Meet Shawn Gatlin | Artist: You Killed Me First

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

Hi Shawn, what role has risk played in your life or career?
I find that taking risks has been important to me in trying to further my career. In 2010 I started putting my artwork in the streets of Los Angeles, and during that time there were a large number of street artists fighting to be noticed. I started using bright neon colors and tried to get up in the most high profile spots I could in and around Los Angeles. Working with my wife, and fellow street artist There She Is, we were able to put up art quickly and discreetly, appearing to be a couple walking together. A few years ago the two of us decided to leave Los Angeles and move to Las Vegas, a city we only visited a few times. I used to play shows in Vegas with my bands and we would end up putting up street art after the gigs. After living in Los Angeles for so long and just quitting music to move away was a huge risk for me. It was all I had known for over 30+ years! During the pandemic, I decided to revisit an art style that I had briefly dabbled in and tried to step away from the street look. Now I am into it full force and have pieces in galleries locally and even overseas. I do believe that most things in life are a risk, as we never know how things will turn out. We can only be true to ourselves and hope for the best.

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 do believe I am still trying to find myself within my own artwork. I am currently in the process of trying to find something that lives between rough sketch and final piece. By tearing apart both images and recombining them, I can find a completely new piece of art. Sometimes using a reference photo from an original painting as inspiration, there will be another story discovered and told by me. I will always be a work in progress. I lean heavily on my own feelings of nostalgia. Be it with music, cartoons or movies, I tend to try to relate my childhood feelings to others. I try not to hold pride in too high regard, because I am a manic-depressive person and being prideful and/or excited only lasts a few short moments with me and that is my toughest challenge. The greatest lesson I’ve learned is that you have to do it for yourself, no one will do it for you. You have to put in the time AND effort. You can come up with ideas all day long, but it is the person that actually puts them into play that might have a chance. Always be you, always be your original self! No matter who doesn’t like it.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
I am mostly a homebody but on the rare occasion I will take out of towners to my favorite spots. My favorite place in town is a street called Spring Mountain Road, as weird as it sounds. But it is literally miles of the best restaurants, bakeries, and special food shops. It would take years to eat at every spot but it might be worth it to try. Another cool spot away from the Strip is the 18b Arts District. With their art galleries, cool vibe, great coffee shops and places like Majestic Repertory Theatre putting on original shows and plays, you can have a great time away from the usual. But I still think our house is the coolest spot to hang out, it has more vibe and interesting art than most local museums.

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?
The one person who deserves all the credit for making me work so hard and turning me into an artist? My best friend and wife Sage. She is my artist muse and partner, artner if you will. She is the one that made me realize that I had been an artist for years making art for all my musical endeavors, all the while I just thought it was part of the job but it helped me hone my artistic style over the years. The other people are photographer/filmmaker Richard Kern and the star of one of his gritty films You Killed Me First (which is where my street name comes from) Lung Leg (i only used images of her in the first years of street art). I’d say that they are both hugely important to my story, I can only hope they enjoy being a part of it.

Website: Cult33.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/youkilledmefirst/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/youkilledme1st

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/youkilledmefirstart

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-5XDYoSydjsm1SSjma0Kmw

Image Credits
All images from Cult 33.