Nate Bockus

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First off, I’m a huge fan of the chakra skateboards you painted. They are so colorful and just really beautiful. When did you become interested in chakras and the balancing of it all? It seems like you’ve done a good amount of art on skateboards. Have you been a skater most of your life?

Thanks! I guess I’ve consciously been into meditation, yoga, chakras, auras, and energy since the early 90s. I say “consciously” because I’ve been skateboarding since I was about 2, so I think that’s been a lifelong meditation practice for me. Skateboarding is in my blood, I’m pretty sure I’ll never quit.

I was offered an opportunity to be in an art show a few years back and I got the idea for the chakra set about 24 hours before the show. I had a bunch of warped and defective boards donated to me, so I was just experimenting on them all, trying to see what I could come up with. I had one board that I’d painted a flat green, and I didn’t know what I should do with it. Then it just hit me out of the blue and I had a clear image of the chakra set and how I wanted to make it happen, so it came together pretty quickly.

You have a very particular look to your work, where did this come from? Were you just messing around on a blank page one day and discovered your favorite style or medium? You also seem to paint and draw a lot of flowers and animals, I really like that about your work. Did you grow up near the water or spend a lot of time outside as a kid?

I’ve been messing with different forms of art since I was pretty young. Skateboarding, music, and art seem to be connected. I used to get together with my crew and we’d drink coffee, write songs, and draw for hours almost every night. I wrote a little book of short stories and poetry in the early 90s and sold it on the Lollapalooza tour. I’ve always been creating something.

My painting style is a bit different from my drawings, which seem to have more cartoon and graffiti influence. I get bored with almost all of my endeavors, including my art. So I’ll work with a certain style for a few months, then I’ll sell everything, including my paints, brushes, whatever, and start over from scratch doing something different.

When I was super young my family moved from Coronado, California to North Platte, which is the very center of Nebraska. A far cry from the ocean, but it was a good spot to grow up. We had a pretty fun skate and music scene there. There’s a lot to be said for growing up in a town that doesn’t offer much. It makes you have to create a scene on your own, so that’s what we did. That being said, I spent almost every minute that I could outside on my board.

There is something about your stuff that really seems to speak to the soul, almost cleanse it so to speak…Do you hear this often? Your art makes me feel very calm and at peace when I look at it.

I appreciate that. I put a lot of love into my work and it always amazes me when I get positive feedback. It’s nice to be able to create something, or at least, be a channel for a creation that someone else feels the vibe of.

After my first art show, I had put a few of my pieces on Craigslist for sale. I had a guy stop by to check out my skateboard art and he really liked the feel of it, so he asked what I would sell the whole lot for. I had over 25 pieces at the time, so it was really exciting. He ran to the ATM and snagged cash for the whole lot, then ordered a 5 piece board set from me on top of that. That was a pretty awesome day!

It seems like you’re somewhat spiritual, what does spirituality mean to you and does it play a big role in your life?

My mom is very strong in her faith, and I’ve always looked up to her. I got into meditation and yoga at a pretty young age, and I try to live from the most authentic, loving and positive side of myself as much as possible. That’s where my spirituality really lies; in kindness, to myself, and others. Meditation is still a daily practice for me, both in movement, and in silent solitude and stillness.

Where do you think art comes from? I guess this is somewhat of an existential question…meaning do you believe its channeled in a certain way through the soul..etc.

I do think it’s channeled and also influenced. I know when I’m in a flow and my mind is quiet I can paint or draw for hours, almost like the ideas are being fed to me. Nighttime has probably been my favorite time to create, but over the last year or so I was doing it full-time for a while and spent most of the days painting out in the sun, which was pretty rad.

What do you think the world needs more of?

Going back to what I’d mentioned earlier; the world needs to start living a little more from the heart. If we could revert back to the fun kids we were before the world dumped stress, politics, competition, greed, all that stuff on us…the world breaks us down, and we exchange the loving beings we were born to be, for something else. We put our guard up and live from a place of fear. For years now I’ve said "LIFE" means "Love In Full Expression."

Look at the very young, and look at the very old…most of the time, you’ll see that we are born innocent, sweet and soft. Kids usually have a great sense of humor and aren’t afraid to laugh at themselves or make others laugh. Looking at our elders, at least a lot of the time, they also return to being soft and sweet. These years in between, however, I feel we need to be more kind and compassionate. We need to start working together to co-exist, to take care of ourselves, each other, and this planet. We all influence one another, so I try to keep that in mind on a day-to-day basis, knowing my actions and words are, in whatever subtle way, influencing someone else’s actions and words.

How do you tap into your creative headspace?

I’d still like to know! I think it happens subconsciously anymore. Definitely not something I can force. Usually I’ll throw on some tunes and just get stoked on ideas that start to flow.

Where do you go to do your art?

I’m currently in that time period where I’m taking a little break and hitting the reset button. Last year I painted outside, the last few years before that I had an art studio in my house. I recently sold all my paint supplies, and just figured it was time to chill for a bit until I get hyped up again and feel inspired to start some more projects. I just moved into a little studio but it’s got a great vibe and is nice and bright, so I’m guessing now that we’re going into spring and summer I’ll start creating some art again. I don’t see myself doing this full time again any time soon. Last year I was doing great, then all my art stopped selling out of the blue, and I would go 4 or 5 days without eating, because I just couldn’t afford to. My work suffered, I suffered, and when you’re in a situation like that you just can’t think straight. So now it’s back to the basics, doing this for the fun and love of it, rather than doing this to survive.

Name something you love and why.

Above all else, my family means everything to me.

Favorite most inspirational place?

I love getting up into the mountains, finding someplace away from everyone so I can just sit with nature and be astonished by the surrounding beauty. When I’m inspired like this, I don’t need to draw, or paint, or play music, or listen to music, or do anything. I just need that specific moment and that’s more fulfilling than anything.

Do you think your work has some spiritual or symbolic ties?

I think a lot of it does, but some of it is just pure silliness.

Who is someone that you really look up to as an artist?

The first name that comes to mind would be Andy Howell. He has been one of my favorite artists for years, and is always moving forward. My first art influences growing up were MC Escher and Dr Seuss….Dr Seuss has secret works that were on another level completely!

A lot of artists I’ve met seem to be kind of caught up in themselves, I’m guessing because people talk them up so much, but it’s weird to me. I’ll like artists for years until I meet them, then I just get bummed on their ego. Maybe that’s something I need to work on, accepting that some people are praised to the point of getting a little big in the head. We’re all on our own journey.

What were you like as a kid? Eccentric? Shy? Loud? A pain in the ass? Etc

All of the above. For the most part I was a nice kid. I was just into my own thing. I wasn’t into sports. I was into breakdancing and skateboarding. In Jr High and High School I was a little obnoxious. Back then I thought everyone hated me and I got a lot of crap at school for being different, dying my hair and having Mohawks and all that stuff. As I got older I started to think maybe I was rejecting my schoolmates more than they rejected me. I’ve since made a lot of apologies to people from my past for any bad blood. I wish I could go back to school and let some of the teachers know how much I appreciated their efforts.

What makes you smile?

Animals, sunshine, skateboarding, seeing someone else smile…probably anything really. I smile a lot, maybe too much. Overall I’m a pretty happy dude.

What pisses you off?

That’s a catch-22, I catch myself getting heated over ignorance, but in a big way we’re all pretty ignorant to reality. We are all influenced from an outside source, even when we listen to the depths of our soul we get caught up in labels, feelings, and ideas that were already fed to us. I try to not get pissed about things, but I do. I get pissed when people think they’re above another person, I get pissed when people abuse animals, I get pissed when we separate ourselves over things like money, race and political viewpoints. I don’t like to focus on these things, but this is the society we have grown up with. We carry on the traditions that have been here long before our time, even the traditions and beliefs that don’t work to benefit humankind. Einstein said "the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." We all need to let that sink in on a day-to-day basis and start making steps together if we want to change our direction as a whole.

What do you think happens after life?

I’ve had a few family members pass and a lot of mystical things happen around the time of their passing, including them seeing other family members that have passed on prior. I think someone that is looking out for us helps us as we transition out of this life, but after the transition, I don’t know what to think. In The Peaceful Warrior, Socrates says "the transition is a little more intense than puberty but nothing to be overly concerned about". That sounds like a decent way to look at it.