Dandee Danao oral history interview

Okay, so I'll just start the interview. Okay. Okay. Hello, today is April 10, 2020. And I am interviewing Dandee Warhol.

I'm Zoe Clark, and let's get started. So, when and where were you born? Um, so I was born in California. And as soon as my brother was born a year after me, so

I was only like one years old, we moved back to the Philippines. So I grew up there since from like one to nine. So I kind of got the feeling of how, you know, how my home country was,

which I thought it was awesome compared to kids growing up here because I grew up in nature. There was times that seasonally we would go to different places of the city and go pick fruits, you know, go play in the rice fields and all

that kind of stuff. And when I got here to the US, we didn't have all that nature stuff, you know. And it was funny because like when I got to the grocery store, we were like, “Wait, you have to pay for fruits?” Because back

home, it was just like free for all you know. We just go anywhere to go pick 'em. So yeah, I was born in the US, but I grew up in the Philippines.

Okay, cool. So it was from ages one to nine? Yeah. And I started in the middle of fourth grade here when I got here. Okay. So, yeah, so can you tell us more about your family? Yes, um majority of family—I grew up with

my mom's side. So there was a lot of female in that family that mostly my aunts are all nurses, so they're all in here healthcare, and that's how pretty much how majority my family got here, through healthcare, you know.

So I grew up with my mom, my grandma, my aunties and basically moving around the US and it was too cold for me when we got to Oregon because I was so used to tropic you know? And then my grandma's like, “Well, we have family in Houston.

Do you want to go—you want to go try over there?” And as soon as I got here, I was like “Oh yeah, I'm not going anywhere.” This is it for me. And I've been here since '89. So pretty much this is my hometown.

Okay, so um, so why did you and your family move back to the Philippines? Why didn't we? Why did you move back? Oh, because life's easier over there.

My mom said she, she pretty much just had to work here the whole time, you know, and over there is much more relaxed. It's cheaper living so that's probably why we've moved over there—back over there.

Okay. And can you tell us a about a well, can you tell me about a distinct childhood memory? Um, are you talking about like in the Philippines? Just any time in your life that, you know, I think, you know, maybe really shaped you as a

person or just something you're very fond of. Yeah, the first thing that I kind of remember when I was a kid. I knew I was going to be an artist because I would always draw and sketch even before I could read and write.

I would copy like, you know, like, chip packaging of chips, you know, the cartoons on there. And I was always really good at math at the same time. And what was weird is like, my family was grooming me.

I was getting like, English tutorials after school, and I was the only one getting that like, out of all my friends. I guess I didn't know I was being groomed to move back to the US. So the first earliest memory of me is pretty much always

doing art because all my uncles and my cousins, they would always do you know crafts and stuff like that sketching and drawing. So can you describe your life in the Philippines? Yeah, it's mostly

like school. Like all day long, we would go to school like 7:30 in the morning. I wouldn't be home till like after five, just probably because also the travel because you have to take multiple buses and jeepneys and you know, those tricycle things.

So majority of during–during the week, it's mostly school stuff. And I think I thought it's pretty long compared to like what we do here in the US, you know, and after that it was just playing with my friends. Of course, we didn't have internet back then.

So everything would be like, you know, tangible stuff, going outside. And that's what I really like the most over there, you know, growing up, growing up in nature. So, do you

know why you and your family immigrated back to America when you were— when you were like nine? I think that was always the plan. Just because the educational system is better over here and

you know, the living situation is better than in the U. S. because, you know, we're from was literally third world country. And it was really the ghetto where we grew up, you know, it's like,

things were falling apart, you know, barely people had sewage, you know. So I grew up in poverty when I was in the Philippines, but that was a normal to me, so I didn't see anything wrong with it, you know? And you said you took English tutorials?

How good do you think your English was when you... immigrated? Not good at all because as soon as I got to US, we had to take E-E-ESL. Is that what it's called?

Yeah. I was an ESL for like two years. So my English wasn't—because I couldn't hold a conversation. But I could read and write English but conversation wise I couldn't do it. And how is your experience transitioning into American culture?

Well, I grew up in, in Katy. So that's where most of my grade school was. And during that time, it was kind of difficult identifying with myself because there were barely any Asians in

my–my–my class in my school, so I had to hang out with different, you know, different groups of people, which is fine with me. You know, I got to experience different cultures. But at the time identification was really hard for me.

But, I mean, education wise, it was easy at that we were ahead of time. I mean, me and my brother actually, like, in the US educational system. And I was questioning my teachers like, “How come I'm doing this again?

I've done this before, you know, in Asia.” But, but majority of it is because of my lack of English. So that was a difference. So can you tell us, well, like tell me more about sort of your time, you know, in high school

in middle school, how was that for you? Man, that was middle school, I would say eighth grade. It's like, it's when we became like, I guess you could call like adults.

Because, you know, we, we started, we stopped playing with toys, we started hanging out with girls. We started like going out after school, like, you know, going to the parks and going to the movie theater, or to meet up friends.

And that was a very exciting time for me. But same time, we were also hanging out with bad people. So we would get in trouble. We're hanging out with gang members.

And pretty much like in junior high and high school it was just like, hanging out with gang members for me because that's all I knew that was in my neighborhood, you know? And, but it was fun for me.

I mean, I was still getting good grades at school. I was still drawing. All my electives has been art. I've always been an artist so I

would draw stuff on my friends. I actually had fun in junior high in high school now. That's where I met a majority of my friends since then. And that's why we're getting into like a hip hop

and clothing as well. Like being more fashionable, like seeing like, you know, current trends. So I think that got stuck good, you know, to meet so till now. Okay, yeah. And so how did— I guess how have your—Oh,

I guess you kind of answered that question. But um, I was just asking you like, how do you feel like that time really shaped you— As an artist? Like, maybe more than just like as an artist, maybe as a person?

Um, well, it was still the same thing like identification issues, you know, it was so building in the Asian Americans that I hung out with. It's mostly Mexican people that I hanged out with

during those times. Majority of them were into graffiti. So my, my earlier, you know, days of work would be tagging graffiti. But I never really went into like, you know, actual like spray

paint graffiti, it would be just sketching on pads and paper. And I would do that for my friends, do their names, stuff like that draw little higher to them. So that's how I got started basically,

with, you know, my adult art, graffiti style. What did you do after you graduated high school? What did I do? Yes. So after high school, I got more freedom.

I was like, “Whoa, I can do whatever I want now.” And that's when you guys started into like street racing with my friends, like fixing up cars. And I didn't like school anymore because it was boring.

I was paying for it for myself. You know, I didn't have parents that would pay for my college. So I went to school for the first two years and after that I dropped out.

I just started street racing with my friends for like four years. And then that things started dying down. Like my friends were getting settled down and they stopped racing. And I was like, “Well, what am I going to do?” So I went back to college.

And that's when I finished college. I quit everything like racing, art. And I just focused on my, I guess you could call it a career. And I didn't really know that you could be an artist as

a career, so I chose the easiest thing for most of everybody it would be business school to start accounting first, and I didn't like accounting.

So I was like, “Okay, what's closest to this I could do?” So I went to financing. So, in the end, I got a finance degree from University of Houston. And I guess how has your degree helped you with your current work?

I think it's helped me a lot. To be more business-minded. Most artists that I know are not business-minded. And I actually have my own company that does arts

events, and it started as a gallery. And then when I closed down the brick-and-mortar, it just started to be like a pop-up thing. So War'Hous it's been almost 10 years this May.

So I've been doing art events for 10 years outside of my own art. So that's really helped me with my business degree like running my own business and selling my own art and also selling other people's art.

And how do you think your art has like—your art changed in between like high school and you going to college? Um, so high school I, I saw that time of just like practicing and like copying.

You know how musicians copy like cover bands to get better? That's how I see my art during those times, especially like, right after college. That's when I started painting.

Middle my college I was just studying and uh, you know, one of those places like Barnes and Nobles, and I took a break, I just, you know, went to the art section, picked up a book. And I saw this Van Gogh book.

And I was like, “Whoa, that looks cool.” Like I want to paint so I don't even know how to paint. I just went to like Hobby Lobby or Michaels and bought supplies I don't even know what to get. And I

just started painting from there and hasn't stopped since. So in the first I was just mimicking like these famous artists and then as soon as I discovered the other artists like social media started to

come up you know and got more connected to different types of styles and that's where I kind of like honed in my own stuff. And which was—what was your first job in America?

James Coney Island. That was the first and the last time I worked in the food industry. Oh man I would come home covered in grease. I'm just like, this is like the worse time of my life.

But I liked the fact that I was making money. You know, that's why I kind of kept it. I was like, This is cool. I'm making money and buying stuff that I want.

But same time though never working again in the food industry. Did you learn anything from that job? No, not really. It's basically just, I mean, running a register, I guess, there has to be kind of learning, counting money, you know, making sure you're not short on

your till. It's a good business, I guess, exposure. And did you have–have you had any other jobs in between James Coney Island and working

for War’Hous? Yes. Um, so after high school I started to, I started working for a printer company, printing company, making like pamphlets and business cards, you know, stuff

like that. It was actually a you know, using ink. It wasn't like they didn't have laser stuff back then. So that was kind of cool, but I was having problem with it because I'm colorblind. So it was hard for me to match

colors. And then, um, that was like a big summer job for me. What else did I have to do? After that I was just working at my friend's shop, because we were street racing. So I guess you can

say I was a mechanic for a couple years, we would, you know, fix up cars and build them. That was kind of fun for me. So that's kind of like learn me, taught me how to fix cars now. Like something's broken, I know, I know what to do.

And then after that, it's just college. Oh, my main job during college was uh, making eyeglasses. So I was a manager at EyeMasters so I did

that for a couple years. Like after–after, you know, after work, I mean, after college, like, on the weekends and whatever. So yeah, that was like my main, my main job making money and

paying for college is working for EyeMasters. And then ended at the end of my college years, I interned for Merrill Lynch for a year. Basically just cold calling for all these traders.

And then after that I got a job at a trading desk for two years. And that's when I started my War'Hous as well with that money I was making in my career but only lasted two years because I got fired.

Do you want to talk about that? Yeah, so like this my second year, they're, they wanted me to move me to a, to European and Asian markets, right? So that means that means like night shift, so I would have to go to

work from 11pm to 7am. And that like literally like, obliterated all my like, stuff to hang out with my friends, stuff to do because I had opposite schedule with everybody. I was so miserable. I was the only one by myself in office for like a whole year.

And I was just like, so during the day, I would run my gallery and then at night I will go to work for you know, doing trading. And I was just like getting tired of like doing both at the same time.

So I was just like online shopping for another job at my work. And I guess they caught me or you know, they tried it. They pulled

me to the side. I thought it was like my third like, third year review. I thought I was gonna get a raise because “I did all this for like, I did. I did this for you guys, like a whole year of just like in my office like night shifts like.” Nah, but I got fired instead.

Because I was job hunting while I was at work. And they weren't listening to my demands like man, this is not cool. Like I was—I couldn't even get lunch or even dinner because I couldn't leave the trade desk, you know? So I

thought I thought they were putting me to test you know, to see how I was gonna do but it didn't work out too well. So after that, that's when I focused everything on my on my gallery and my personal art and that's when it kind of like blew up for me as an artist. Because I—all my energy

was just spent to that, you know I had no other choice. And I've been doing this since so this like 10 years. So that being fired is like a blessing in disguise for me, and I never looked back.

So how did you decide to found War'Hous? So me and my friends, well, another friend of mine, he was my business partner but not anymore. He got out of it. He was a photographer and I was just

in an apartment, you know, painting like big, big canvases and I was running out of room. So me and him decide to go, you know, more in town, like you know, downtown, midtown, whatever, you know, look

for a studio for us to work, you know. And then we find this space and it was so big because it hasn't been rented for like two years. So we made a deal with the landlord.

We're like, “Well, can we live here?” So we turned like the back area to in our living space and majority of it was just open. That kind of like turned into a gallery for us.

And we didn't know anybody here in Houston in the art scene actually. And we just handed out flyers in like coffee shops for a grand opening for a studio or a gallery War'Hous.

And then opening day it started raining like, "Ah man nobody's gonna come here, like we don't even know anybody." And as soon as the thing let out man, like 600 people showed up, and it was like something that the scene was missing at the time.

That's when street art was, you know, started to come up in Houston. A lot of artists had no place to show or curate their stuff. And we made our gallery like super nice, like everything's

like brand new painted. It wasn't like just like a dingy warehouse, you know? And as soon as we open it, we just got slammed. And you know, like they said, “If you build it, people will come.”

And that was truly what happened to our space. And can you describe the opportunities War'Hous provides to artists? Yeah, so, um, like I said, everything was just like, you know, whatever we wanted to do.

We, we hadn't, no, you know, we didn't have no business plan or anything like that. So we just did it by ear. So whatever we thought we could have done like on, so there was like one time, like, “Why don't we throw a show just like all female artists?” You know, like

stuff like that. And then we just had like these crazy ideas, and we just put them together and people came and showed up every time. And then people start asking me, “Hey, can we rent the space?” “You want to rent the space?” It was like “Yeah, sure.

That'll give us money for rent, you know.” So we started renting space, our space to other curators, and that filled up our calendar even more, and gave other artists opportunity to like, you know, showed their voice and showed their work.

And then that started happening, start renting a space and we start curating, throwing art parties. And then big companies started working with us because we had a space, a venue space, you know, we started meeting like men, like corporate people in it.

And that's, that's pretty much like how we opened up the doors for pretty much everybody that didn't have, you know, a space to﹘ to do their own stuff. So how large of an organization is it?

My War'Hous? Yeah, War'Hous. Yeah, it's just me, my brother, two good friends and volunteers. It's a very small business but we put on big events.

Our large event is the Star Wars event. And that's been going on﹘on this ninth year, which sucks because it's usually on the May 4th weekend so “May the force be

with you.” But since this a virus came, we had to push it back. And we usually get about 5000 people in the weekend for that show. It's just like me and a couple of friends running it.

Um, yeah. So where did the name “War'Hous” come from? It's funny because it like that is like something deep and meaningful. Me and my friend, were just looking at a dictionary and then we came across warehouse

on there. And the way “warehouse” is spelled and pronounced is “W-A-R apostrophe H-O-U-S”. All right. Well, that looks cool. Why don't we just use that?

So it's basically how you spell it in a dictionary or pronounced in dictionary “War'Hous” is basically based on “warehouse”. So it's not that deep. And, yeah, that's it.

Yeah, that's a, you know, very, like, I guess simple. Oh, that's really cool. Yeah, it's a gas mask. Did you make that yourself?

I did not. I have a friend who is a master jeweler, and I traded art for it. Made me a custom piece. Okay.

And can you just describe your like current position and responsibilities with War'Hous? Yes, I am the founder and the curator, so we have event calendars that we have every

year that we do. And basically I solicit all the artists that and then there's want to participate and you know, filter them out, see if they fit in the show. And then I'm the person that finds the venue and

since they are pop-ups, I would rent them for like a week to set up you know, show and and tear down. And then I do all the promotions as well. All the press release, all the event blogs, communication, email is basically a one-man, one-man job.

And when it comes time for the show. That's when I need help, you know, actual physical help. But everything in the back end is all done by me. And

do you consider management skills to be important in the art world? Yeah, I actually have a double degree in finance and business management. So yes, it does help a lot. And, um, I mean, doing everything by

myself and it made me realize like, people need to learn how to manage stuff. You can't just rely on people you know. So that's my weakness right now.

I try to do everything myself. But you know, I know. We need to grow you need to delegate stuff, but right now I don't have anybody that can help me with that. Yeah, management skill is definitely a must to have in order to be

successful. Why did you decide to close the brick-and-mortar? Oh man, It was getting too expensive. My, my overhead alone was like 3000 a month just– just rent and AC.

And then on top of my own bills, it could have been easily like, you know, 4000 and up every month. So I had to make that every month out of that space. That's why we're throwing parties every month and like, doing shows, like every two

weeks, it's like, there's only way we survive. I don't even know how I made it, like three years doing all that. And I, some time I sunk my savings into that space, you know, but I didn't see it as

a failure. I saw it as like, that's how I got to know people and my networking skills, you know, and I still have people I work with since then. And it was a investment for me; it wasn't a failure.

But yeah, there's no money making, making in like, art gallery. I don't know how these people make in art gallery. It's crazy. It's hard to sell art.

So we had to figure out other ways to make money with the space but now if I could do it over again, I think it would be successful because it's so many art spaces not doing so well. We just didn't know what we’re doing and what we're charging was way too low.

And how much time do you spend weekly, like, with War'Hous doing work? Um, I would say at least two to three hours a day because we get, we get emails a lot and we got to make sure we, you know, connect with our vendors and sponsors.

And- Mostly back office stuff. And like according to your website, you worked as an atelier for WIDE school? Yeah, that's that I'm still with them.

That's my current day job. So atelier means—I don't know if you know, like a basically it's art-artists in a studio. Okay. Atelier is the studio.

Atelerista is the– is the artist. So I am basically—I've been there six years. This is my full time day job. I basically—I'm an art teacher, and I run the hour.

Or we call it we have a think tank team is all the creators in our, in the school. So we have the artists. We have a nutritionist, she does cooking for the school, we have a tech, so he

teaches tech and then we have a musician teaches music. And then now we just got a fashion designer, so she teaches them how to sew.

So I run that group in school like the creatives in that group. So let me see. Yeah, so like what made you sort of join that school? It was kind of a—it was kind of like a desperation accident on my part.

So now I have a painting partner. I'm not sure if you guys know that. So I paint with someone now for like the last four years. So we paint all our paintings together.

Our murals, our paintings, like gallery stuff is all it's a, it's a two team now. Her name is Marjon. So remember when I told you I did an all female event in my— War'Hous?

Mhm. This is when I met her and she's– she's amazing. Her works amazing. Here I'll show you one of her works. Do you know who that is? Oh, from the uh.

“Back to the Future.” Yeah. “Back to the Future.” Yeah. Yeah. So that's her work. So she's really she's really good at like, you know, like, realism

painting people. So when we think together I do like the backgrounds and the colors and the patterns. So I met her at my–my all female show and we just became friends.

And then a couple years later, when I closed down the gallery, I was—I didn't have a job anymore. I didn't have I wasn't making money. And then I just get an email or a text from her. She's like, “Hey, um, my

school is, you know, is–is growing and I need help at the studio, like at the art department. I know you know a lot of artists looking—do you know anybody's looking for a job?” And I was like, “Oh, actually, I just closed my place that—I don't have, I don't have any income

right now. If it's art related, I've never taught before. I've never worked with kids before, you know?” And she was like—I was like, “If it's art related, I'm willing to come, you know, come see it.” And

she invited me to the school. And I liked what they were doing. Everything was hands on, you know, and that's how I've been there since so I've been there for like six years.

And then the school grew like tremendously. Mhm. And, um, okay, let me see and what are your like responsibilities at that school? Um, my responsibilities is running the art room.

I teach as young as six months old. Yeah, all the way to junior high, and we add a grade every year. So I think our oldest right now seventh grade, so next year, we'll have eighth grade, ninth grade so we can keep our kids.

It's a private school. So that's my daily, but that's my weekly job just running, you know, teaching different grades. And also, like I said, I manage the think tank, which is the creatives in the school, I guess

you can call them like the—What do you call us when you take special classes on top of your curriculum? Extra... working on… I think you can call us the best way-

Electives! It's like the–the creative electives, okay. So, every week they'll come see us, the nutritionist, the musician, the sewing, the art painting and the tech.

So they, they get to see us once a week. So that's my team running that think tank. And this is like a full-time job correct? I'm there from nine to five every, every day.

So now that school is closed because of the virus, we're doing Zoom classes online. How has that transition been for you doing classes online? Um, I wanted it to be more personalized so I can, like, you know, hands on with my kids.

But it's been fun. Basically, I'm just like doing tutorials online, while they're on, you know, on their computer, and I try to get it more personalized and, you know, calling their names making sure I attend to each one.

But it's not, it's not that easy to manage, like 20 kids at a time. Everybody's talking at the same time, you know, so that's, that's like the issue, but so far, it's been working. It's, it's been hard for us, but we're making it work through, you know, online

teaching is... And I think a lot of, a lot of parents are liking it, because they have no choice and they had to do what you know, we have to be creative with. And yeah—And

I guess like how do you how have you seen your, you know, your students influenced by, you know, doing art? Well, now my goal is to transfer all my knowledge to my kids. And that's also like, when I

have public arts, like doing murals, stuff like that, I always invite them to see that “You can be an artist as a you know, as a living, you know, this is also a career path for you guys.” And a lot

of—there's a handful of students that you can tell they're, they're artists, you know. And I want to make sure that “Hey, if you this is what you want to do in your life, you can make this happen.” So they see us doing all these jobs after work.

And they'll help us paint too you know, and then when I have the community projects, I'll bring it to the school. The last one we did was this Pin Oak Horse. This giant like a giant horse.

Do you have you seen those? Have you seen those? Those painted cows so like Texas Children's hospital and stuff like that? Yeah, it's kind of like that. So it's just it was, it's a horse version. So I brought that to the school and had me, my–my

students paint them and so I try to get the community involved with the school and that's what my students showed like, there is life in the art scene, you know, if you guys want to do it. And I always all my art shows always kid friendly because I want all my students to come see what we

do. You know, that they come to my shows as well. Why is it important to involve children in like art? Well, for sure that I know is art is therapy, art is healing. I used it for myself.

And I know it would work with kids, especially during the time like this. We encourage them to do visual journal, and just jot down what they're feeling and stuff like that. And also be creative is very—It

eases your mind in the time of stress. So we see art as the healing and to be creative, you know, that's basically what our goal is. Use art for healing. And how

involved are you with the Filipino community in Houston? Um, so, like I said, like growing up, I didn't really grow up with a lot of Filipinos. And I just started getting involved with them recently in the last couple of years.

So now I'm in this group called Filipino X Filipinx, a Filipino arts group. And they've been doing shows the last two years, mostly Filipino artists, or majority of them are Filipino artists.

And it's kind of like bringing back to the roots that I kind of miss growing up, you know, so I'm trying to be involved with them as much as I can with my schedule. But I'm really liking, like, seeing like my people

doing good things. And now they're incorporating like people outside of Houston. And I'm seeing like, a lot of, lot of good work coming from that community as well. And, and so much

helpfulness. It's like, you know, around–around the scenes, like, just everybody's like, making sure everybody's good, helping each other, you know, put﹘putting together with different people.

So I'm kind of liking I'm starting to get involved with them. And I might, I don't think it's too late. But you know, it's never too late to start. So I'm barely there like, like maybe like two years.

And are you involved in any other outside, other community organizations? Uh, yes. I, I also live in an artist loft in downtown. So majority, all my neighbors are artists.

So when we have shows together like especially art crawl, we're running one of these stops for art crawl. So we do that every year. And um, the—I used to work with the Texan-French

Alliance a lot, doing events with them and donating work. I've donated work to different organizations like the Art Car Parade, Photo Gala. So I try to, you know, get as much as involved

as I can with the community. And of course, I still have to do my own stuff with War'Hous and at the school. So time is very limiting for me. And you've worked with Texas Children's Hospital.

How has that experience impacted you? Very humbling because we're in the forefront, we're working with sick kids in their beds, you know, the cancer patients.

And like I said earlier, like, art is a therapy. So we go there maybe once a week and we would talk to the kids. We would sketch with them see, like, what makes

them happy. You know, I think that they look forward to when they get out the hospital and making sure their morale is up, you know, and then that was uh, we did that. We actually dealt with the Texan-French Alliance, they brought us in with them to Texas Children's. So once we

got all these content from the children, you know, their drawings, we saved them in a folder, we scan them, and then we actually created a mural for them. So all the images that they did, we did a whole like in a parking garage.

Uh put all the image together and an art graffiti artist painted, painted all their images on a mural for them. So that was very humbling for me. And that's why I

wanted to keep working with children, you know, just to help them in their, you know, bad times. And what is your involvement with the Lawndale Art Center? Lawndale Art Center—we did their first mural, me

and a group of friends. And then that mural started become like an annual thing now for them, you know, and then I and they're actually my neighbors from War'Hous, which is right across the street from me. So we'd like

swap ideas. You ever heard of the Big Show? Mmm. Okay, it's their annual show that, that they do every year. So everybody just submit

something. And if you get rejected, then my gallery would be like the rejected show from the Big Show. So everybody just go from the Big Show. And we come to my space.

We call it the Little Big Show. The reject, the reject work, but it was so awesome. It was, it was, it was still fun. You know, it wasn't like nothing bad.

So we'd have two shows at the same time. Like, and it would go to each other's like events, stuff like that, because we're pretty much like across the street from

each other. Yeah. And I guess going back to sort of your art journey, like how did you start doing art, I guess professionally or semi-professionally? Um, so I started painting like middle of college.

And after I graduated, that's when I opened my gallery. And, and I started promoting not only my gallery, also my own work. And once I got fired at that, my trading job and that's when I just focused everything on my

own. But 2011 was a crazy year for me because that's when I became, I guess, a full time artist. And for some reason I was on every publication.

In one week, like coming towards my solo show, and it was just like, what, how is this? What’s–what's going on here? Like what's going on here?

I was like the youngest, like gallery owner and also like this artist too. And I ended up on New York Times when my first solo show.

I was like, what was going on here? I don't even think I was the artist. I've just like, it was my first year doing this. And same time, a lot of people like “Who is this

guy? You know, like, why is he getting so much attention?” So it was kind of like, I wasn't used to it. But I mean, I just kept at it and make sure like, I put out good work. I mean, I'm really OCD

about my work. So everything has to be super perfect and clean. And I just kept, kept doing what I loved and didn't really care about what people thought. So still doing it.

How did you feel when you got such you know, immediate positive response to your art? I was well, I'm an introvert person. So I had to—my first couple of shows I would hide in

the, in the backroom. Because I had a camera, I like pointing out the gallery and I would just watch the show and people come. And then my friend's like, “Dude, you need to come out there. People are here to see, you know, like...” So before I was scared to talk to people, I

didn't want to do social media, but I was kind of forced to just, you know, promote my work and promote my space. So I had to learn, learn everything, how to talk to people how to, you know, manage that conversation, stuff like that.

So kind of made me a better person, like getting that limelight and working with people. And again, I guess that's how I connected now with people, you know, learning how to communicate.

So that's also one good thing that you need to learn communication. And, and then after that, I would just go to different shows and I just like front, front people and people who was running stuff.

They in the artists that I like say, “Hey, had the space, you guys want to work together?” And majority of people said yes to me. And that's how I built my community. Learning how to communicate.

So like being in a limelight publication like taught me how to, taught me how to communicate, basically. And how did you choose your eponym? My what? Your– like your, I guess, artist name, eponym?

Oh, it was just a joke because like, I saw people that my friends made me open a Facebook. This is when Facebook was like going on, right? It's like basically when it started like 2009;

that's when I opened my Facebook. And then I've always like Andy Warhol, and in as a joke, I just changed my screen names like, “Oh, Dandee Warhol, Andy Warhol, I arrived.” And after that I got stuck. I was stuck with it.

I don't even think I could change it anymore. So it's on my website, it's on my business card. Do you only use it in like art and I guess in the art circles or...?

Yeah, in art circle like my birth professional name is Dandee Danao and that's used in my school too. Okay. How would you describe your art style? Um, well I don't really have any meanings in my art.

I just like I paint by feelings. I don't know if that's a thing you know. Um sometimes I want to paint purples and pinks, so put that in my, in my you know, in my paintings.

I—yellow so now I'm into oranges and then—but one thing that I really tried to do as I was been practicing is like really clean lines, and even, even surface paint. So just cleanliness and happy colors.

It's like my thing for me. And I like patterns. I've always been into patterns. And now recently, since I have a partner now, I do all the same stuff that I do and she just adds to it, or vice versa.

Here's one we're working on. Can you see that? Oh, yeah. So I've been doing all the patterns so I blocked that, all the black for her so she'll go in there and add her flair.

Okay. I've been working on that, and I have a thing to only using like, certain amount of colors because before I would use like 50 colors at a time. I'm like, and if I needed to fix something, I'm like, I don't know what color I use.

I'm colorblind. There's no way. Yeah, we're gonna fix this. So I have this thing now only use like maybe like 10 colors. And I would just like combine them in

different styles. So it's kind of thing I've been experimenting with. So I like colors and patterns, happy colors, because I think depression and sadness is basically my fuel for my work.

So basically, if I'm happy, I don't really do a lot of work, because I was like, “I don't want to paint.” But if I like, like now like stuck in my studio, like, you know, all day long, just like, “Oh man, I need to do something; I need to let it out.” So, like I said, art is healing for me.

I started this piece right here. Just, just something small to get me going. And then I'll go to a large– large version, you know. Oh, wow. Yeah, that's really pretty.

Thank you. So happy colors. Yeah. Yeah. I don't even use black because black is too strong. Oh, yeah.

That's really like, cool and like dynamic. I really like it. Yeah. And this helps me practice my lines and my circles. So it's basically trying to get

everything that I've been feeling into my piece. And it's helping me. I'm starting to get happy again. You know, I'm like, I'm starting to like this quarantine.

I can do what I want. I wake up, do what I want. I get to paint. It's not so bad.

Oh say— Oh, can you like talk about, talk about like your art being therapy for you a little bit more? Yeah, so I've always battled depression and sadness, not to extent of like suicidal but it's

always there for me. Also, um insomnia, like it came back to me again. So I just, I guess I just zone out and paint and it kind of helps me, you know, with my anxiety

and that's when I produce my good work when I'm in that state, you know? Mhm. I'm sure it helps with kids too. It's like if, if it's working for me, I'm sure it's gonna help kids. So that's what I do with, with my children.

So now on Friday, so we had to do like a mental wellness check. Email them, “Hey, guys, how are you doing? You guys okay?” So after this I'm gonna do a wellness check with my students, make sure they're doing good.

Yeah. And they asked me when I watch this, like, do some live, live painting, so I might schedule a zoom with them like just paint and just have them watch me. If they have a question they can

because we kind of miss each other, you know? Yeah, that like social connection. Yeah, that's what I—that's the only thing I'm missing about this quarantine is the social aspect of it, but everything else was normal to me.

I mean most artists are alone. Lonely, they spend their time alone in their, in their studio, you know? So it's not a big off thing, but it's the social part that's like, you know, making us sad.

Mhm. And do you have an artist mission? And if so, what would you consider it to be? Um, I'm trying to fix my lighting here. That's like, I think that's the hardest for me.

I don't really have one. I do everything by feeling like you know, whatever. I want to do at that time of my life, so my mission changes every time. So and I'm not a good writer either.

So I don't have anything deep to tell you. It—I'll tell my friends to help me and my artist statement, and it is never, it's never like on point.

They make these big words and I'm like, this is so confusing if people ask me, I don't even know what this means. You make the sound off professional like, “Oh, no man.” The thing you see on my website is like my friend wrote like, five years ago,

I was like, “I don’t even gotta change it.” I don't have one is what I'm telling you. Yeah, and I guess... So you mostly paint now, do you do any other sort of artworks? Yeah.

I just paint. Lately, I get a lot of a mural, mural commissions. So I've been trying to teach myself how to do large scale work like that.

It's hard being scared of heights too. So it's hard for me to do large pieces. And spray paint is a really, really hard tool to, to get down with. So I asked all of my graffiti friends to help me just with techniques and stuff,

but “Man, that's a devil on his own.” Graffiti and spray paints really really hard. Is your income solely based on art? Or is it like a combination of art and your like, day job?

Well, I consider everything art because what I do for work is art. I teach art. Um, I saw my work on the side commissions—I get commissions and and also from my gallery which is you

know, throwing art a bit so I consider everything 100% art, art driven my income. And how has your color blindness affected your art? Actually it's helped me.

Um, I don't think about color theory anymore. I see colors as balance. So when I choose my colors like it doesn't have to be— it doesn't have to match, you

know. As long as they're balanced, the composition is balanced on there and it works out for, for me myself actually. When people look at it, it seems to make sense. So, I mean, actually, it gives

me— it doesn't make me think as hard finding my you know, my palette. And people are so amazed, like, how do you choose your colors and they go so well. Like, “Well, I just see it.

I just see them as light and darks like the shades you know.” Mhm. And that's how I choose my palette. Yeah, cool. And then when do you do your art?

When do you work on your art? Man I'm a night owl. So After work, I'd either probably take a nap or you know, do run errands, eat dinner, and I'll, I'll do art from like 10 to two in the morning and wake up at 7:30 for

work. Sometimes I'm just like, oh my god is 2:30, I gotta go to bed. So yeah, I do all my work at night. And what subject matters to you most often

feature in your work? Um, well I consider myself a pop artist. So I kind of like seeing what the current trends are. And I base my stuff on that.

Mostly like the styles and colors people are using. For a while I was doing a lot of 80s style graphics stuff because I saw that coming back. And now I've been seeing like 90s clothing and the colors that they use the basic colors, you know.

So I've been leaning towards that in my color choices. I don't know. I just think I just like seeing the current stuff with going on in the world and I try to put that in my work.

And I think I'm gonna make that one like kind of like a virus stuff on there. That one's named the COVID colors after what's going on right

now? Yeah. Do you—um, is your art sort of influenced by fashion or, you know, other sorts of art media styles? Fashion for sure.

But I also like, artists that admire, the kind of stuff that they're doing. And I try to you know, see what, what everybody's—it's weird because like nobody's original anymore. Even if you take something like nobody's done before. And you go online, like “Ah,

this guy did this like years ago.” Like so you know, I can't—I try to be original as much as I can. But man, this is hard. People have done stuff way more than I've done you know.

That is a struggle I'm going through. Like, so we just have a mi—Have you heard the mini murals? It's those light boxes that people paint. Okay. So me and my partner have one coming up, but it got delayed because it is the

virus. And we just got an email today and they were like, hey, the patterns you used I think someone's already done that before. Like, you have to change at least 30% of it.

I'm like, “Oh my god.” Like so stuff like that I got to deal with. Yeah. So I got to update that, that design for them. Like yeah, it's a challenge, man.

There's so many artists out there you never knew that you know, doing stuff. Because most of the time people were just stuck in their studio and like, you know, just with their, hold on—Is my internet good? Yeah, it lagged for a little bit, but it's okay now.

Yeah, so now like since like everybody's connected, like you can see more ideas and also stay away from the stuff they're doing. And like, I guess on that note, what do you think makes your art unique?

Um, I think I try to focus on my shapes and colors. Because that is just like free-spirited. I don't think about it.

So I tried to be—I want to be an artist, like it just comes from the soul and not nothing planned, you know. I mean things have to be planned, but the stuff I want to do is just like, you know, right there, right then, and then work on that.

So I want to be—there's so many artists that are just like stuff just come out of their heads. I'm like, wow, I admire those kinds of people. I call them like true artists.

Because stuff is just like, so original and like they can do it so easily. You know? So that thing that's kind of like one of my goals like to find myself. It's just like things—it's like flow out of my head and straight into my work.

You feel like, I guess you have changed, I guess like artists change over time in terms of their... Like I said earlier, I see it like how musicians like start doing cover, cover songs.

And then that's how they, they practice their techniques, you know their sounds and then after that, they just like start finding their own voice. So I guess I'm that kind of like split of the road in my own

career. At first, I was, you know, mimicking like other artists that I really like. And now I'm just like, trying to find my own voice and like, you know, grow from there. And what have been some of your favorite pieces that you created?

For sure my favorite pieces that I've created is with my partner, because she makes me a better artist, and we work so well together. And I can't, I can't even tell you like what else I

would do without her. She's such a good person. She's like a sister. She's like a mother. And she's so conceptual in like, in classically trained, which is—I'm

not. Everything is self taught for me. So she has that side of the art that I don't have. And at the same time she has—she doesn't have the side that I have.

So it's kind of like a good, you know, complement each other. So, like, the best work that I've done is–is–is with, with Marjon, my partner. She's also my boss. So

sometimes I don't know who's talking to me like is it like my partner, is it my boss? Like I don't even know. So there's like a divide there. How did you two decide to start producing art together? So I mean, I see at the studio, like all week, you know, and then I'll have shows as

like, “Hey, turn something for my show.” You know, like, no, make something for it. And then It was during one of my Star Wars show and she had one, right? The RTD, no, it wasn't 3PCO or the Golden One.

She did one like really classical like super realism on there, and it didn't sell that year. And then for the next year, she was like, “Hey, you want to do something to this piece.” So I just say taped up her piece and just start spray painting in the back. So it's like our first

collaboration and then it's sold the next year. And then she was like, “We should paint more together.” And then after that, we just like started doing like conceptual stuff. And it's been working out ever since.

It's actually a new brand. So even like we get commissions like on our own we'll pull each other in, make it a combination. So it's our game for now.

And how long and you said you guys have been working together for two years or so or longer? Three to four years. Three to four. Okay. And we even have our own website and everything. Okay. Yeah, we have website Instagram it's our new brand.

What is the name of it? Website is Deejon, D-E-E-J-O-N art.com. Deejon Art. How did you come up with that name?

We just use our first three letters of our first names, or last three letters, so Dandee and then Marjon— so DeeJon. Okay. Did it pull up? Yeah, I like probably typed it in wrong in that DeeJon part DeeJon.

D-E-E-J-O-N Art. Yeah, I see it. Yeah. So that's our, that's, that's our page.

Cool. And you've been featured in many exhibitions. So what does it mean for you—What does it mean to you for your art to be recognized and exhibited?

I see it as a resume thing, you know, like, I see that as a, like a ladder. The more, the more people you work with, then the more people like will take you seriously.

So I just see that it's like a resume thing, but now I don't really, I don't really care for any more like publications, you know. I think I'm way past that as a person, as a person.

So now people just trust me with the stuff I deal with. But other than that, I mean, it's awesome to be recognized. But at the same time, I don't think it matters to me anymore.

Yeah, man, I am looking at you at the website. And I really like your art pieces. And I can kind of see how you guys are like collaborating with each other like realism and sort of pop art

together. And that's stuff what we couldn't do on our own, you know, like, on our, on our own work. So this is why I kind of like, really like what we're doing now. So we're trying to, we're trying to hone into this thing that we're doing something good.

So can you like, I guess, how do you guys like work together in terms of coming up with like a concept or a plan? Yeah. So like I said, She's a conceptual one. So she'll have all these crazy ideas.

And I'll be the one that didn't like that—the technical side and is like, “Okay, in order for this to make this happen, we got to do this is this.” And I'll choose like, basically the color palettes, and then she'll start sketching her, her people and then I'll go around that and just make everything come

together. And then if we have murals, and I'll figure out how to make everything work fast. Stuff like that. So I'm the, I'm the technical on the color side and she's like the conceptual. Yeah. Yeah, I just—I think these pieces are just really cool.

I don't know. Yeah, we needed and then like the last two years I guess we've been like burnt out from, from work. We haven't been creative; we're only making like small pieces.

We have—There was a whole year that we just painted that stuff and that was like a strongest series. And we haven't done that since so we're kind of like missing that in our, in our work right now, like going

back to that mentality. So hopefully this virus gives us that. Yeah, it gives you time to like, I guess, you know, come back to your art in a way.

And now like, like I said, like, we're really into fashion so we get a lot of commissions for jackets and purses and like shoes, like high-end, high-end like designer brands through so that's

the kind of stuff we're doing as well. Yeah, that's so cool. And you say you do your art in your studio? Here and now. Yeah. I'll give you a tour.

Great. So this is my, my office desk, kind of messy. And then there's all my paint stuff. Like my paint brushes. Mhm. And then this is like kind of I guess you got my, my living room.

See that? Oh, yeah. And then I have a hookah lounge chair me, like when I watch TV. Turn the light up. So this is, uh, this is where I hang out.

Like, you know, I'm watching TV. Mhm. This is, this is where I have my virtual classroom with my students. Okay. You see that? Oh, yeah. It is where I do my Zoom classes, my students.

Okay. Yeah. So it's basically a I live in artist’s studio space. So everybody that lives here are artists. Okay.

You're on my painting desk right now. Okay. Yeah. And like, I guess, how does this space really help you do your art? Well, I, at one point, I made it too comfortable.

So I wasn't doing any art. I was like on my phone on my couch and just like, whatever. So all this art supply was in that room, my, my TV room, that was my studio.

That was my studio there. And I wasn't doing any work in there. I don't know if it was the energy or whatever. So I had my partner and some co-workers come here

and just say, took all my art stuff and put it out here. Okay. Now it's helping me work more because as soon as I walked in, it’s all I see, you know. Before it was just like the couch and TV. So just go straight there and be on my phone.

I wasn't motivated to work. So now it's helping me. So I put my distraction in that room and put all my work right here in front of me. And I guess do you have like a mentor figure for your art or...?

Um not for my art but I'm always looking for a mentor for, for life lessons. And so right now, like I kind of have a father figure, which is like Marjon's dad. So he helps me with all my

finances and like decisions in my life. As far as art is just mostly like experimenting for me. Everything is self-taught so by, you know, want to try something and it's gonna do it. I'm a really

hands-on person. So if I have an idea, jump on it right away. I'm not, I'm not scared to fail. And kind of—let me see. Like how are you influenced by like other artists and talents?

Oh, a lot. Um, there’re so many artists I follow on Instagram. And I just say, when I look at art, I always dissect it on how they do things.

And I'm just like, “How do you guys make so much work?” So much work large scales, like I just tried to like, you know, dissect everything that they do, how their process is.

And then in turn, I try to use that for myself how to be a faster artist, and, you know, a better artist and like just look at their techniques and their styles. So there's like so many people that influenced me just like seeing how much stuff

that they put out there in the world. And I kind of want to do the same thing, share my work to the world and I don't know how these people doing so much work. I know they kind of have this whole team or

something. I can't put that much work. It takes me so much to finish one piece. That's the one thing I want to be faster artist and put out more work to, you know, to the world.

How long does it take you to do a piece? Marjon and I will do an average piece for like two weeks. I'll get one for a week. And that's like painting every day, you know.

And this, I'm talking about, like a large-scale work. Um, so about a week each. For something small like that, that I just showed you may be like two, three or four days, if I really sit there and just work on it all day.

And you want to be faster than that. Yeah, I want to be faster than that. So I've been learning techniques like how to use tape properly. And spray paint really helps a lot to fill in colors.

Because if I do it with a brush, that same color, if I do like three or four layers just to get the solid look, but if you do it a spray paint, it's just like “Shhhh, you're done.” So like stuff like that—as to trying to be faster.

And what did you—what would you consider to be your most successful commission? Successful commission? Oh, I would say that a Marjon and I did a whole art installation on the lobby of—what

building is that in downtown? You know that pyramid, that the glass pyramid in downtown? I think I've seen it. Yeah, that would be it's with TransUnion

it's that “-oil” building or something. So we that was like our first like, really like conceptional piece that we've done because we've never done like sculptures before. Which is cool, because like, we didn't have to build that stuff.

We just sent them our design. They're like, “Oh, we have people that could build this for you.” “What? Alright. That was kind of cool.” Like everything was on point when they gave it to us and we just started painting.

And it was a furniture pyramid. People can move them around, has wheels. Oh okay. Yeah, but people were scared to touch it because, you know, it's an art piece. But, you know, we wanted people that move on like puzzles and then like, have

conversations with each other. You know, I think that's one of the most successful things we've done together. Pennzoil building, it’s in the Pennzoil building in downtown. Okay. Yeah. And, and

you have worked with Cirque du Soleil before, correct? Yes. Yeah. So, um, can you tell us about that experience? Tell me about that, again.

Um, Cirque du Soleil, they're based in Canada. And so the, the, the curators, they were really young because when I got to cert to my gallery, I was like, “Well, you guys are running this whole show?” So they got all these famous street artists to do like

Cirque du Soleil posters. So that's how they promoted their, their events in different cities, you know? So they had always famous artists do the posters. And then they'll pick a gallery in each city to throw those art shows

for the original posters, like hand painted posters. So I got to meet them. And it's opened up my whole world of more mirrors and street artists. So we've done two shows with

them, like, two years in a row. And then I think so Cirque de Soleil cut the budget for that program, and they were doing anything, it was important. And these guys turned around and

started a mural festival in Montreal; that is like one of the biggest mural festival in the world. And they get all these worldwide famous artists that come every, every year and it says curate the show. One thing that I'm really excited that I got to know these guys, because they were

ahead of their time. They're already like commissioning like this, graffiti like mirrorless like, you know, corporate circles, like “What do you guys do?” You like, you know, hiring these thugs and now look what they're doing.

They're so ahead of their time. I'm glad to be part of that process that they were you know doing. And we're still friends to this day.

Okay, cool. And you won “Readers’ Choice Best Artist of the Year” by the Houston Press in 2011. How did that feel? Oh man, I cried.

I was probably drunk or something at the bar. And then I got, I got the notice. Like, “Oh my gosh!” This is 2011. I told you 2011 was a crazy year.

This one everything was happening at the same time. And yeah, it was overwhelming for me. And I didn't know what it meant, you know, I still don't know what it means. And then, then, the next year, or the same

year, a rivalry publication, I want to say, voted me the worst artists of the year. Best artist of the year and worst artist of the year.

I was like “Okay.” It'll keep you humble. Just like my heart. everything's a balance. I see you guys.

That's kind of funny, huh? And have you had experience working on like commercial art? Um commercial art?

I did a—I don't know if you'd call this commercial, but BMW commissioned me to do like a live painting of one of their new release cars. Okay. Cool. Yeah, it was actually a big event. It was on Silver Street.

So, basically, I was like painting while they unveiled this, like, their new like sports car or something. And they had this concert at the same time. It was, it was like a big show.

And then, I guess Pennzoil I guess you can sell commercial work, you know? Mhm. A majority of them want murals and stuff like that. So yeah, so today's commercial I think,

and a lot of my sponsors that I work with for my events, I consider them as commercial work because they're like, kind of like my partner's, you know. And what do you think about Jean Basquiat? Jean Basquiat?

Yeah. I think I really admire him as a person, but I still don't get his art. And a lot of people mimic his work, like so many people.

But I mean, I can see him like a for the point of view of how he became super famous, like the way he grew up and it just say, his stuff was so different and so, so emotional and deep, you know, like, it had to do with poverty, drugs and everything that just

happened in the 80s when he grew up in In New York. So it captured the time of, you know, a time of the nation and it really reflected on his art and people like, you know, navigated towards it. But I don't know.

I still don't can't relate to his work, but I﹘I﹘I admire his stuff though. Mhm. Are there like any other artists that you know that you enjoy their work? Yeah, the artist I always like cite that kind of like, shape

knees and artist is KAWS, K-A- Commented : unclear W-S. Yeah. So, you know, the internet was like, you know, barely new to me. I was looking, I was

looking at rappers and their homes. Oh, yeah. You know, like kind of art they have and I saw Kanye West in a like LA pad and then like

Pharell's, and they had both of this artists stuff in there, KAWS. So I started looking at stuff like “Oh my god, like I grew up like watching the all these cartoons that he paints.” You know, and it's so clean, like all his lines is so clean, like vibrant colors, and

started YouTubing his work and then started practicing what he was doing. So this is the first artist that kind of shaped me up, like clean lines and like bright colors.

So, like, speaking of KAWS, and I feel like KAWS recently did an augmented reality test. Oh, yeah, I got it on my phone. Yeah. So like, what do you think about that?

I like that he's doing something virtually so people can like look at art physically right now. And also like, these artists that uh, that I follow are doing like, coloring books for people, stay at home. So he's reaching out to an audience that he can't reach normally

and it's making it better for everybody, like I said, is kind of part of therapy, you know, and they're sharing our work for people to, you know, I guess distract your mind from what's going on and really it's

really helping. And, like, how do you think technology will shape the future of artists? Oh man, technology's the future, it's like God, it's just a language that I don't speak. Because the tech person that works at a school with us, his name's Alex Ramos.

And he does input output. That's his side company. And he does like majority like projections here in Houston like a, like

festivals, like lighting, concerts and everything and it makes art, like a whole new level, like you can turn your painting and make it live with, you know, projections, with like colors and lights

on there. So technologies that definitely like a step up from the art scene and it's needed even like our shows and concerts like you got to have it now. If you don't have it you showed boring.

Yeah, it's like one of those things you got to have now. So yeah, I really like where tech is going in it within the arts. And do you think that AI can replace artists?

No, because AI doesn't have emotions. And like I said, I I see two artists as putting your emotions straight to their work and you know, unplanned and it's just straight from the soul. And that's, that's what I'm trying to achieve myself.

So AI, technically, technical wise, maybe they can, but as far as conceptual and stuff like that, no, you need you need emotions for that. And, like speaking about, like, I guess the Houston art scene, how

do you think artists of minority backgrounds are received compared to like other artists? Um, they don't, they don't get as much a limelight I guess you can say the word. Even not—

even just use and especially even like if he's looking at social media, you know, um, but what I like about it is they're grouping together to help each other to get more notice of their work.

And I guess one good thing you could say is camaraderie is coming out of being, you know, less publications and just starting to do their own. So from the roots, you know, and I see that I see

that a lot happening now people grouping, teach each other and helping each other, expose their own work without the help of, you know, outside source. And how committed are you to stay in, to staying in Houston. I﹘I probably won't be as

committed as before, not–not because of the career wise. Because of family. Majority of my family are not in Houston anymore. They're spread out mostly in California. So this time of my life I kind of want to be around more with

family especially, you know, being, being alone right now by yourself you need like someone, you need family like it was really hard for me the first week being alone. And my work is my work, people are my kind

of like my family, you know, but it's not the same. So like the last two years like all my vacations was like to go see go see my family like family reunions and see my cousins and–and whatever. So if I had a choice, I would probably leave Houston just because I want to

be closer to my people. Are there any art scenes that you kind of wanted to explore or work in? Yeah, I want to—the way my, my work is I kind of want to be like,

close to LA I think there's more opportunities there. At the same time, it's really cutthroat industry. So I wouldn't want to live in LA.

I'd probably live somewhere close. I could, you know, maybe like, you know how Houston-Austin is? Yeah, like in that area, but I kind of want to explore the West

Coast. I'm not really into the New York East Coast scene. Too cold, too dirty. And too expensive. I guess what are the differences between I guess LA, New York, maybe even

Houston? I think um, like style of art. I think it has to do with scenery. I think so. Like, you know,

certain scenes, make people feel certain things, you know. On East Coast it's nice and sunny, like the weather's nice so people have like happier artwork, you know, more pop style colors and in New York what I've seen is like more dark,

abstract stuff, you know. Andin Houston is everywhere why I cannot not like think about the use of artists, not artists but the Houston art scene is everything's like theme shows, theme shows you know.

I'm like “Man, how long this is gonna go on for?” Like everything's theme shows, like I want to see something like more original. I mean that—don't get me wrong, majority of War'Hous like shows are theme

shows because that's like what majority of people want, but personally if I want to curate my own shows, I want everything like more original than theme shows. And I guess you—are you working on any other projects then what you've shown I guess

you showed behind you? Yeah I'm right now working on a lot of a lot of fashion stuff actually, painting on jackets and purses. So there's like

boutiques that want to do pop-ups at us like with their customers. So we did that like couple months ago and now we're just finishing some of those commissions that we got from those pop-ups so like yeah. And now everybody's doing like those masks.

Oh yeah. “Hey when are you going to start doing those masks?” Like, man, so everything like fashion related right now for me. I guess like what do you think about this, I guess, like I guess, merging of like art and

fashion together? I think it's always been side by side, but I think it’s more prominent now because before it was just like one sided everybody is doing their– their fashion inside and art side now.

But now I've been seeing a lot of people doing the– the crossovers. And I, I know a lot of people in the fashion industry and they're always asking us, you know, to collaborate with each other. So I think it's a good crossover for everybody, like more exposure and more

change, exchanging of ideas, and different, different textile and texture too. It's just kind of cool. I like working with— So I think it's a good merge.

Mhm. And what do you think you'll be doing in the next five to ten years? Next five to ten years... I kind of, I kind of want to focus on my own my own company and do more studio work.

I'm not sure if like teaching is﹘is﹘is for me like the five to ten years; I kind of want to focus on my own time. And that's why I kind of like this quarantine right now. Is— I've been having the urge to work on my own stuff.

And this is giving me time to do that. And I think that's why I'm kind of liking this quarantine because I get to focus on my own work, which I haven't done in a while. A lot of our commissions are based on what people want, you know,

and what people expect it. We haven't been like creative on our own. And I think that's what's lacking. And that's why we're not making as much work anymore.

Because it's for other people. It's not for ourselves. So I think the next 5-10 years, I'm gonna focus more on my own career. Yeah, that's cool. And I guess through fashion, are you trying to convey like a certain,

like, aesthetic or...? No I don't really have a plan for that. It's just like, what I'm feeling that that type of my life. I don't really plan ahead. Everything's just like, you know, by ear.

Yeah. And do you what do you do, like outside of work? And I guess like outside of art, what do you do? Well, I don't read. I hate reading. Like to ADD, I had to read a sentence like

three or four times just for me to like, absorb it. And I don't watch TV or shows. I try to—Oh, I cook a lot. I try to be healthy.

Um, I've been cooking way more than before. And I try to be active and just like keep my health up, you know, so I can, I can live longer. So I really have a healthy lifestyle.

And this is helping me with, you know, the time like this too. So cooking has been a thing for me lately. And how do you manage work-life balance? I try to have a schedule.

Like that's how I, that's how I work best with schedule. Even with like to-do lists, that's like that's a thing for me. So I always have a to-do lists on my, on my phone or on my notepad and that's really helping me a lot with that, managing what I

do with everyday stuff. You said most of your family isn't in Houston. So I guess, what do you have like any sort of like support system in Houston?

Um, I do. My brother helps me a lot. He's a year younger than me. And he helps me with War'Hous. He's like my number one guy.

And like, social wise like, there's like a, like a holiday, you know, like Christmas or Thanksgiving, whatever. I would go to Marjon's parents house. They're like my sister and my, my parents, I guess.

That's really cool. But last year, I went to California for two weeks and spent New Year's and Christmas there. Which is really, really awesome. I really like it. And is your fa-family,

like supportive of your art? Well, yeah. They're super supportive. Like they just keep telling me to keep going, keep going, you know, and just like keep going.

Well this is all I want to do so. Yeah, they're, they're really happy with what I'm doing. I'm really happy that they, they never forced me to do anything like I didn't want to do. So whatever I wanted to do in life they, they supported

me. And so they've always been supportive? Yeah, always Great, and how have they impacted your art? Um, I don't think it ever did

impact my art because I will always always do what I felt like doing. But it's nice to have like someone or like people that are behind you, like, you know, if you fail, they won't like, make fun of you or like, you know, make you feel bad.

So that's one thing too, like, emotional support is what really helps a lot, you know? Yeah, they made me cry, like, my cousin's wedding because it was kind of like a family reunion. Like there's some people that I haven't seen a while and they're just like, “We're so proud of you.” I mean, just

like I couldn't help it just came out. Like, I felt really good. So, it was like “Oh, that's how you guys really feel.” Huh, it's good to know.

And has your childhood in the Philippines impacted your art? I think so, um, because we have to be creative with toys because we were poor. So we would make our own, like trading cards. You know, we do our own designs on trading cards, and

we would make our own kites like from scratch, right? We design our newspaper and then put them together. So everything was just hands-on, built by, by my—our own hands. And I think that that made me, you know, a better artist growing up,

being like really hands on and stuff. And I guess what, like, I guess like, pop culture figures have like, are like were important to you when you were younger?

The stuff that I used to watch on TV like the Simpsons, that's like one of the main things that shaped my life. Yeah, basically like pop culture. Mickey Mouse for sure. You know, like

that all the Disney stuff and everything I grew up watching on TV is like very engraved in my work. Even not like you know, like physically but like the colors are there, you know, just shapes are there. And I guess why do you

respond so strongly to like colors and shapes? Do you think? It's because I'm colorblind. And there's certain colors that make me feel certain things. Right now I'm really into oranges.

This is just recently, the color orange. So everything that I see like has orange on it, I navigate. Like, if there's a piece of clothing that has an orange in it, I'll buy it.

And all, all the artwork that I bought recently from other artists. They have oranges in there, so I'm really attracted to certain things and I navigate towards them. It's like it’s a connection I think would be with colors.

Yeah. And do you often travel to the Philippines? Um, so after this, after this quarantine, everything goes back to normal. That's the first thing I'm going back to because my mom is still there. Okay. Yeah, she﹘she﹘she lives—she's been living there so I barely see my

mom. Last time I saw her was three years ago, and that's when I went back to the Philippines. So I think it's time for me to go back and see her.

So that's like the first thing on my list, to go back home. And has traveling—Like I looked through your Instagram and you had like photos from like all over the world. How has like traveling impact you, impacted you?

Um, it's definitely opened up my﹘my﹘my mind more and to be more sensitive to–to other culture, food, fashion, you know, everything that's people living, you know. I come back to that

and use it as my personal stuffs to be like, educated, you know, and in turn that can help me with my own work and just be open minded to different things. So traveling is definitely opened up

my mind to different things and it's helped me as a person and also as an artist. You know, I miss traveling. I want to leave. Yeah, I totally understand.

I wanted to take a trip this summer, but I don't think that'll happen anymore. Yeah. I had a trip plan to Mexico City to go see the Giger museum. You know who Giger

is? H. R. Giger. He's the one that created Aliens and Predator. Oh okay. So yeah, he has an exhibition on going on right now in that city, and we already had plane

tickets and everything and then this thing happened. We had to cancel it. So, yeah, I was looking— I was really looking forward to that to seeing his stuff or person. Yeah. Yeah, I see—I gotta have to go to the museums everywhere I go, just to see what

you know, their culture is like. What places have you traveled to? Um, I travel a lot in South America before. Argentina, Panama.

I can't think of right now. But lately I've been doing like Europe and Asia. There was one time that we did all the—I think you saw it on my Instagram like all these like castle tours.

Oh, yeah. My favorite ones Dracula. They really have one. And then you know, they call him the Impaler, right. Oh, I didn't know that. He's like Dracula the Impaler, you know what impaling is?

Is it like when you get stabbed? It's really gruesome so this guy Dracula gets his long stick like﹘like﹘like a long stick and they put people on top of it.

So they just let them slide till they die and then he'll put that in his, the border of his country as a sign, "Do not invade us because this is what'll happen to you." His name is Vlad, Vlad the Impa– the Impaler.

Ah. Then they had in the castle, they had this torture room that you can pay to go see and see all these like torture device they have. It's freaky, man. This guy's crazy. Europe

trip to see all these castles. And it's weird everything's small there. It looks big. But I didn't guess during that time people were smaller.

And so like all the chairs, all the stairs, all the furniture were like small, compared to like what it is now. So that was a culture shock for me. I like Asia

because I'm close to home and they have one of the best beautiful beaches I've seen in the world. And I love beaches. And lately I've been traveling to Mexico too because it's so close, you know, Tulum is so close and it's like paradise over there.

So I try, I try to go to a lot of beaches much like I can. I don't really like cold places. That's why I live in Houston. And so do you also do cosplay or like specifically Star Wars

cosplay? Um, yes. Well, lately I partnered up with a—My friend has a toy store vintage toy, vintage toy store. Super Happy Incredible Toy store. So he has that whole following and comic books

and stuff. So like a lot of cosplays. And so we'll, we'll partner up and do events together. Like the last few years we do the DC versus Marvel art show. So it's basically a lot of comic books and

stuff and people come in just dressed up in cosplay. It's fun. I like Halloween. It’s like one of my favorite, favorite holidays. You get to dress up.

And do you also have like an interest in space? Yes. Um, so a lot of our paintings, me and Marjon we always do the space theme, like galaxies and stuff because like, we feel like we are connected with the stars.

We are like stardust, you know? And we did come from the universe. So all the black that you see right there, so this whole piece right here. So my concept was like, okay, for 10 years inside

your spaceship and this is what you see. These are like, you know, buttons and lights and stuff. And then you look at these you have the glasses and the lightning, that's your window looking at the universe.

You look at the window, what do you see? So she's gonna go in there and create these crazy like, like a universe and stars and you know, stuff like that. That's how that piece is gonna look.

We're always doing like space themes in our stuff. Cool. And what do you think about the role of artists in society as a whole? I think the artist role is to document what's going on and

in society, even, like, like I said, even if it's fashion, current trends, political and stuff, this is like what's going on now, this is the best time to document what's going on.

And the best way for us to document this is through art, you know, visually, emotionally. I mean, there's so many fake news out there like. I think art's like the truest form of like, you know, documentation.

Like even in the like earlier years, you know, like with the pyramids and hieroglyphics, you know, arts like the, the truest, truest, all these forms of documentation of human history.

Even with the caveman, you know, so that's, that's how I see art. Oh, that's how it should be used at certain times like this. And how do you want to be remembered? I want to be remembered as an inspirational person

for other people. I get these questions a lot. How do I get started? And what I do. And they're so inspired of what I do and I'm just like, “Hey, I have no secrets.

I just followed what I wanted to do and if I believe in something that I think is true, and if it's gonna make me happy and it's something that I definitely want to pursue.” So I kind of want to like be known as a person to like you know, inspire people and I mean I'm

willing to tell everybody my, my techniques and stuff. I have no secrets. And I guess as far as your like personal identity, do you consider you are a Filipino, an American anything else?

I consider myself identification wise? Yeah. Filipino. Filipino? Like one of the last full-blooded Filipino in my family because like everybody marries, you

know, you know, different races in my family like all my nephews and cousins and nieces they're all like half breeds. I'm like one of the last like full-bred Filipinos. I'm really proud of that. But

they're beautiful though. Yeah, I side with the Filipino side. And I guess speaking about like Coronavirus and COVID-19, how do you think it's

impacting community? Man, well, since I'm trained in like, you know, like the stock market and stuff really, really like taking a toll on human, in human society.

Because I see, I see the correlation in stock market and, and spending. So that's like when people are spending that means they're happy. So if they're not spending their, their like in doing bad, you know, so

I correlate with that it's really impacting people, especially with health. If you don't have money, you're going to suffer health wise, financially, you know.

So everything is tied together and it's really bad shape right now. But I've been watching the stock market and it's starting slowly, slowly go up. So people are spending money so I guess the morale is starting to get up there, but the uncertainty of the whole

thing is what making people crazy, you know, they don't know when it's gonna end what's gonna happen. So everybody's in self preservation mode. And I don't know if that's healthy for human society, but I mean, at the same time—Have been outside?

Not really that much. I've been going like for bike rides and just like even like self, just driving around by myself just to see how it is out there and it feels normal actually. It's making me feel good like nature's

coming back. That's what I've noticed. I went to the Menil Park the other day, and there was like a bunch of squirrels. They weren't even scared of people. I hear more birds, the air feels, feels

like crisper and cleaner. So the upside you see about, this thing is like it's helping the environment recoup from what we've been doing. So I think there's always a balance in the world

and plus side of the nature is coming back up. Yeah. So how have you been dealing? I guess personally with being like quarantined in? It was hard for me because I'm a social person.

And I kind of miss seeing my friends. And the second week, I just say, kind of like trick my brain to work what we have. So I made myself like a to-do list of stuff that I've been put off before.

So now I'm kind of busy, like I've been doing stuff that I needed to do anyways. So I set myself a schedule, like, what to do every day, and it's been helping me a lot and I'm starting to like it.

And if I get super bored or like anxious, I'll just go outside for a bike ride and walk my dog, like, you know, a couple of times a day and it's helping me a lot getting some fresh air.

And, yeah, so how and you said, like, kind of this, you know, teaching online has been okay, you know, in terms of teaching art. Yeah. I mean, um, it's not the best scenario because

we're so used to having like all the art supplies in the studio at school, and you can't expect, the parents to have the same, same materials at home, you know, so I have to like, innovate and work with what we, what you think

they will have at home, so that's the kinda only thing that's you can't teach like, as much as we were doing before, and also like being more personalized too. Like making sure I call their names and eye contact and answer the questions.

And these are pre K. So if you had them on zoom like 20 of them it's like I'm like “you, you, you, you, you.” So like managing that stuff is kind of tricky and also like trying to see what they have at

home that they can work with. But it's been going well, like this is a big transition for us. I think, like in the future, I think is going to be a big need for like a lot of homeschool students.

Like it's going to be a new market for education, I think. And so, like, have you been in social media to kind of keep your audience engaged, I guess?

Yeah, um, a lot of a lot of my, my audience, or they watch my stories. And then what I've noticed like even like before, it is like your fans or your audience wants to know more you personally, aside from your work.

So they like to see like the process, what you do at home, you know, like what you eat, more of the personal side you know. So lately like, actually been getting more views like showing like my personal stuff than like my art stuff which

is kind of weird. So I've been wanting to get you know more as a person so they can relate to you more aside from your, you know, your professional work. So it's been kind of nice. I've been connecting more with my audience that way.

They've been liking on my cooking shows. I do like a lot live, live video like once a week for like cooking because I've been, I've been experimenting a lot with Filipino food because I grew up in my grandma's cooking and that's how I that's how I,

you know, keep her in my memories. Good. So that's been going well, my cooking show. And how do you think, you know, video apps are very...

Basically like how do you think sort of video chatting or conferencing anything. Like I, I think it's just a band aid for me. I don't like it. I want to, I want to, I want to see

people in person, you know? I don't even like texting, like I'd rather be on the phone like talking, you know, I think video is a good thing. It's a remedy maybe for now, but I don't like it at all.

Like I don't even like, like, people want to do like video drinking together. I'm like “Nah. I don't want to do that.” Because they—I don't even want to… nah. Yeah. And, um so you﹘you already

said you were starting on one piece inspired by sort of pandemic, are you thinking about doing more work? I think I am going to do a whole series of them just because this one I'm feeling right now.

And I want to turn this negative into something positive. So hopefully I'll come up with a body of work that can show what's going on in my lifetime and during this time of the year, and like I said, document this know this time of humanity and see how

people react to it. And I want to work with Marjon on that. I don't know I'm gonna send her my work. She lives in Sugarland and

I'm in downtown. Well the traffic's not bad. Yeah the traffic's not bad, but I don't know if she wants to see me. So, like a week before

me, my friends were just hanging out. There's like nothing wrong back. Now we can't even like, stand next to each other. It's like, why you acting so weird.

Just saw you guys. Yeah, man, I don't know what's going on, but I don't like it. Do you think this like, you know, this social distancing

will have any long-term effects? Yes, for sure. Um, because I was reading about the Spanish Flu, is pretty similar thing that's happening now. And I read somewhere like, people wouldn't go to like

to like, to the movie theater to somewhere like there's like large gathering for like, two years, you know? And especially, like, people have to wear a mask and like, basically no physical touch and stuff like

that. So I think it's gonna be it's gonna affect us for a while, not just this couple of months. And… I mean, it's making me really paranoid actually. Like everything I touched like I had to

sanitize. Yeah. So like, I don't know how long that's gonna happen. I'm pretty sure I'll be doing that for a long time. And I guess how do you think art can be used to convey,

like, the messages, messages about, like, this pandemic or COVID-19? Um, what I've been seeing with that is like, just people putting their feelings into art. So the

audience can see like, the time of their feelings and how people going through emotionally and physically. And, and people can relate to that, you know, when you relate to something, it makes

you feel better. And I think, I don't know, what I'm trying to say but I think this pandemic will give people more time to explore themselves personally, and emotionally.

And if they put that out to the world, then I think it's a, it's a good tool for healing. Yeah. So, so that's all the questions I have for you. Haha. How do you—do you

feel like, you know, we've talked about like a lot of things. Is there anything you would like to add? Um yeah, I think I think we've talked about a lot of stuff because most of the information out there I think is overblown fake news and stuff.

So I try to stay away from all that social media like, you know, news and stuff. Yeah, but you should go outside. I'm sure it'll make you feel better. Yeah.

Yeah, hopefully this weekend I'll get a chance to do that. Yeah. I think you should be thinking the rain brought the sun nice breeze today. Oh, yeah, that's good. I heard it was humid outside and people were like...

I'm about to walk my dog. I think he's gonna be a good walk today. Okay, thank you so much for doing this. You're welcome. It’s a lot.

I know this, this is like a lot of work for you, you guys. Haha. Yeah, I'm glad this process like obviously this process isn't super smooth just due to. Usually we do these like face to face,

You—probably like a brief thing like what this thing is all about. So like Houston Asian American Archive basically just wants to get like add Asian American and Asian history to Houston, where it's like often

undocumented, so sort of building, you know, the history of Asian Americans in Houston in a lot of different ways. That's awesome. Yeah. So I feel like recently we've been focusing on a lot of artists, but we've also

done like doctors and, you know, just different types of people and just trying to get like, different perspectives of like the Asian American experience in Houston. Got it. I'm glad you guys asked me to join.

Hopefully I get good content for your documentary. Yeah, I think it was good. Yeah. Yeah me too. The conversation was like free flowing.

It wasn't like you know very like “To do, to do this, this, this.” That's the kind of interviews I hate. Yeah. So like thank you again for doing this. I guess I've one more question maybe just I

guess like I guess a little bit more about like how your Filipino heritage maybe impacts your art or your day-to-day life. I don't think it has anything to do with my art.

It's just mostly like my personal personality and like my– my background, but art wise, I don't think it has affected my artwork at all. Okay, yeah. Yeah, like just thank you once again, hopefully.

So we'll keep in contact about you like looking over like the final product of this archive. Sounds good. Thanks Zoe. Bye. Have a good day.

Bye. Goodbye.