrator, to running my own art gallery, to contributing concept art to video games and toys, to public art projects, to fine art exhibits. Each of these things involved a lot of learning and failing, but I eventually succeeded in all of these. I want the world to know that my brand story is rooted in reality. I’m giving the viewer hope, positive outlooks on life, and stories that somehow inspire them to do great things in life with my art.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
If my best friend was visiting the area and I wanted to show them the best time ever I would highly recommend these few places on my list. First of all, I would take them to the Las Vegas arts District. We would check out all of the cool galleries restaurants and other creative venues until we hit our next spot, which would be the Historic Westside Las Vegas. This is where we would view a lot of the public art projects that I have been a part of. After that, we would hit the Vegas strip to see all of the great architecture found in casinos. After the Vegas strip, we would check out a few restaurants in town such as the Burger Bar, Spicy Tuna, Rebellion pizza, and Cubanidad. To top everything off, we would go to Area 15 and visit Meow Wolof for an awesome tech driven immersive experience. .

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
I would like to shoutout these individuals and other components that fuel my creative journey: Everyone who supported my art gallery, my brother Mike Watson for helping to get my first art venture off of the ground, Mr. Cartoon & Jon Davis for the early inspiration, Art Center College of Design, Dana Satterwhite & Grady Williams for the epic collaborations on content for children’s entertainment, my wife Tamara for her criticism and guidance on my art, the Las Vegas Arts District, ice cold cups of Mocha Frappuccino’s, the countless interviews on YouTube that keep me entertained while creating, the Goodlife Cafe, Desert Art Supplies, Brian Martinez for letting me mentor him, 5 Finger Miscount Crew and my son Joey III for giving me a reason to pursue greatness.

Website: www.josephwatsonart.com

Instagram: @josephwatsonart

Twitter: @josephwatsonart

Facebook: @josephwatsonart

Image Credits
The image of the gallery is from LVCCLD.

Nominate Someone: ShoutoutDFW is built on recommendations and shoutouts from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.