Meet Isaiah Simmons | Multimedia Artist

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

Hi Isaiah, why did you decide to pursue a creative path?
If there have been any constants in my life, I’d say the yearning to create has been the most protuberant. That feeling has been calling out to me, but I ignored it for quite some time while I focused on my athletic and coaching career. During that period I managed correlate my sport to being an art form where the athlete is a blank canvas and is need of a good composition (training program). When the pandemic began in 2020, The university I was working at let go a number of employees; I picked up a maintenance job for the city while I waited to see if my position would be reinstated. Ultimately it wasn’t. I found myself in a situation where I had just moved across the entire country and was let go of that job after only eight months. I hated the tedium work I was doing for the city, and knew that there had to be more out there. I decided that I wanted to have more control over my career, and the thing I knew best was how to create.

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.
I mainly work in both acrylic and oil paint mediums on various sized canvases, and the styles that I incorporate are expressionism, realism, and surrealism. My paintings are very personal in a sense that each one is a direct reflection of my state of mind, and the portrait style paintings are merely fictional characters that I’ve rendered from my interpretation of various people I’ve encountered. The lore of South Florida and Southern California has been my biggest inspiration as of late for my portrait style works. Each painting comes with some sort of text to help the audience decipher what I was feeling at the time. I’m still relatively new in this profession, so my biggest obstacle has been inexperience. In the beginning I was running around trying all these different art forms and digital software, but I grew very stagnant in my career development as an artist. After multiple failed attempts of trying to get into the bigger art shows, I had to take a step back and self reflect. I knew I wanted to be renowned, but I had no Idea of how to get there; I lacked direction. I guess I was fearful of putting my all into something I wasn’t sure would work out. I had a conversation with my father who told me, in short, that I needed to be courageous and that has stuck with me ever since.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
As a Miami Hurricane Alumnus, I’m biased towards the fall when football season is in full swing. If it is late enough in the fall we’ll go to a Miami Heat game as well. My favorite spots to grab lunch near campus would be Spring Chicken and Shake Shack. If we decided to take a walk down memory lane we’d head to campus and get a couple drinks at the Rathskeller. A trip to South Beach is always a must, so we’d grab breakfast at the Big Pink on Ocean Drive. Afterwards we’d either walk around or go to Bayside in downtown. Friday night we’d hit up the first half of a Heat game before heading to Blackbird. Depending on how the night is going we’d venture over to Wynwood to finish off the night. Saturday would be game day so we’d get to Hardrock Stadium early and tailgate for a bit. On Sunday we’d head down to Crandon Park S in Key Biscayne and walk the sandbars.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
Gerardo Olhovich, Senior Lecturer, was my first art professor at the University of Miami. I made it a point to seek out courses that he was teaching after my first semester with him. My knowledge of art was extremely superficial up to this point and Gerardo laid the foundation for me to build on. If my mom, Shannon Simmons, planted the creative seed, then Gerardo tossed in some Miracle Grow to the soil. I admired the man when he would critique my work in front of the class, and referred to the paintings as soft, gentle, and other pleasantries that would make a 280lb man blush. In contrast he had a way of letting me know when my work could improve. When I thought I was finished, he would come over with his brush and make adjustments. I’d be pissed because oil takes some time to dry. In hindsight I realized he was no different than my coaches. He saw I could be better and he had a way of letting me know not to settle.

Website: www.zaysmash.com

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