Episode 73 – Gregory Siff

00:00:00:00 – 00:00:26:19
Gregory Siff
My first apartment had paintings up all on the wall, and I said, “I love all these places on the wall ’cause they’re not paintings. They’re different places in your life.” And that took a moment for me to realize, like, you’re writing the pages of your book and they’re going to different places, different people. I fell in love with the lives of artists fully before saying I’m one of them.

00:00:26:19 – 00:00:42:22
Gregory Siff
I was always saying, like, “Know where you’re painting today. Know where you’re painting tomorrow.” Create one thing every day. Yeah. I don’t even care if it’s a bad thing or a small thing, big thing. Ever since I grew up and with my mom and dad, it was almost like, “What’s your dream? What do you want to do?”

00:00:42:24 – 00:00:57:18
Gregory Siff
“Go get it.” So cool. We talked, and I thought we were gonna be talking a lot about brand collaborations and tricks to get things and do stuff, and we’ve really gotten to the heart of what it is to be an artist is to, you know—

00:00:57:20 – 00:00:58:09
Brandon Adams
Yeah.

00:00:58:11 – 00:01:23:04
Gregory Siff
to create. Stop trying to be the whole process. Stop trying to be the viewer, the collector, the buyer—just be the artist and keep doing it. Since 1991, I’ve been in the SAG union. But when I moved to LA from New York, the experiences started to take away from me more than give to me.

00:01:23:06 – 00:01:51:19
Gregory Siff
And I was tapping out of gas, like you said, to pull over to the side of the road. But when that happens, don’t think that that’s the end. That’s just a second for you to find yourself. And that’s when I started painting. Move into what you connect with.

00:01:51:21 – 00:02:08:09
Brandon Adams
Hey, everybody, welcome back to The Blueprint. Today I’ve got Gregory Siff. This is a treat, guys. This guy is an artist, he’s a painter, he’s a designer, he’s a collaborator. One of the nicest guys you’ll ever meet. Stay tuned. If you guys could do me a favor, hit the subscribe button at the bottom. It’s gonna allow me to get more of these videos out.

00:02:08:09 – 00:02:24:16
Brandon Adams
I’m gonna tell the story for people, let them tell their story, and maybe you can get something out of it. You know, maybe this is something that’s gonna touch you. Maybe this is something that resonates with you. Help me out. Gregory, thank you so much for coming on the show, man. I am, as an artist, I am truly excited to explore this brain of yours.

00:02:24:18 – 00:02:38:06
Gregory Siff
Thank you for having me. I’m so happy our paths crossed at Gallery Defy. I’m happy we painted next to each other. Yeah. And we were in the flow there. We can get in the flow right now because I’m a big fan of your show and your work.

00:02:38:06 – 00:02:56:15
Brandon Adams
Thank you, man. Appreciate that. Honestly, like when I first met you at the gallery, Gallery Defy, when I first met you out there. And I’ve told you this before, like, I remember you walking up and talking to me, and I had my headphones in and didn’t hear you at first. And then you said something and I quickly took them out.

00:02:56:17 – 00:03:13:23
Brandon Adams
And then I put the music on, right? So, and I think had on some Kanye or something. And you were like, “Man, you’re vibing over here. You got your thing going,” or whatever. And the conversation picked up and I was talking, I was just like, “This guy is the nicest guy ever.” I was like, “Is this real?”

00:03:14:00 – 00:03:23:03
Brandon Adams
Like, it just seemed too nice. So I was that kind of checking back to see, like, let me see who this guy is real quick.

00:03:23:03 – 00:03:24:22
Gregory Siff
Yes.

00:03:24:24 – 00:03:34:17
Brandon Adams
But no, man, like seeing it through your stories, I’ve seen it through the people you interact with and everything. Like genuine cat. Where does this come from?

00:03:34:19 – 00:03:54:24
Gregory Siff
Wow. That’s a great question because ever since I grew up and with my mom and dad, it was almost like, “What’s your dream? What do you want to do? Go get it.” And I just am so gracious and happy that when I was like, “I want to play for the New York Mets,” they’re like, “Let’s go.”

00:03:55:01 – 00:04:24:00
Gregory Siff
“I want to be a ninja.” “Okay. Climb some trees, go to karate.” And then, like, I wanted to be an actor. And my parents always gave me that freedom. There was never—it was—there was never a “You can’t” in that conversation. So, yeah. So that kind of thing, that kind of love and support as my life started to take these ways, was giving me like—I am just so happy.

00:04:24:00 – 00:04:43:22
Gregory Siff
And I was doing my thing that day, painting at where I am in my life, and I’m just like, “Wow, you’re here. You’re in the space that you’ve always that you feel most comfortable, you feel useful, you have purpose and you find other people on the path.” So I was just generally glowing ’cause I was doing those two murals, and one of them was done, I was on the next.

00:04:43:22 – 00:05:02:14
Gregory Siff
And maybe sometimes it becomes into work. And I just heard you vibing with the mural. I was like, “Yeah, it’s about that. It’s about, like, is this gonna be the greatest piece?” Yeah. No one to impress. Like, you’re painting this because it’s giving you that light feeling. So I was in that feeling. And you’re not alone.

00:05:02:14 – 00:05:24:20
Gregory Siff
I’ve had people express that before in my life and have that, like, “Yo, that’s just how he is.” You know, and I’m just trying to find that root of what you said. And I think that’s where it comes from. Like, you know, like Drake has “Happy to be here.” Yeah, I’m so happy to be here.

00:05:24:22 – 00:05:49:11
Gregory Siff
Because we don’t know how long we get. Right. And that was a year and a half ago, and I walked through Defy two days ago again. And I was looking at your piece, and then the updated piece, and I’m like, “Look how it’s constantly growing and evolving.” And, dude, it’s like you had the skeleton there and then you put the flesh on it and you have—we can talk about that too, what you have coming up with Defy.

00:05:49:11 – 00:06:15:14
Gregory Siff
But that’s where that is. And I noticed you have this stare, you have this look, and it’s just like there’s no blink about you. And I remembered that. And when I was speaking about, you know, you were collaborating with Tex and it just was all what I’m about is just the paint and the magnetism between the people that—

00:06:15:15 – 00:06:19:00
Gregory Siff
Yeah, created it and experienced it.

00:06:19:02 – 00:06:36:14
Brandon Adams
Well, I think the stare is a sign of respect, honestly. Like, I’ve always been—I’m from East Texas so you know, I was always taught growing up, “Hey, shake a man’s hand and look him dead in his eyes and say your name and listen to what he has to say.” And like, I’ve always been taught that and passed it on to my children.

00:06:36:14 – 00:06:51:21
Brandon Adams
Same thing. You walk into a room, you walk directly to somebody, you shake their hand, you look them in the eyes, say your name. You know, that’s a respect thing. So, if someone is truly saying something, you give them that respect. Listen. Let them know that you’re engaged with it.

00:06:51:21 – 00:06:55:21
Brandon Adams
Don’t drift off and do all kinds of things, but, you know, be there with them. Be present.

00:06:55:23 – 00:07:12:01
Gregory Siff
See, I didn’t even know you were a father, so that just gives me another level of it. And then that’s one of the first things, like your directness and your stare, I was like, “If this guy was gonna ask me about something, I know it’s gonna happen.” So I wanted to get to know you more.

00:07:12:01 – 00:07:32:16
Gregory Siff
Yeah, I like this. This is a cool experience, just watching all of the dreamers and the getters and the doers and the givers on your show. Like, just hearing everyone’s story and how they earned it, and then how do you direct that sunlight out again.

00:07:32:19 – 00:07:49:02
Brandon Adams
Well, the cool thing is that there’s so many people that come on this show that their path is very similar to someone else’s path out there that hasn’t made it yet, or they just kept going on the path when somebody else just pulled over to the side of the road. And I wanna show these stories because I want someone else to go,

00:07:49:04 – 00:08:04:10
Brandon Adams
“Let me get back on. Let me put it in drive. Let me get back on the road.” Definitely. You know, and just by someone seeing what you’ve done, maybe they wanted to be a Mets shortstop and it fell through, so now they’ve parked it. You know, it’s like, well, what else, you know.

00:08:04:12 – 00:08:26:00
Gregory Siff
Let’s talk about that real briefly. Like, I started in the New York City Opera in Lincoln Center, like 12, 13 years old was my first check. I love music and acting and expression and movies. Dude, I gave my life and my heart, and my parents brought me to all of my auditions and my calls, and I had some great experiences.

00:08:26:00 – 00:08:49:04
Gregory Siff
I worked in so many mediums. I was in all the way to the last drop. I mean, since 1991, I’ve been in the SAG union. But, when I moved to LA from New York, the experiences started to take away from me more than give to me. And I was tapping out of gas, like you said, to pull over to the side of the road.

00:08:49:06 – 00:09:09:18
Gregory Siff
But, when that happens, don’t think that that’s the end. That’s just a second for you to find yourself. And that’s when I started painting, finding art and paint. Move into what you connect with. And in my whole life, I think it was around when I was 33 also that things started to click, you know? That’s an important year.

00:09:09:19 – 00:09:33:16
Gregory Siff
Jesus, it’s an important year for a man, for anyone really. And it just like said, “Okay.” I was like driving down PCH, going on a road trip all the way up to Canada ’cause I wanted to see some stuff. And I had to call the acting manager and say, “Don’t call me. I’m doing something else right now,” because I could tell that that was the signs. And it was hard for me to give up something that I devoted my life and that I loved.

00:09:33:18 – 00:09:47:21
Gregory Siff
But then once I made that decision, it was like paint every day. You give, you give. Your heart is now gonna fill. And then but things started to come. It started to come to me when I made that decision.

00:09:47:23 – 00:09:55:01
Brandon Adams
Was it a hard one? Was it a hard decision? Was it, you know, baited? Were you stressing over it?

00:09:55:03 – 00:10:16:20
Gregory Siff
You know, that—it was a decision that was like self-respect. And I felt great when I made it because there was a whole shift in life. Like, my dad had passed just like 3 years earlier. Things weren’t go—like, I had to stand up and like, for my wellbeing. And it was just—it was freeing.

00:10:16:20 – 00:10:30:15
Gregory Siff
And then it was easy for me to show up every day. You, if you wanna do something, you gotta do it every day. Yeah. I don’t care what it is. If you don’t do it every day, you’re not—if you’re not doing it, you will not do it. So, you gotta have the paint on your hands. You gotta have that.

00:10:30:17 – 00:10:50:02
Gregory Siff
So, that’s what I learned, and then that was giving back to me. And, you know, the gratitude of just in the morning, “Thank you so much.” At night, “Thank you.” Because not everyone gets to do it. Everyone has the chance to do it. It’s—you have to participate.

00:10:50:02 – 00:11:07:11
Gregory Siff
And it was scary, man. It was. But it felt so good. And you don’t really do it for the paper or the money. You do it because it’s gonna get you up in the morning. And it’s like, this is a smile. Like, why do colors look good next to each other?

00:11:07:11 – 00:11:20:17
Gregory Siff
Like, why do things—what is it? It’s just something that’s like, you know, it feeds you and it will help you feed others. Yeah.

00:11:20:19 – 00:11:50:13
Brandon Adams
I always tell everyone as I’m going through, people always ask me, like, “Why do you paint all the time?” Or, “What is it you get out of painting? Is it expression or whatever?” And I say, “Yes, but I feel just as much therapy coming from this.” Like, heart beats. I let the world go by, sit in a zone, and it just completely turns into me in this process.

00:11:50:15 – 00:11:52:08
Brandon Adams
And I’m able to clear my thoughts.

00:11:52:10 – 00:11:53:04
Gregory Siff
You know.

00:11:53:06 – 00:12:10:00
Brandon Adams
Not only am I building something or creating something, or I’m putting a stake in the sand that I’m alive and I’m here as a sign for everyone to see this. Yes, this painting that I’ve spent—it’s a time capsule of my life, you know?

00:12:10:02 – 00:12:31:09
Gregory Siff
Completely. I did a show back in 2020, before everything went crazy, but it was called Evidence of Life. It’s like, “Hey,” you know, “someone was here, thought that this is something.” And someone could feel that beat on there. And it is, as I feel, just like you about that.

00:12:31:09 – 00:12:54:03
Gregory Siff
Like it does—it keeps me calm, it keeps me cool. But I was gonna say that when it’s there, you know when you hear a song and you’re like, “Oh, man, I was 16. That came out. I remember this person. This happened.” These paintings?

00:12:54:06 – 00:13:16:20
Gregory Siff
And you remember the day that you finished it, you remember the day that you started. And now, that like—I don’t feel time, man. But I feel it when I go back to these moments. These—I once said when I walked into my apartment back in LA, I came back in and it was like my first apartment.

00:13:16:20 – 00:13:38:22
Gregory Siff
Had paintings up all on the wall. And I said, “I love all these places on the wall because they’re not paintings. They’re different places in your life.” And that took a moment for me to realize, like, you’re writing the pages of your book. Yeah. And they’re going to different places, different people.

00:13:38:22 – 00:14:07:18
Gregory Siff
Some people might not see ’til later on. They might be in your archives and your storage, and then someone takes them out and go, “What was going on that day?” Yeah. Or maybe it’s just crazy when you think about the power of how powerful something like a handmade item, drawing, or what it means to someone. And some people go for it.

00:14:07:18 – 00:14:12:20
Gregory Siff
Some people, they’ll find something else. Yeah. Well, it’s—

00:14:12:22 – 00:14:16:22
Brandon Adams
I really wanna dig into this just a little bit, but I want to jump back to—

00:14:16:22 – 00:14:18:16
Gregory Siff
The beginning. Let’s do it.

00:14:18:18 – 00:14:25:18
Brandon Adams
You said your folks were always, you know, encouraging you to continue and move on. Is it just you? Only child?

00:14:25:20 – 00:14:48:18
Gregory Siff
Yes. I have a brother from my dad’s first marriage, and we’re highly connected too. He actually made this ring from my father, and it’s the bull. When I put an icon in my painting, it like will represent the bull. And you see the bull, it means protection, fatherhood, brotherhood.

00:14:48:20 – 00:15:13:17
Gregory Siff
So my brother Jules was always present in my life. But I grew up by myself in that kind of world. My mom, my best friend, my dad was grinding and hustling and doing great things, like started out with sandwich shops, then restaurants, then catering halls, and became like one of the biggest in Brooklyn.

00:15:13:19 – 00:15:35:06
Gregory Siff
And just—I saw the work ethic. So I saw what it took. When you come home at 3:00 in the morning from working on different affairs and weddings, parties, bar mitzvahs. And the ’86 Championship Mets had their World Series party at my dad’s place. So, that was even more tangible. Like, I’m shaking hands with Strawberry and I’m like, “It’s that tangible.”

00:15:35:06 – 00:16:03:04
Gregory Siff
I could be, you know. So it started—to go back to your question, I could go on for years about my father and my mother. But yeah. So that’s good that I grew up by myself. So maybe there was a little bit of internal dialogue going on, a lot of conversations, a lot of stuff going on when you’re dreaming might be more excessive than—

00:16:03:06 – 00:16:04:06
Gregory Siff
Yeah.

00:16:04:08 – 00:16:11:24
Brandon Adams
At what age did your parents first introduce paint or pencil or crayons with you?

00:16:12:01 – 00:16:33:13
Gregory Siff
One of the best things about growing up in New York City is art is everywhere. And my mom always—I mean, there’s—I could recollect going to museums, MoMA, and they had the planetarium with laser Beatles and laser Genesis and, like, just seeing the show, you know? And that’s kind of how—I mean, growing up in New York.

00:16:33:15 – 00:16:54:17
Gregory Siff
But my mom would always buy crayons and then the smelly magic marker ones that I have like—so those—I remember just having those tools around all the time, crayons. And my mom was always into that. Like, I did a show once called—because I asked my mom once, I didn’t know what to name my show.

00:16:54:17 – 00:17:18:02
Gregory Siff
I was like, “Mom, where did this all come from? Like, why am I an artist? Like, why are we like—” She goes, “When you were little, you used to color.” She said, “When we were little, we used to color.” And I think that’s something that every kinda kid and every parent, there’s one day where you just put a—and you’ve see, this is something that’s beautiful you get to experience.

00:17:18:02 – 00:17:43:20
Gregory Siff
Is like you can put that right there in front of them. What are they gonna make? Like, oh my gosh, I don’t know. Every gesture must look like Picasso when it’s—I don’t know how that feels, but I think that that’s an important thing. And it’s just like it captures the mind and captures experience with people, especially young kids.

00:17:43:20 – 00:18:05:09
Gregory Siff
So I think that that’s something where it began. But I always just loved going to the theater and shows and plays and—I mean, I wanted to be in Little Shop of Horrors when I was in 6th grade. And I prayed to God, “Please let me be Seymour.” I was like—it was just one of the first because I went to the play and they had those vines come down at the end and you jump.

00:18:05:09 – 00:18:29:13
Gregory Siff
And I was like, “This is insane. Like, I wanna be a part of making someone feel that.” Yeah. And I prayed and I got that part and thank you. Yeah. And from then on I was like—I don’t know—I was dressing up like Batman and running around the neighborhood with my best friend, Matt. And there were just so many different things that I thought anything could be, and that was propelled by being with them.

00:18:29:15 – 00:18:41:03
Brandon Adams
So you said that they gave you some outlets at an early age, right? Anything else you were doing in school? Was that all arts directed? Was it like sports? Were you into—

00:18:41:03 – 00:18:57:15
Gregory Siff
Yeah, it was sports. Love baseball, basketball. But as I started getting into the arts, you can’t show up to practice and go for the audition to try out for Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure action figures. You gotta pick one or the other because you’re gonna be sitting on the bench. So then I realized, “Okay, where are we diving in?”

00:18:57:15 – 00:19:25:23
Gregory Siff
‘Cause I wanna be the Renaissance man. And I have such respect and homage to anyone that’s able to be a virtuoso on multiple projects. But I noticed, like, you know, the more I have the guitar, the less I’ll paint. The more—I noticed that even while I’m here in Dallas and I’m here for a few days, is just like I need to focus on one thing and everyone’s a different instrument.

00:19:26:03 – 00:19:44:06
Gregory Siff
But I feel like if I stay—like if there’s paint near me, I’m gonna be going good. But I love all of it. It’s all interconnected and a little bit of each, but like definitely 77% paint and everything else is coming through, but you need the music to fill you too.

00:19:44:08 – 00:19:57:02
Brandon Adams
You know, they always say like a fire burns really hot and the coals—when it goes out, the coals are still glowing orange. And they’ll glow for two days if you don’t put them out. Right. But you take one coal—

00:19:57:04 – 00:19:58:01
Gregory Siff
And move it.

00:19:58:03 – 00:20:20:22
Brandon Adams
a foot from the rest of them, and it’ll go out in minutes. You put that coal right back into the fire and it will glow back immediately. They always say like, spend time doing the things that you love. Spend time being in what you want and you’ll glow from that. Right? It’s a great analogy for the people that try to put things on the shelf.

00:20:20:22 – 00:20:36:04
Brandon Adams
“Oh, I’ll come back to that next year. Oh, I’ll be better at that at some point.” Right. But this coal, man. Just look at that. I mean, it glows when it’s in the fire, you know, it’s like it doesn’t even have to be flames on it. It just it’ll glow because of what it surrounded itself with, you know.

00:20:36:06 – 00:20:54:12
Gregory Siff
That’s exactly it. That’s the what we have in our hearts. And I think that at a young age I found that and I wanted to know when you found that, did you embrace that too? I did it. I did it. Coming out here—you were born out here?

00:20:54:17 – 00:21:19:00
Brandon Adams
Yeah. 5 generations from—I was born in Dallas but I was raised in Greenville. Greenville, where everybody that’s on there—5 generations from there. So, you know, I thought I was going to be an athlete like every other kid does. And then I found out I was a dime a dozen and, you know, played it for a long time.

00:21:19:00 – 00:21:40:08
Brandon Adams
But at the end of the day, like, I just remember my mom begging me as a senior to like, “Just take one art class. Take one art class.” Wow. Right, Mom? Yeah. And she’s like, “‘Cause you draw so well, you know, take one art class,” and I did. And did really well at it and then went off to play baseball and then came back and was like, “I’m going to art school.”

00:21:40:11 – 00:22:02:03
Brandon Adams
You know, I’m just going to do it. Like I chased a dream and was just a dream, you know, and then woke up and went to art school. And that was the best thing that ever happened to me, was my mom begging me, you know, “Go take this.” But I remember in church, my grandmother used to give me pencil and paper to keep me quiet in church, and I’d sit reverse in the pews growing up like this.

00:22:02:03 – 00:22:13:13
Brandon Adams
And I would draw all the time. And I remember some people saying, like, “That kid’s down there just drawing,” or whatever, and my grandmother just leaned over. She goes, “Don’t worry about them, baby,” you know?

00:22:13:17 – 00:22:35:05
Gregory Siff
Yeah. Because drawing is meditation. It’s prayer. It’s an—you know, you’re an antenna, man. You’re in there with those hymns and with that devotion from everybody in there and those lines are coming through. Yeah, that’s really cool. Yeah, that’s really cool. You gotta listen when your mom or your grandma tells you to do something. They’re right.

00:22:37:07 – 00:22:46:16
Brandon Adams
Yeah. And so I don’t know, I just kind of jumped into it. And again, I didn’t even jump into like fine art stuff until I was—I mean, we had I went through college and—

00:22:46:18 – 00:22:50:10
Gregory Siff
Learned while you was—yeah, so you got the skillset.

00:22:50:12 – 00:23:03:02
Brandon Adams
Yeah. And then because that’s when I went to college, I was like, “They said, what do you want to do with art?” And I said, “Whatever makes the most money.” And they said, “You ever done 3D animation?” And I said, “Absolutely not, and never used a computer before.” And they said, “We’re putting you in 3D animation.” I said, “Cool.”

00:23:03:02 – 00:23:19:16
Brandon Adams
And so I jumped into that and did that. And they took me in because they’re like, “You have really good hand skills, you know, so you can draw really well. You can paint really well. Like, you fit the type of creative we want, you know?” And so I had to learn a different path or different avenue.

00:23:19:16 – 00:23:33:05
Brandon Adams
And I think all types of art, whether it be digital or a website or a painting or a mural or—it’s all the same place that that comes from, it’s just a different canvas, you know.

00:23:34:01 – 00:23:37:04
Brandon Adams
And we think the same. We break it apart the same, we build it up the same.

00:23:37:04 – 00:23:37:23
Gregory Siff
Yes.

00:23:38:00 – 00:23:48:02
Brandon Adams
We concept it the same, it’s the same journey of like, “I hate this. It sucks. It’s getting better. Still sucks. Wow, it’s amazing.” You know, every—

00:23:48:02 – 00:23:57:16
Gregory Siff
single process of actualization, like physically bringing something to life. Yeah. Or digitally or just from a thought to an actual thing.

00:23:57:17 – 00:23:58:13
Brandon Adams
Yeah, but to—

00:23:58:13 – 00:24:37:01
Gregory Siff
a being. Yeah, that’s cool. I’m kind of—I’m not afraid of the digital stuff. I just—I can do some things with it, but I’m very—I love the tactile feel. I love the raw—I love what you can be raw in all of it. Yeah. So it’s cool for me to—especially as all these kind of technologies and things that we got into the digital age with, from Photoshop to NFTs to AI to whatever is going to come, there’s so many different instruments to hear your voice come through, come out of.

00:24:37:01 – 00:24:42:08
Gregory Siff
And I still trust my instrument most.

00:24:42:10 – 00:24:46:20
Brandon Adams
So when you—let’s pop back.

00:24:46:22 – 00:24:47:06
Gregory Siff
Yeah.

00:24:47:11 – 00:24:55:14
Brandon Adams
Yeah. I mean, you were really into the art scene, like you thought that was it. So you were like, first off, I’m going to acting, or it was split between art and acting?

00:24:55:16 – 00:25:17:19
Gregory Siff
This was the bridge for me. Is that when it wasn’t working with the acting and all these life things started to happen and I moved back to LA—I went to LA, not as an actor anymore. I went as I wanted to write, and I did write, and I do have it—it is a modern-day story about Vincent van Gogh.

00:25:17:21 – 00:25:45:17
Gregory Siff
What if his life never existed in 1853 and 1890, but that vessel, that timeline, came through another person, through another person, which took place like 2003 to whatever. And I wrote this thing about—I wrote this beautiful movie about like putting those stories because that’s what really—I fell in love with the lives of artists fully before saying I’m one of them.

00:25:45:17 – 00:26:07:22
Gregory Siff
Like, I was reading the letters of van Gogh. Then I look—I remember you had a van Gogh t-shirt on that was badass that day. That was like a rock and roll version of van Gogh. But yeah. And that’s like, I watched the Basquiat movie, and I just saw the way he moved, the representation through Julian Schnabel’s movie.

00:26:07:24 – 00:26:32:08
Gregory Siff
And then Warhol, and I was watching like the romance of that life. And just how heavy everything was—like a kiss was billion times more powerful than a regular kiss. It was like the things that he was going through and being like, all the rejection that Vincent faced as wanting to do what he wanted to do, was trying to find purpose to being a minister and then finding the art.

00:26:32:08 – 00:26:49:02
Gregory Siff
That’s kind of how I felt with my acting was like, “It’s not going,” and “What don’t they see?” You know. So I found—I wrote this story, but then I started to like paint. I was like, “I’m going to make this movie. I’m going to be in it.” I started hanging out in LA and there was like a big era.

00:26:49:04 – 00:27:10:16
Gregory Siff
2009 to ’10, ’11 was a very big street art era on Melrose. Banksy was hitting everything. Mr. Brainwash was out there and I went full forward with trying to share. My art wasn’t ready yet, but it was ready for me because I was finding some kind of like—and I started painting at home, going out at night, meeting other people that were street artists that became best friends of mine.

00:27:10:18 – 00:27:31:00
Gregory Siff
And when you find you’re in the right spot, you just know. And that’s when I started to say, “I’m not even writing the movie. I’m living this now.” Like I was hanging out with, you know who painted the outside of Defy Gallery, RISK?

00:27:31:02 – 00:27:48:19
Gregory Siff
I was hitting him up on Twitter and bumping into him in the galleries, and I just wanted to go at that time, like, “Let’s go have a beer together. Let’s paint together.” And that started, and it just grew—like he was one of my first mentors also. That was a signal when I saw Defy, my manager was like, “Gregory, these guys are cool.

00:27:48:19 – 00:28:04:13
Gregory Siff
We’re gonna do a mural with them.” And I saw the—like he blessed the outside. I was like, “This is a reminder of my past, which is going to be a yes because what’s behind those doors in there?” And I was like, get to meet you, got to bond with Not Travis and Kyle and the whole the whole thing.

00:28:04:16 – 00:28:24:17
Gregory Siff
You have to pay attention to those little those little signs. There’s like clips, you can hear them and you could see them, you could smell them. And I feel like that’s real. I feel like that’s God’s painting of you showing you the way. Here’s your path. Yes. Yeah.

00:28:24:19 – 00:28:49:00
Gregory Siff
So then I knew then I was like, “Okay, we got this script, but maybe I’m not gonna be the actor and I’m going to be the painter in it.” But I got to paint more to find your voice. So that’s one of the things—is the best part about painting every day is you learn how to shed the skin of everything that you love and all of the conceptions in your head of like, “That’s a good painting.

00:28:49:00 – 00:29:02:10
Gregory Siff
That’s what people buy. That’s what’s in museums.” You got to get that out of you by painting your stuff. And you gotta show us your story, man. Just give it. Give it. Like, how—

00:29:02:15 – 00:29:05:12
Brandon Adams
how old were you at this time when you went through the “Exit Through the Gift Shop” era?

00:29:05:12 – 00:29:27:02
Gregory Siff
2010, ’11, ’12. So I must have been like 30, 32, 33 at the age. And that’s when I started painting every day. And then all of the things started to happen, like did a one night show, then a gallery where the show stays up for 30 days, then where you really don’t have a minute to question anything. It’s like, “Oh, that needs to be done tomorrow.”

00:29:27:02 – 00:29:43:03
Gregory Siff
And I was always saying like, “No way you’re painting today, no way you’re painting tomorrow.” Like, if you’re not doing at least one—you should do at least one thing. You make one drawing, create one thing every day. Yeah. I don’t even care if it’s a bad thing or a small thing or a big thing.

00:29:43:05 – 00:29:53:02
Gregory Siff
And those things start to stack up. So that was my full on. And then you would just wake up in the mirror one day and you’re like, “Yep, I’m him. That’s me.” I’m not—

00:29:53:04 – 00:30:08:01
Brandon Adams
You got a huge gap right there between like, man, I was a kid and I was running around like Batman. And next thing you know, you’re like, “Hey, I’m on the streets and I’m doing my own thing.” Like, there’s like 15 years in between that.

00:30:08:04 – 00:30:09:10
Gregory Siff
Yeah, well, yeah. Go back to—

00:30:09:10 – 00:30:13:08
Brandon Adams
What? Where did—okay, yeah. You graduated high school, I’m guessing.

00:30:13:10 – 00:30:33:22
Gregory Siff
Yes, I graduated high school and I went to NYU. At that point I wanted to do acting, but my acting agent at that time was like, “Go to school and learn something. Don’t go for acting. You’re already living it. You’re doing it.” So I just went to NYU and I took up journalism and communications and broadcasting and I love the liberal arts.

00:30:33:22 – 00:30:56:01
Gregory Siff
I love reading, like, you know, the Odyssey and the Epic of Gilgamesh. I love these like grand stories where there was just so much to visualize, and then this story of Achilles. And then later on, like, I sliced my Achilles, and then I’m trying to find the parallels and I’m looking back at my old textbooks.

00:30:56:07 – 00:31:15:01
Gregory Siff
So, to jump back, I went to NYU and that was four years. I graduated from them cum laude. But when I went out to LA to do the acting, and my mom was very worried at that point—she’s like, “You got a college degree, you’re going out there and you’re spending all your savings.” And because I wanted that acting thing, I was like, “Don’t worry.”

00:31:15:01 – 00:31:31:18
Gregory Siff
I was like, “I’m going to do—I’m not going to spend everything. I’m going to get a job, I’m going to do that.” And I went to the Four Seasons Hotel that was down the block from my apartment, put on a suit—and by the way, I wore this jacket today because you know, you had Boo-Boo on.

00:31:31:20 – 00:31:54:16
Gregory Siff
And he was rocking, he looked fresh. He was rocking a blazer because he had his thing. So I was like, “I don’t really usually wear a jacket all the time,” but I was like, “I want to step up. This is a professional moment right here.” Yeah. But yeah, so I had to get that job at the Four Seasons and have the humility for those days to hand out menus.

00:31:54:18 – 00:32:21:20
Gregory Siff
And I’m so grateful for that job because all the people that I met then—I was talking about the van Gogh movie, I was talking about being a painter. Those were business cards. And those were people that later on in my life, they would help support this thing. So you think it’s not this magic thing like, oh, it hits you and then like you’ve made it—you know, it is actual contact that you build physically.

00:32:21:20 – 00:32:55:05
Gregory Siff
Like everyone on the mailing list of my website of my art who’s interested is someone that I’ve sat next to on a plane, that I’ve shared a moment with. Those—that translates to real motion and what it is. It’s not some kind of fabricated thing where you see some people on it and you’re like, “I don’t know how all like the algorithm and all these likes and these things work,” but there’s work that goes to getting that and getting the people that can connect.

00:32:55:05 – 00:33:13:23
Gregory Siff
And you have to be willing to accept that and not just think it’s some magic pill that just happens. It’s true on—so that gap in between was those years where I was just like, “Oh, they like the idea of a movie,” or they like this and you’re not going to be able to do any of it without your people. That’s for sure.

00:33:13:23 – 00:33:14:10
Gregory Siff
Yeah.

00:33:14:10 – 00:33:17:11
Brandon Adams
So this was like 15 years of that.

00:33:17:13 – 00:33:44:18
Gregory Siff
So, I guess 2010—we’re in 2026. Yeah, that was like 15, 16 years of that. I was painting even before 2005, ’06, ’07. I just been like, you know—but those were shows in coffee shops and hotels and things like that. But once it became serious—and I think the serious moment for me was in like 2012 where I did a show, it was called “There and Back,” and it was about my ex.

00:33:44:19 – 00:34:07:11
Gregory Siff
My dad always used to say that he’s “been there and back.” Like there’s a sucker born every day. Yeah, but he’s like, “You can’t pull one over me.” And “There and Back” came to me—was like my mom in New York and me in LA, there and back. And it was something like—and then I did like a painting that was LA and New York, like West Coast, East Coast, and all the stories in between.

00:34:07:11 – 00:34:27:13
Gregory Siff
Then I’m like, “Okay, this is more than just a decoration. I’m telling people about what he said and where we’re at.” And that was when it became even a moment for me that it was—you’re in the right spot and this is—we’re going to keep this going.

00:34:27:15 – 00:34:50:18
Gregory Siff
And that’s when the interest happens. And that’s when you ask what happened with that piece and like, that sold. And now you’re like, “Oh my gosh, now I can—that’s my rent for a year now.” Yeah. What do we want to do? Like where can we use this to—what could you do with this kind of idea like financial creativity?

00:34:50:20 – 00:35:18:10
Gregory Siff
What have you never built? Who do you need to help? Does it even change your process? Having money—does it take away from it? So these were all kind of like little lessons just by getting out there. But I will say it took some time for me leaving New York because I’m from like a very close-knit family—have Italian Sunday dinner and Jewish.

00:35:18:10 – 00:35:36:00
Gregory Siff
My dad was Jewish, my mom Italian. And I mean, I grew up around so much love and every time I’m in LA, like I was always like, “I’m giving this so I can get back there.” But I did use a lot of years there, and now I’m trying to get back that way.

00:35:36:02 – 00:35:54:04
Brandon Adams
You think it’s—you talked about the name of your show. It’s very personal. You know, every time you go to do a show, how many names have you just thrown off the cuff versus like, “I really need to speak from my heart with the name of the show”? Always, always.

00:35:54:06 – 00:36:30:09
Gregory Siff
I’m going to tell you a great one. And I say it’s great because it came through me and I was painting a show two years ago and I was—couldn’t name it, but I was in it. I was taking relics from pieces of the studio, pieces of wood, pieces of moments of my life. Yeah. And taking in those 15 years being out in LA and I couldn’t find the title, and I went to sleep in my room next to my girl, and I noticed from a photographer I had these pieces of wood, my friend Listack had wrote on the wall,

00:36:30:11 – 00:36:52:17
Gregory Siff
“To understand time, you have to destroy time.” But it was crossed out and was hidden in the thing. I was like, “To understand time.” I was like, “To understand time is why we’re doing this.” So I lay down in my bed and after painting—we’re getting closer to the end—and I go, “To understand time, to understand today in my eyes.”

00:36:52:19 – 00:37:15:16
Gregory Siff
That’s what I saw. And like—I mean, that was a download. God was just like—and my girl, my baby, she says, “Write that down.” And I wrote down, “Today in my eyes.” That’s all time is—just today, right now. The 24 hours that you get, and that each day is a small life.

00:37:15:16 – 00:37:35:00
Gregory Siff
We saw that written on a rug in—we were in Austria. I was working on a project for Bogner, the ski brand, and that was written in German on the rug, “Each day is a small life.” But the title of the show is “To Understand Time.” And then I was in the shower taking these cold showers like cold plunge.

00:37:35:04 – 00:37:53:08
Gregory Siff
And it started coming to me. And this poem, like this Doctor Seuss poem, came: “To understand time, to understand time you had to walk through the cold. To understand time one must forget what is old. To understand time you got to hang with your soul and swim in the sun just moments ago. Find what you love and never let go.”

00:37:53:10 – 00:38:22:12
Gregory Siff
“Look out to the sky and let them all know I’ve been at it for days. But what does that mean for people to see and powers to be seen? I feel like me when I’m painting these skies. I look down at my hands and see today in my eyes,” bro. I had the shower written on the notebook and I was just like, “This became like the Doctor Seuss poem of the show.”

00:38:22:12 – 00:38:49:05
Gregory Siff
And it was like when I saw the paint on my hands, I know I’m me. Yeah, you know. And it was just like—so all the titles of the shows. And now as I’m approaching this show that’s going to be at the TF Gallery in Dallas April 9th, that’s why I’m out here. Yeah. And this worked out so great—I’m walking through Dallas by myself, looking at all the downtown, looking at people, looking at what brings a city together like a visitor, like I’m an alien from another planet.

00:38:49:05 – 00:39:14:02
Gregory Siff
Even though I’ve been here for five years coming back and forth for different things, trying to find what my song to Dallas is. So I just have to stay constant in the work. That’s it. And then it’ll come. It’s got to come. It can’t be like, “What’s going to look dope on a t-shirt?” Yeah. It’s got to be like—

00:39:14:04 – 00:39:30:15
Gregory Siff
and it’s there. That’s—and you can’t take credit for it. Like, I mean—none of it. Yeah. It’s all a participate story piece. Like without the people, there’s no painting; without the prayer, there’s no paint.

00:39:30:17 – 00:39:59:22
Brandon Adams
That’s really cool, man. I really love that story. That makes me reflect on some of the stuff that I’ve done as well and how it means. And it’s very a parallel path to the way that you thought about that. I remember one of my favorite ones was maybe my first show I named “DNR: Do Not Resuscitate,” and I had a picture of dead flowers on the top of it.

00:39:59:24 – 00:40:19:08
Brandon Adams
And I remember the gallery owner looking at me going, “DNR—like, that’s dark. Like, there’s gonna be some people are going to be offended by this.” And I said, “Well, I’m giving everything for this. Like, I’m giving my life to this. This is all of me. So once it passes, do not resuscitate. This takes everything for this.”

00:40:19:10 – 00:40:43:18
Brandon Adams
And I just remember thinking how proud I was of expressing that because I wanted somebody to understand what it means to me in my heart. Right. Because painting, I think, is not about color choice. It’s not about stroke. It’s not about literally what you create, but it’s about you telling somebody, like, “I was here,” you know?

00:40:43:20 – 00:40:53:16
Brandon Adams
And it’s just a time capsule. I had a friend that died at an early age, and every time it’s made me think, “I’ve made my mark on this earth. DNR.”

00:40:53:16 – 00:41:19:04
Gregory Siff
Man, that is so important. Because even in the themes of the painting, like you just said about your friend, Memento Mori and just saying—like for two things for me, it makes me think of my father because he was the type of guy like, “You weren’t—I have an artificial breath in here.” Like, “This is I’m going out with the strength that I have with me because I’m not a vegetable.

00:41:19:06 – 00:41:41:11
Gregory Siff
I’m not a piece of garbage. I’m the full rotation of what my arc is, and that’s where it is. Do not resuscitate. This is how it is.” And Memento Mori is like the paintings of the skulls and like the Renaissance pieces—those are reminders like there is an end. Dude, life is so cool that we think it’s just like, “Turn on the phone again.

00:41:41:11 – 00:42:00:23
Gregory Siff
Turn on the phone again.” One day the phone does not turn on. And we don’t know that. So why not act like it? Why not take the 24 hours? Did you do something good today? Did you create something today? Did you mean something for someone? Did you leave something for someone? And that’s really cool that you got that at your first show.

00:42:01:00 – 00:42:12:03
Gregory Siff
You cut right to the root of it and that was important. And that was something to help you deal with your friend and also you said, “I was here.” That show will never go away. Yeah. It’s respect.

00:42:12:03 – 00:42:23:17
Brandon Adams
Yeah. No, I mean, I don’t know, I think sometimes you start getting into your thoughts with people and you start to tell them about stuff—you know, they’re probably checking out because you’ve gone way deeper than they want in conversation. But I told you this earlier—

00:42:23:17 – 00:42:24:22
Gregory Siff
You were mentioning this.

00:42:24:24 – 00:42:32:14
Brandon Adams
Like, I can’t stand a shallow conversation. I can’t take it. I really need to tell you how I feel for it to even mean something. Yes.

00:42:32:16 – 00:43:03:14
Gregory Siff
Don’t give me five minutes of the weather. Yeah, let’s talk about it. I mean, sometimes people have a hard time communicating. Or like you were saying, I love that you’re leaving your legacy for your wisdom for students and kids that are trying to find their purpose, place, their life and it does take the wind out of your sails when there’s no enthusiasm, when there’s no passion.

00:43:03:16 – 00:43:19:18
Gregory Siff
And if it’s just like—like my dad’s best friend Joey Rinaldi says, “If you don’t want to be at my dinner table, don’t come.” Like, don’t show up to the table. If you don’t want to be here, don’t do it because I have to go. Yeah. Stop doing what you feel like you have to do.

00:43:19:20 – 00:43:49:05
Gregory Siff
Go and do what you’re here to do. I just—it’s tough. It is. I don’t know, man, I try to live it to the bone and to the marrow and do that as much as possible. And that’s why this is really cool to talk to another one—like one of us, like the tribe of here, you know, let’s get it. Like, let’s get the best out of ourselves for the rest of everyone.

00:43:58:14 – 00:44:12:05
Brandon Adams
When you—thank you for that. When you first—you said when you’re 33, had you already had a style up to this point or were you still on a journey?

00:44:12:07 – 00:44:32:02
Gregory Siff
So great question. I love a few things. I was like, “How’s everyone going to know it’s my stuff?” You know, I love all these things and I love blue, red and yellow at the time. The primary colors made me feel like those are when you’re a kid. You get those colors, you can go anywhere. I was just thinking about my mom, “When you were little, you used to color.”

00:44:32:04 – 00:44:55:02
Gregory Siff
That was the title, with the crayons. But when I started one day—I was painting this show with actually a great friend of mine who’s out here, another artist who’s an incredible painter now. He—at first, you know, he was helping assist artists out in LA and his name is William Atkinson. Dope.

00:44:55:04 – 00:45:18:15
Gregory Siff
Multimedia, Street, Fine. But he—I was doing a show at that time when he wasn’t painting. He was doing some stuff, but I was building this show and I had lots of different pieces and styles and I was like, “I just want to take this Sharpie and I want to do 100 faces or a thousand faces.”

00:45:18:15 – 00:45:35:15
Gregory Siff
How many faces fit on the canvas, and write a word under each of them. And I was sitting in there like, “Just do it, just do it. Just take the Sharpie till it’s burnt out. Like, start it when it’s juicy, go all the way down the canvas.” And that was the first time that I had really put that together.

00:45:35:15 – 00:45:57:06
Gregory Siff
I was like, “I like that.” I like the way that it was an exercise. The painting was done when the marker was done, and then that was like—I like the symbols in the faces. Then I did a big mural with the can and then I did 100 faces on canvas. And I liked how people could find themselves in each different face.

00:45:57:10 – 00:46:30:01
Gregory Siff
And then it turned into symbology and symbols, because a symbol could stand for someone. And so it took me a bit to find that style. And I knew I had loved—like there were so many different people that I met through art that I would be amazed. And being in LA, I was able to go see a show with Shepard Fairey and go see the murals of The Seventh Letter and I got to interact with my environments and really look at process and just take it all in.

00:46:30:03 – 00:46:51:08
Gregory Siff
So it took me some time to find that voice. But then when you—you don’t want to repeat the same painting a million times. You want to have a different feeling but use the same instrument—like you got a trumpet or a saxophone, but you’re sad in this one, or you’re wild in this one.

00:46:51:10 – 00:47:11:12
Gregory Siff
And that started to—and then I started doing murals in LA, and after the street art came the murals, which were like—those become like identifiers and meeting places, connection places, points. There are people like, “Yo, I know you”—you don’t know someone, but they know you. Yeah, that was cool. Yeah, that was something where I was like, “Okay, I’m not stopping.”

00:47:11:13 – 00:47:24:22
Gregory Siff
“Let’s go. Beverly Hills, Long Beach, wherever it was, Detroit.” You start to make these giant paintings that might get painted over one day.

00:47:24:24 – 00:47:28:06
Brandon Adams
So you started out with a Sharpie black, I’m guessing. Yes.

00:47:28:06 – 00:47:29:12
Gregory Siff
Love that.

00:47:29:14 – 00:47:43:11
Brandon Adams
I’ve noticed a lot of yours are iconography, but they’re mostly black. Right. But I’ve seen a lot of them that you’ve spotted in color too. When did you start to transition into bringing color back into this?

00:47:43:13 – 00:48:03:08
Gregory Siff
I really liked—there was one day I just had—and a great artist uses what they have around them, and that’s really cool. Because sometimes you might have some coffee and carrots and then you’re going to try and figure it out, it’s going to get stained and things are going to—but some days you have a lot of stuff.

00:48:03:10 – 00:48:30:17
Gregory Siff
But I started cutting open a lot of the markers that the tips were all busted up on and—you know, like Pollock in them, flinging them around and getting a lot of—I just had to kind of go to a—I loved the idea, like, “This is the next phase of the next—different but it’s the same.” It’s different but the same in colors and material. Then whether using spray paint or oil paint or acrylic paint.

00:48:30:17 – 00:48:52:09
Gregory Siff
And that’s where you—when you say collaboration, there’s a lot of collaborating going on. You learn things from people. I love painting with my friends. So if we’re painting together, we’re friends. It’s not about because you know, we’re going to get to hang out and like make something and do stuff.

00:48:52:09 – 00:49:10:17
Gregory Siff
And I think there’s a lot of love—love comes out of collaboration and you get to learn your threshold of what a good piece is. And you learn different things from people. And I think that that’s cool. But I feel very happy that I was able to be in a space where so many people were doing art.

00:49:10:17 – 00:49:30:07
Gregory Siff
Yeah, at that time it was really cool. And then the diehards and the ones that loved it are the ones that are still doing it, sharing it.

00:49:30:09 – 00:49:39:09
Brandon Adams
How did you start to polish what you were doing into next level? Because I’ve seen you use not just Sharpies. I’ve seen use Krinks.

00:49:39:11 – 00:49:39:24
Gregory Siff
Love them.

00:49:39:24 – 00:49:53:08
Brandon Adams
Yeah. And you want to talk about the process of like, not only have you found a style and you love this—I don’t want to say simplistic, but you’ve kind of gotten it down to silhouettes or shadow based—

00:49:53:10 – 00:49:56:19
Gregory Siff
So—

00:49:56:21 – 00:50:16:08
Gregory Siff
use something every day. And I like that Krink K-60 was something that was used to get your name up. And then I started using that on the canvas. And I liked using the material that we use outdoors indoors. And it was just—but it’s like, I don’t know what the millimeter it’s called, maybe was 0.05mm, a one millimeter—

00:50:16:08 – 00:50:21:03
Gregory Siff
the nub on the mop. And there’s just ways you just start, like, I was like, “Okay, I don’t need the thin marker and that and that. Just using this, that’s all you got.” Yeah. So I would just like—I think I have one in here. But I think I got one in here. Come on, Jay, you got to—we got a marker in here.

00:50:49:09 – 00:50:50:10
Brandon Adams
Let me have one at my desk.

00:50:50:13 – 00:51:08:23
Gregory Siff
Oh wait, I got it, I got it. It’s in the back pocket. It’s in the back. I’ve been walking around the city, but, okay. So, yeah, like, physically, I’ll throw this down on over here while we’re talking. Let’s do it. I’ll roll it on here and I’ll—let me see. We got some paper and—

00:51:19:04 – 00:51:23:23
Gregory Siff
We got—

00:51:24:00 – 00:51:33:06
Gregory Siff
Okay, good. So there is one in here. So I would just—

00:51:33:08 – 00:51:37:08
Brandon Adams
Sometimes they always do that. Yeah. I’ve ruined so much stuff I can’t even tell you.

00:51:37:11 – 00:51:58:14
Gregory Siff
I once did a mural in the owner of SoulCycle’s home. Yeah. And with there’s another brand called Grog from Italy. And I once pulled that—I had my music on. I was in the mode. I pull the cap off and it takes the nub with it. But I was looking at the wall, and I’m like—I pull the cap off and I’m holding this thing.

00:51:58:16 – 00:52:17:10
Gregory Siff
Cap comes off and I go like this. I have music, I don’t hear it for a minute. I just feel the lightness coming out—hot pink all over this brand new floor with the marbles running everywhere. And I had—I was ready to just go boom. I’m the Picasso, you know? Yeah.

00:52:17:10 – 00:52:39:04
Gregory Siff
I threw my clothes onto the thing, wiped it up, and it was hot pink. And I was like, “I got to go tell her.” And I went in the other room and I said, “Hey.” And I found myself. That was one of the greatest things. My manager, Lisa, got me—we could talk about that because we got to get to the business situation.

00:52:39:06 – 00:52:56:20
Gregory Siff
But the head of SoulCycle—I did about like a tour of all the SoulCycles. I did murals, I did an apparel deal and did a bunch of cool stuff. A Levi’s jacket with them, tights. And this was like, “Okay, we want it in the home now.” And this happened. And she was cool with it.

00:52:56:20 – 00:53:15:21
Gregory Siff
And luckily, like they were able to—I think they had to put new wood down because that stuff stained pink on a beautiful wood floor like this. Yeah. And that was one of my lessons ever since then, I will—doesn’t matter. You got to check before you get the action. And that’s happened to someone. Now they’re dropping it.

00:53:16:00 – 00:53:34:04
Brandon Adams
You know what’s so funny is like, I was doing a mural in someone’s house as well. Same thing happened. I was—it was literally—I like to use like that dot to put two highlights on the other side of an eye. Right. And so it’s a perfect round circle. It’s a perfect highlight. I go up, touch it and it goes poof.

00:53:34:04 – 00:53:45:01
Brandon Adams
Look, the cap is in here. And it’s just run straight down the wall. And you know, that stuff is oil based and you’re used to painting in like spray paint and you can’t—and it takes years for that to dry. Right.

00:53:45:01 – 00:53:45:12
Gregory Siff
Yes.

00:53:45:12 – 00:54:04:00
Brandon Adams
And so here I am like trying to scrape it down the wall to try to get the oil off of it so I can spray paint over the top and then spray paint on the top and bubble through. And I was like, I finally got it fixed up. And if I went back to do it again and it came off again, and my friend looked at me and he goes, “Twice.” He goes, “We could have been out of here two hours ago.” I was like—

00:54:04:17 – 00:54:05:04
Gregory Siff
It popped twice?

00:54:05:04 – 00:54:12:24
Brandon Adams
Twice. Twice. And I was just so frustrated because I didn’t go through the process again of taking the lid and making sure it was stuck there.

00:54:12:24 – 00:54:36:12
Gregory Siff
Yeah. Yes. Brutal. And sometimes those accidents can work. If that was an eye, you don’t want to be crying and like—yes. But so the question you ask me is like how do you—how did the tools—I just started getting very comfortable with one tool. And that’s why my mural at Defy is made with Krink.

00:54:36:12 – 00:54:59:00
Gregory Siff
And that’s why when I feel most comfortable is like I know what that tool is going to do. So I started doing these portraits and—I mean, I’m going to just try and do a quick one like I can. I was dreaming this too. Like what if I—Devin Rodriguez, he’s done portraits in the subway. I don’t know if you’re familiar with his work. Pops up on Instagram.

00:54:59:02 – 00:55:16:11
Gregory Siff
I just think it’s so cool that they’re having a conversation about it. It’s just you have to have two brains. One that’s asking the question, one that’s taking that in and then pushing it out into the thing.

00:55:16:11 – 00:55:19:17
Gregory Siff
But that does—

00:55:19:17 – 00:55:21:09
Brandon Adams
That dude’s incredible, by the way.

00:55:21:09 – 00:55:27:13
Gregory Siff
Yeah. Yes.

00:55:27:15 – 00:55:42:13
Gregory Siff
I mean, this is just fun, but I’m just doing it in—

00:55:42:15 – 00:55:54:03
Brandon Adams
Super awesome to sit here and watch somebody kind of go through their magic and do their thing, you know, and it’s like those moments. I mean, you just kind of live through them, you know what I mean?

00:55:54:05 – 00:55:56:13
Gregory Siff
So I just did a quick one like that.

00:55:56:15 – 00:55:57:08
Brandon Adams
That is so cool.

00:55:57:08 – 00:56:19:04
Gregory Siff
With the drip on the hat and you see the—oh, I got some paint on my jeans when that happens. Yeah. This is all with the one nub and the one line, and I love it. Yeah, I love these kind of in the moment. You at this moment. You asking me questions?

00:56:19:06 – 00:56:32:14
Gregory Siff
Yeah. Me asking you questions. That’s what’s the—it’s just part of this. So that’s awesome. I’m gonna let that—that’s going to be juicy. You might leave a little black on the glass but we could get that off of there.

00:56:32:16 – 00:56:33:19
Brandon Adams
Yeah. Look, man, I’ve got—

00:56:33:19 – 00:56:37:06
Gregory Siff
Then I got a remnant right there and I could do one for myself to remember.

00:56:37:08 – 00:56:42:05
Brandon Adams
I’ve got paint on literally everything I own. I’m glad it went on me.

00:56:42:11 – 00:56:44:19
Gregory Siff
Yeah. And you got paint on everything you own.

00:56:44:19 – 00:56:46:12
Brandon Adams
Everything you own. You know how it is. I mean—

00:56:46:12 – 00:56:47:00
Gregory Siff
Yes.

00:56:47:02 – 00:57:02:10
Brandon Adams
And you know, it—you said it last time. You said like, you know you’re in it when you look over and you see the remnants. I mean, I’ve got stuff and I don’t want to scrub everything off because you know what that does to your fingers. It just makes them like crack and bleed and everything else.

00:57:02:10 – 00:57:06:23
Brandon Adams
So sometimes you have to let that paint live there for a day or two before it comes off with soap and water.

00:57:06:23 – 00:57:30:05
Gregory Siff
Yes. Especially this stuff. Yeah, I like that. Like here we got a little bit of black on this pair. I’ll remember that on February 24th, right, 2026. We were kicking it over here that now there’s going to be more going on this eventually. New jeans like this part of the story. And like we were saying you want to leave that story.

00:57:30:05 – 00:57:49:08
Gregory Siff
You want to leave that mark. You want to share that. Yeah. And that’s like when you fall in love. There’s a quote about the flowers—the smell of the flowers stay on the hand that gives the flowers too. And it’s just like this works both ways. So like the memories are still here.

00:57:49:08 – 00:57:52:07
Brandon Adams
That’s cool, man. I really like that.

00:57:52:09 – 00:58:20:19
Gregory Siff
But what I love about your podcast is it always relates to building your legend, your story, your business, your entrepreneur, how you can grow, how you can take a piece of paper and turn that into the whole thing—a life. Yep, a life. And I wouldn’t have been able to do that with who I am is like, I’m painting and just a kid having fun. Like, it sounds like kid stuff, you know, you’re out there just doing.

00:58:20:19 – 00:58:36:20
Gregory Siff
But there’s people that you’ll meet on your path that’ll be like, “Hey, I love what you do. How can I be a part of this?” Don’t be afraid of that. Not everyone’s there to take from you; a lot of them want to lift you up and be a part of the process.

00:58:36:20 – 00:58:55:12
Gregory Siff
And that’s how I met my manager, Lisa Falcone. Lisa Christina. And she was like, “How can I help you?” She had a gallery, and I brought my art out there, and I never heard of an art manager. I just had been in galleries and, you know, galleries take a percentage.

00:58:55:12 – 00:59:17:08
Gregory Siff
And I was like, “Well, I have all these emails and I can’t answer them all the time because I’m painting.” There would be a lot of different things. And sometimes the artist is not the best person to talk about the money with someone because with the relationship between an artist and a collector is more—it’s not just like—I never call them—it’s not a product and it’s not a—what’s the word?

00:59:17:10 – 00:59:41:18
Gregory Siff
Collector is a good term, but it’s not a client. I don’t—I never use that word because I never felt that. Because everyone who’s had it has had like a piece of my story and who I am and piece of the world that I’m living. And then it’s a shared thing, and then you show up and you become family. Yeah.

00:59:41:18 – 01:00:01:23
Gregory Siff
It’s, you know, like when someone finds their connection with your work and you bring it and whether you install it or you visit it or you have conversations about it, it’s really, really moving. So Lisa saw that and she took care of that part.

01:00:01:23 – 01:00:31:02
Gregory Siff
And then I gave her these emails and she sold a flag—a commission flag that I painted. She had got a commission. She took my pieces that were at that time maybe like 5,000 to 25,000 started to giving me the freedom to paint more. And that was something that like I highly suggest as you get to that spot where you’re comfortable with your work and even—I mean, we have no control of when that person is going to come into your life, right?

01:00:31:02 – 01:00:51:21
Gregory Siff
It’s very hard to do it on your own. And then that was an important moment for me when you get it—it’s just great when someone wants to spend as much time on what you believe in as you do. Yeah. You know, you got someone—you could tell when someone’s like, “There’s no 9 to 5 in this thing.”

01:00:51:23 – 01:01:10:10
Brandon Adams
Yeah. The cool thing about that, too, is like you learn to rely on people a little bit, right? It’s “Rising tide raises all ships.” Right. And so as you rely on these people to kind of do their part, it allows you to free up and do your own part, right. You can really focus on the things you’re good at, as opposed to diversifying all the way across.

01:01:10:10 – 01:01:31:19
Brandon Adams
Because to make this thing into a business literally where you can live, where you can eat every day and you can pay your bills and you’re not behind on things—because that’s the thing that knocks a lot of artists off their pedestal is they just don’t have consistent money coming in. Right. And what you’re saying is you found somebody to kind of help you get past the,

01:01:31:21 – 01:01:52:09
Brandon Adams
“All right, let me make the calls. Let me make the emails. Let me make the introductions. Let me sell my own artwork. Let me be there to preach to these other people about who I am and what I’m doing.” Now, take all that away. “Let me create.” And then by doing that, you were able to just blossom and take it to another stratosphere.

01:01:52:11 – 01:02:11:03
Gregory Siff
Completely. Yeah. That’s exactly—that’s when it feels really good. Because then it’s hard to have all that buzzing going on. You don’t want to paint for the dollar because you’re not going to be painting the right stuff. And there are waves. There’s sometimes like people are in it.

01:02:11:05 – 01:02:33:20
Gregory Siff
People are all about you and you’ve sold ten paintings, and then there’s all this stuff, and then there’s these still moments and you’re like, “Okay, why? Well, let’s make what you feel now.” Or like, “Let’s get even more creative. Let’s get—let’s figure out how are we going to do—” Maybe it’s a call to go experience more things in the outside world.

01:02:33:20 – 01:02:55:00
Gregory Siff
You’re in the studio too long trying to—you need to go on a trip. You need it. You need to see how people eat here. You need to go to Australia, go to Tokyo, go down the block and just walk a little bit. That’s something to—but it’s definitely a crazy ride.

01:02:55:00 – 01:03:19:01
Gregory Siff
And I’ve devoted my life to it. And now that I’m getting older—I’ll never really be old, I’m just saying like I’m maturing in my ways—I want to get back to the things that like—I want to keep more family moments in there because those are great. And I want to keep painting and creating wherever I go.

01:03:19:01 – 01:03:36:01
Gregory Siff
So I keep these—I always have a notebook with you. I’ll always have something that’s going to make you feel like you got some—like we maybe we should add some color to that later.

01:03:36:03 – 01:03:38:16
Brandon Adams
Like it’s your hand. You do it how you need to do it.

01:03:38:16 – 01:04:03:18
Gregory Siff
But, yeah, man, that was probably—I’ve met so many different people that have been mentors to me and show me it’s possible. And that’s like when I came out to LA and I saw—I was doing acting and I saw another artist, one of my heroes and inspirations, Louis Cannizzaro.

01:04:03:22 – 01:04:21:15
Gregory Siff
His name is Powder French. And he was doing—did a book of poetry with his art in it, and he self-published. Like he showed me, like, “If you want to make a book and you got to do—you can do it yourself.” And then like, “Just do crazy things.”

01:04:21:20 – 01:04:40:22
Gregory Siff
He said, “Do at least one crazy thing a day. Call up the museum and say, ‘Hey, do you want my paintings?’” You know? And if they say no, he was like, “Okay, well maybe you need a postcard for the gift shop.” And then he got into the MoMA that way. Get creative with where do you see your art—what do you love?

01:04:40:23 – 01:05:00:04
Gregory Siff
Do you love watching UFC? Do you love watching fights? And send a wild email out. You do a painting of someone and send that—you miss a million percent of the shots you don’t take. I shoot all day. It’s free to shoot. Yeah, it takes a little bit of effort.

01:05:00:06 – 01:05:01:06
Gregory Siff
Yeah. That’s it.

01:05:01:09 – 01:05:14:01
Brandon Adams
Well, I hear a lot of people ask me, “Brandon, where do I start? I’m into art. I want to get out there, and I want to be in galleries, and I want to do this.” And I tell everybody it’s a long road, you know?

01:05:14:01 – 01:05:16:11
Gregory Siff
You know?

01:05:16:13 – 01:05:19:18
Brandon Adams
But the first thing you should do is share it.

01:05:19:20 – 01:05:20:13
Gregory Siff
Share it.

01:05:20:15 – 01:05:24:08
Brandon Adams
Because a lot of times people create this art and they keep it here.

01:05:24:10 – 01:05:25:06
Gregory Siff
Here.

01:05:25:08 – 01:05:41:03
Brandon Adams
You know, they don’t want to put their heart out there for people to kick, right? They don’t want to put it out there. Yeah. And it’s a hard thing because people will kick. They’re going to say, “You suck.” And I’ve heard people say, “You’re amazing.” You’re probably neither one of those. You’re probably somewhere in the middle, right?

01:05:41:05 – 01:05:43:03
Brandon Adams
So just put it out there, man.

01:05:43:03 – 01:05:57:09
Gregory Siff
Put it out there. That’s so great. Share it, you said. And guess what? When people kick back at that, you’re going to learn how to stand up for yourself. You’re going to be number one and be like, “No.” And then you’re going to find people who actually like your work, who come and stand up for you.

01:05:57:09 – 01:06:12:20
Gregory Siff
That’s how I met one of my best friends. Like, someone was like, “Gregory sucks major.” And I went off on it on—there was on like the message boards of street art back in the day. And I was like—I threw a Kanye lyric on there, like, “There will always be hate and this is the way it is.

01:06:12:20 – 01:06:33:19
Gregory Siff
They marry hate and have hated kids.” And one of my buddies was like, “Oh damn, you did.” And that connected us—that we both had someone that didn’t like who I was, and I was like, “Okay, I just stood up for myself. That felt good.” And I’m not—no one’s going to—not everyone is going to.

01:06:33:21 – 01:06:48:02
Gregory Siff
Don’t try and do that. That’s another thing—like, not everyone’s going to like your stuff because there’s a million styles of music on iTunes. Yeah. You know—like so I heard you say like you’re not into the classical music.

01:06:48:02 – 01:06:49:02
Brandon Adams
Classical. I heard—

01:06:49:02 – 01:07:03:19
Gregory Siff
you say that. I was like, “Damn.” I didn’t know that—like, sometimes there’s different versions of classical, but like, you can’t force someone into something they don’t like. You could taste the dish. You don’t have to love it. Sure, but then you move on to it. So don’t worry about it.

01:07:03:19 – 01:07:14:12
Gregory Siff
If there’s any advice that I could give is: Make what you want to hang up on your wall. Like, make what you want to see. That’s kind of like what I started to do at first.

01:07:14:13 – 01:07:29:01
Brandon Adams
And that’s interesting because I’ve heard artists say, “You never know what’s going to hit. And when it hits, you roll with it.” And I—man, that was a hard pill for me to swallow.

01:07:29:07 – 01:07:31:02
Gregory Siff
You never know what’s going to hit.

01:07:31:03 – 01:07:41:23
Brandon Adams
Because I just love kind of meandering through a bunch of different things. I sculpt, I do murals, I do—it’s like I love—

01:07:41:23 – 01:08:03:17
Gregory Siff
And then you got the fine stuff too. I mean, I don’t know how you do that, but that’s great that you have those kind of different areas to share. So different people can find something in it. Maybe someone loves the whole arc because it all comes from you. Maybe they’re like, “You know what? I just go over here. I love your sculptures.” Yeah.

01:08:09:14 – 01:08:36:09
Brandon Adams
Well, it’s just—I mean, to me, it’s very hard for me to succeed with people knowing my stuff immediately. You know what I mean? A lot of people say, “Oh, I can tell by your color you use, or I can see your style that you paint in,” and blah, blah, blah, right. And so I do get that, but I don’t get—like I’m probably one of 20 people they could recognize, but I don’t have something that is like, “That guy right there is independent.”

01:08:36:10 – 01:08:51:17
Brandon Adams
So I tried to do that for a while, but it wasn’t in my heart. You know? And I was like, “I don’t want to just create something just so I can say I’m unique.” I did it by myself—but I just want to express and all of my paintings tell a story, every one of them.

01:08:51:17 – 01:09:03:08
Brandon Adams
And that’s where I’m at. And if somebody doesn’t like that for that and you can’t take that journey with me, I’m out anyways, you know? This is for me. I’m doing this. Yeah.

01:09:03:08 – 01:09:22:03
Gregory Siff
I’m glad that you didn’t change for someone else’s, like, “Oh, that’s not the way.” No, this is the way. This is my way. I’m the way. Yeah. You got to walk in that and not everyone can do the things that you do. And the large scale portraiture and with can work.

01:09:22:03 – 01:09:47:17
Gregory Siff
And those are the—it’s never finished. Right. I feel like that’s one thing—we’re never finished with the painting and your style is always going, your mood to changing. And it’s nice to count on one set of ways to express like the icons and the symbols. But then let’s zoom in on one of them.

01:09:47:17 – 01:09:54:08
Gregory Siff
Let’s get creative with the way that people can experience it. But and still know it’s you.

01:09:54:10 – 01:10:22:09
Brandon Adams
Well, I mean, I just think of like people like Picasso—they went through all seasons of their life where their style completely changed. And I don’t mean like a little. I mean, “Hey, I’m no longer a fine artist. I am a abstract artist now.” And it’s like those two mindsets are—that’s almost like someone took ayahuasca or whatever to—

01:10:22:09 – 01:10:30:12
Brandon Adams
completely change themselves as who they are because those—I don’t see that. I can’t see the connection right, of how those two people think.

01:10:30:15 – 01:10:58:02
Gregory Siff
The cubist to like the baroque stuff and then going the blue period and then the portraiture from when he was younger and then just going back to like painting like a kid like that expression. I love that, to get the power in those lines that are so rudimentary. Once someone said that about like, “Oh, your lines are so rudimentary,” but there’s something there.

01:10:58:02 – 01:11:23:02
Gregory Siff
It’s like it’s there because I’m present in the moment. And that’s why what I love about Picasso is like you have to do all that. And how do you live to 92? You have all those years baked in to the whole thing to get to where it is. And I’d say—I’m curious to see what your work is going to look like later on and maybe it’s a complete abandon of everything.

01:11:23:02 – 01:11:38:06
Gregory Siff
It’s like—and as you move into the future with everything. Yeah, that’s what I love about what I live for—that I go to museums and think about these stories and see where they live later.

01:11:38:12 – 01:11:55:04
Brandon Adams
You know, it’s like cracking a glass ceiling, right? Like you never go back to what it was. And that’s what he’s done. He’s shut that chapter—like his are so distinct because they looked a certain way and then they never looked that way again. It wasn’t like they just got better. It was like, “Door shut.”

01:11:55:06 – 01:11:56:23
Gregory Siff
New me.

01:11:57:00 – 01:12:01:21
Brandon Adams
Here I am. Door shut. New me, here I am. And it was successful at every stage.

01:12:01:23 – 01:12:19:14
Gregory Siff
And that’s brave to do, especially if everyone’s eating it up and buying something that you do. And then you’re like, “This is the new thing.” I’ve had to do that a few times and sometimes it doesn’t catch on right away. Maybe you sell like one out of a set of nine, and then the rhythm comes new.

01:12:19:14 – 01:12:44:17
Gregory Siff
New, yeah. And new sounds out of the instrument. Yeah. And you were talking about this with Boo-Boo about Andre 3000, just like the flute album. And he’s like, “Dude. Yes.” Find new places where you can discover something about yourself. And he was going through so many things like that—

01:12:44:17 – 01:13:07:00
Gregory Siff
had to say there’s a different—the paintbrush is going to sing, the mic is going to sing, the guitar is going to—where do we go with it? You know, it takes me back. Maybe I will make that movie one day and it’ll be the art. Maybe I’m living the movie. Maybe you’ll find the thing that brings them to the other without someone pushing you because that’s the way.

01:13:07:01 – 01:13:28:17
Gregory Siff
That’s what’s so cool about art—is you can go to school for it and you don’t have to go to school for it and you can do all of it. You should learn—like my first art school is going to museums and hanging out with artists and just knowing, like, “Why do those colors look so cool?” Right? There’s a Rauschenberg combine of—not a combine, but a painting.

01:13:28:18 – 01:13:49:00
Gregory Siff
It’s called “Bed,” and it’s just a bed that’s on the wall that’s framed out and there’s like paint dripping out of it—almost looks like Krink. And it’s got color in it. It’s like he slept—he slept in his dream. He slept in the paint. And I was like, “Did he sleep in that bed?”

01:13:49:00 – 01:14:13:18
Gregory Siff
Is that the paint? I was like, “Why? Why is this—why does it mean something to me?” Yeah. Like, “I want to go to bed and sleep in there and wake up with paint all over my hair.” And that’s in like—the van Gogh movie is like one person’s painting, one person’s opus. One person’s painting can rivet you to the point of where you have an opus inside of you.

01:14:13:20 – 01:14:35:03
Gregory Siff
And I will always respect art for that. I mean, everybody is an artist; we practice it in different ways. But like when you find what that is, just like sleeping in bed and live it and you won’t have to—it doesn’t feel like going to the gym where you have to get that workout in.

01:14:35:03 – 01:14:40:17
Gregory Siff
No, it’s like you just wake up and you’re in it. You’re already doing sets.

01:14:40:17 – 01:14:44:10
Brandon Adams
Go to the point that you’re at right now, what do you see as a—

01:14:44:10 – 01:14:45:01
Gregory Siff
a—

01:14:45:03 – 01:14:49:10
Brandon Adams
Challenge? What are you scared of? What do you fear right now?

01:14:49:10 – 01:14:53:22
Gregory Siff
I’ll be honest.

01:14:53:24 – 01:15:18:23
Gregory Siff
The engine of the heart—I want to say it’s limitless. I want to say there’s enough gasoline to carry you all the way through. I want to be inspired deeper. And I think that you find it after you start getting to the rhythm. You want to go to new places. I want to go deeper in my relationships, in love.

01:15:19:00 – 01:15:46:16
Gregory Siff
I want—I guess I’m afraid of telling the same story because when my dad went, he came back to me in my work and gave me that energy—gave me like, “I’m going to connect. Like, if I’m doing good on earth, you’re feeling it. I’m doing good here.” And that’s always like one of the impetus of my work—is just like connection and happiness.

01:15:46:18 – 01:16:10:06
Gregory Siff
While you’re here, amidst all the different challenges of love and life and loss and all these things. So I know that’s always going to be there, but I want to—it doesn’t scare me, but I want to be ready for the next. Whoosh! I want to be open to it. And that’s what’s really cool about me coming to a new location.

01:16:10:08 – 01:16:29:03
Gregory Siff
Coming and seeing Dallas. I love—like you got to go on foot and I got to do that. Walks are so cool, man. If you ever feel uninspired, walk and just look around because you drive—so we drive so quick and then we’re in the bubble of the thing and we see what we see.

01:16:29:03 – 01:16:56:23
Gregory Siff
But when you’re in it, you got to slow down. So I mean, I guess I’m afraid of taking too much time to think or too much time to absorb. And I want to have another powerful, powerful experience of expression. I don’t want to be making sandwiches. I don’t want to be, “Here’s a day like this”—don’t thump that—”Oh, here’s your sandwich.” Yeah. Oh wait, that’s not the trophy.

01:16:57:00 – 01:17:22:04
Gregory Siff
And I want to keep that reminder. And, you know, having places like this—I like having a studio, having spaces that are extensions of your heart. Like, where—inside someone’s heart, when you’re in their studio, you’re walking around and you’re like, “Where does that mean? Where I like you?” I want to bring that, yeah.

01:17:22:04 – 01:17:41:22
Gregory Siff
I don’t want it. I guess that’s it. I don’t want to run out of gas, and I want to be moved. And I think that those are two things that we don’t have all of the control over those things. We just have to like go with the ocean. Yeah. Go with how it is. Yeah.

01:17:41:22 – 01:18:03:13
Gregory Siff
Did you—do you ever experience that, like when you’re like, “I don’t know what to paint today,” or “I don’t know what the story is,” or what are you waiting for? Are you waiting for something or do you—I mean, I didn’t think of this out loud until you asked me a question, but I think that that’s kind of where I’m at, like—

01:18:13:22 – 01:18:38:07
Brandon Adams
Yeah, I don’t think I had—what do I fear? I fear getting through this life and not have told anyone who I am, not have left a true mark to say, like, “Guys, I was here,” right? And if you go back and you see some of my stories—my paintings are my stories—if you see some of my stories, you’ll know that I was here, right?

01:18:38:09 – 01:19:00:09
Brandon Adams
And I fear that I don’t have enough stories to tell. Right. Like, not that I don’t have them—like I haven’t told enough stories. Like they’re in here. I feel like they’re just pouring out. Like I did this sculpture at the gallery Defy, which is the head, which is like blue on the bottom and pink on the top.

01:19:00:09 – 01:19:25:06
Brandon Adams
And I built a CNC and routed out this head in layers out of wood. Right. And it’s probably yay tall. Right. And so people are talking about, “How do you come up with your concepts?” or “How do you generate your ideas?” And I said, “Man, to be honest, like, I feel like I’ve been given this vehicle, right?

01:19:25:06 – 01:19:49:07
Brandon Adams
I’ve been given this brain. And to use it the way that I’m supposed to use it, like the faucet is on and it is spewing out, and it’s harder for me to catch and put on the wall than it is.” I can’t pick them all up. Right. They’re just spewing out, you know.

01:19:49:08 – 01:20:04:23
Brandon Adams
And so if you cut the top of the head off and you look down, it’s an infinity mirror that goes as far as you can see. I mean, the head’s only four foot tall, but the infinity mirror looks like it’s 2,000 feet down that you’re looking down a shaft. Right. And then it has these lights that are coming up like this, and it’s just throwing these ideas.

01:20:04:23 – 01:20:30:13
Brandon Adams
And then I put a mobile over the top of the head like spinning ideas coming out of it. Right. Look like a tornado coming out the top. I really feel like that is where I’m at. Like I’m just catching the things that’s going on, and that’s why some of my stuff feels a little bit not consistent when it comes to a theme.

01:20:30:15 – 01:20:49:19
Brandon Adams
Right? Because I don’t know, I just—I didn’t build the machine. I’m using it to the best of my ability, and I’m catching the thoughts and the things that come out of it. But I’m not the one in control of the way that it was built. You know, I try to get better and I try to learn and I try to get my craft and all that.

01:20:49:21 – 01:20:51:13
Brandon Adams
But the generator itself is spitting out what it’s spitting out. And so my fear is I don’t ever use my generator to its capacity—like I’ve become lazy and let it fall. That’s my fear.

01:20:56:01 – 01:20:57:22
Gregory Siff
Can’t.

01:20:57:24 – 01:20:59:11
Brandon Adams
Can’t allow then I wouldn’t.

01:20:59:11 – 01:21:22:23
Gregory Siff
I would never say lazy because you’re always making things and even that—that’s actually like a symbol of your process, then you are limitless. You remember that deep in there, there’s so many different flavors inside of you and they’re going to come out—like it’s hard to take it all in at once.

01:21:22:23 – 01:21:39:12
Gregory Siff
Give us the ones that mean the most, though. When you feel that, you feel like being present to get out there. I mean, I walked in and when I saw—because I loved the mural you painted and now I see the new one, I’m like, “Oh, he’s painting into a new moment.” Now, this is—you’ve got the FIFA World Cup.

01:21:39:14 – 01:22:06:06
Gregory Siff
You have emerging moments of just like Dallas, your roots mixed to how big this place is and what’s coming here and the growth and having that trophy in his hand and all of the flags and I’m like, “Cool.” Like, you’re marking moments. I guess as you keep adding them up, it will get it. Just don’t stop making those moments. Yeah. That’s cool man.

01:22:06:06 – 01:22:21:21
Gregory Siff
Sculpture really to think about an idea three dimensionally. And experience wise, that’s what I love about that gallery over there—it—

01:22:22:00 – 01:22:23:00
Brandon Adams
It’s a very eclectic—

01:22:23:00 – 01:22:24:21
Gregory Siff
feast for everything. Yeah.

01:22:24:21 – 01:22:44:02
Brandon Adams
And they’ve done a great job of curating it. I mean, bringing the people in are not just a bunch of talented people. They’re just good humans that they brought in. Yeah. You know, and I’m pretty impressed by that, you know, and and even for artists—I’m going to ask you this because this is what a lot of people reflect on, too.

01:22:44:04 – 01:22:56:09
Brandon Adams
You said you paint every day, right? How do you work on deadlines? If someone gives you a deadline, do you hit your deadline or do you use the artist’s “I will get to it when I get to it”?

01:22:56:11 – 01:23:15:18
Gregory Siff
It’s very challenging, but it’s important to be able to say, “Hey, if someone needs something, you either can say yes or no. If you can’t do it, you got to say no if it doesn’t feel right.” I mean, when it comes to commissions and there is a deadline, you—this needs to be done.

01:23:15:19 – 01:23:37:13
Gregory Siff
I make that happen. It’s like a challenge. It’s like an athletic move. Yeah. It’s not like—and it means that you got to it. It’s not just like being inspired by the whoosh of the waiting for it to come in—sometimes you don’t get that option. You have to go and make.

01:23:37:15 – 01:23:56:00
Gregory Siff
And like I have to remind myself that too. It ain’t going to hit me and it’s going to be the songs like how it tilted and spilled everything, man. Stop waiting for it and get it. And I mean, most of the time, I’m painting pieces for this show in Dallas and there’s a timeline for it.

01:23:56:00 – 01:24:20:07
Gregory Siff
I want to get these things done. So like, you go into this spot where time is and you go into the time, whether you start at 10:00 p.m. and you got to go where that time is and you have to work in there. When it comes to commissions or when it comes to—Warhol called them business paintings—you’re there for the money or whatever.

01:24:20:09 – 01:24:44:16
Gregory Siff
If you can turn a commission or a business painting into something that actually exists in the arc of your story, you’re a great artist. You can not deny the piece where someone—”I’m not an artist, I’m not going to paint in an avocado” or something like that. But if you can make that fit and if you can—you can do—you can mold things anyway.

01:24:44:16 – 01:25:00:20
Gregory Siff
And it’s tough but everyone’s different. I’ve met every kind of artist. I mean some people are like, “Yo, you know, there’s some serious stuff they did. Maybe that’s not going to fit in the painting,” and that’s cool.

01:25:00:20 – 01:25:19:03
Gregory Siff
I respect that. But the challenge is always—I’m always up for the challenge. But sometimes it’s not common, man. Sometimes you can give yourself the time to do it and do it ever and it’s like, “Hey man, can’t work under this line like this.” And like sometimes you gotta just make it.

01:25:19:09 – 01:25:34:15
Gregory Siff
You gotta make it work. And but I don’t put that type of stuff—I love when the menu is clear and you’re ready to just paint you and your show without any interruption.

01:25:34:17 – 01:25:41:05
Brandon Adams
Are you more—what percentage are you from commissioned to that moment?

01:25:41:07 – 01:26:08:04
Gregory Siff
I mean, I want to be painting all the time just for me. Yeah, I want to—I will—I don’t know the percentage because it goes in waves. Like sometimes you can get like something hot happens, everyone’s like, “Yeah, I need that,” or like you drop a print and that’s cool, but I stay in those—I think I do like one big show, possibly one big, one mini show a year.

01:26:08:06 – 01:26:22:13
Gregory Siff
And I need to give that time for that show. I need to have that. Otherwise, it ain’t going to come right. And that could be like, you start painting for the thing in February and the things in October, and you start stocking up those paintings and then you realize, “That’s not in the show. That’s in the show.”

01:26:22:13 – 01:26:49:21
Gregory Siff
“We have extra, this needs to be painted over.” And then yeah, but I would say like 75% show, 25% commission. It’s always about you’re making an album, man. It’s like—that’s why—but I do want to take that thing not only to the shows and I want to bring that to—there’s so many residencies, there’s so many opportunities, there’s so many things out there, but you have to go and seek them.

01:26:49:23 – 01:27:09:07
Gregory Siff
And I haven’t had a chance to do that all the time, because I’m thinking about the show or thinking about the commission or thinking about stuff. So cool. We talked and I always thought we were going to be talking a lot about brand collaborations and tricks to get things and do stuff, and we’ve really gotten to the heart of what it is to be an artist is to, you know—

01:27:15:15 – 01:27:16:04
Brandon Adams
Yeah.

01:27:16:06 – 01:27:17:01
Gregory Siff
to create.

01:27:17:07 – 01:27:43:10
Brandon Adams
This brings up my next point about collaborations. No, yeah. No, I mean, the cool thing is, is like, I really believe this is about—and to build the business part of it—it truly is about networking, never stopping, just making sure that you are producing nonstop. Right? I think if you do those three things, no matter what—

01:27:43:10 – 01:27:44:16
Brandon Adams
and show the world.

01:27:44:18 – 01:27:47:23
Gregory Siff
Yeah, yeah. Make something every day and share it. Yep. Yeah.

01:27:48:00 – 01:27:54:19
Brandon Adams
And and if you do those things, people are going to be there with you. Right. It’s like, don’t let people go to sleep on you, you know?

01:27:54:21 – 01:27:55:13
Gregory Siff
True.

01:27:55:15 – 01:28:13:24
Brandon Adams
I have to tell myself that all the time because I’ve done a bad job this last year and a half. I got really tired of the social media part of it, you know, and I got works that I’ve spent a lot of time in—they’re pretty cool that I’ve not even shared. You know, it’s like, dude, I’m not following my own advice at points.

01:28:14:01 – 01:28:28:14
Brandon Adams
And it doesn’t have to do because I’m nervous for people to see it. I’m just tired. I’m tired of having to play the game of, “Let me get something out here, let me get something out here, let me get something out here every day.” Right. You feel that way?

01:28:28:17 – 01:28:51:08
Gregory Siff
Yeah. Yes, I felt that way. And if you stop, it’s like a muscle. That fiber ain’t going to grow. You got—if you keep the consistent workout and do what you’re going to do. What I was going to say was, you know, Instagram was this thing back in the day—it was expression—and then it turned into like the yellow pages, like the tool to find it, and then it turned into a connector.

01:28:51:08 – 01:29:07:24
Gregory Siff
It’s been so many things. And now it’s like a money making tool to commercialize and sponsor, and then you got TikTok. But sometimes on TikTok you could throw something on there and I don’t care. But on Instagram it’s got to be the best shot in the space that does—does that make the painting? Is the color tone?

01:29:08:01 – 01:29:25:05
Gregory Siff
Yeah. I’ve realized like I got to be more active and not care as much and just be like, “Hey guys, I’m in Dallas right now. I’ll tell you more about it.” Yeah, it will take me ten or—do I really want to do that? Just share stuff and stop making it so precious. None of it is as much as in your brain that you think that everyone’s like—

01:29:25:05 – 01:29:48:09
Gregory Siff
Same thing about the painting too. Sometimes I’m like, “Oh, I gotta die for this painting, and everyone’s going to come over to it,” and some people are going to get where they’re going to go with it, and some—stop trying to be the whole process, stop trying to be the viewer, the collector, the buyer—just be the artist and keep doing it and just keep throwing it up there and don’t be so—

01:29:48:09 – 01:30:13:02
Gregory Siff
Yeah, it’s just a very crazy world that like, we can put an art show out every day on our digitally on our grams and like you go back to things that, like you just said, you have a whole archive, a whole bunch of stuff that hasn’t been seen. Yeah, start throwing some stuff up there, even if it’s a zoom in, even if it’s like a quadrant of that piece, it’s going to be like someone loves your stuff and be like, “Whoa, what was that?”

01:30:13:02 – 01:30:40:00
Gregory Siff
“I like that,” because there’s people watching, but once you stop, it’s just get back on. You and I have to hold each other accountable and just throw something, because I want to know more about you. And I want to know about like—there are so many ways. But you’re doing a great job, man. You have the blueprint and you’re sharing stories and your own work and connecting people.

01:30:40:00 – 01:30:41:18
Gregory Siff
So don’t be so hard on yourself.

01:30:41:24 – 01:30:42:17
Brandon Adams
I appreciate that.

01:30:42:18 – 01:30:43:07
Gregory Siff
Yeah.

01:30:43:07 – 01:30:57:08
Brandon Adams
It’s a grind for all of us. You know, I think, keeping up with this and making sure that you have the right guests and the right people and the right things to say to people. And you want to help people in their journey, you know, it’s the right thing to do.

01:30:57:08 – 01:31:08:04
Brandon Adams
People have helped me. People have opened doors for me. People have shown me opportunities that I would never have for myself. So, it’s my responsibility to kind of do the same thing and involve, you know?

01:31:08:04 – 01:31:32:16
Gregory Siff
Yes. But when it’s right, it just works. Yeah. It’s like, “Yo, I know this guy.” Or like, “Where do you want to—who do you want to reach now? What could we do?” And that is a really cool place to be in the world when you wake up every day and—that was my dad’s best friend Joey Rinaldi—”The meaning of life is to help other people.” It’s a really good thing.

01:31:32:16 – 01:31:56:12
Gregory Siff
So, yeah, if you ain’t helping anybody, it’s—well, it’s not a fun ride. You guys gotta have your senses all firing. So when that happens, you’re able to like—and they’re like, “Damn, that’s cool.” All right. That’s cool that you—

01:31:56:14 – 01:32:09:12
Brandon Adams
I want to shift gears on you just a little bit. We’ve been talking about art and kind of the—we’ve gone almost a full show, and we’ve kind of just—I knew I was going to rabbit hole this one, because I was really excited to kind of pick your brain about—

01:32:09:12 – 01:32:17:09
Gregory Siff
I noticed you have some hours on them, and I’m like, I’m down to do whatever. Like if we catch it, I’m here.

01:32:17:11 – 01:32:22:05
Brandon Adams
Yeah. So, what kind of music do you listen to?

01:32:22:07 – 01:32:49:00
Gregory Siff
I have a lot of different music that I love. Well that’s cool. I’ll make playlists when it’s time for a show and they’re all over the place. But I guess the fire of if it’s going to get me in there—it’s like there’s certain things I go back to like, “What was playing then when I was killing it?”

01:32:49:02 – 01:33:15:02
Gregory Siff
I try to remember that because sometimes—but rap music has always been, lyrical rap music has always been there. And then I’ve got—I love all the things that the guys that I love, from Jackson Pollock to Basquiat, from like jazz, Miles Davis. I love the different love on those playlists that affect me.

01:33:15:02 – 01:33:24:15
Gregory Siff
I mean, the songs that make you cry alive, the ones that are like the ones that you wished your paintings sounded like.

01:33:24:18 – 01:33:38:22
Brandon Adams
I felt that. That is so crazy. I wish I could bottle this up and share this with people because I don’t know—everybody feels that. It feels like empathy in a bottle. Yeah. But that exact feeling of what you’re talking about—

01:33:38:24 – 01:33:39:19
Gregory Siff
You get here.

01:33:39:21 – 01:33:41:01
Brandon Adams
I have that.

01:33:41:03 – 01:33:53:09
Gregory Siff
You could hear a song and you’re like, “That’s how I feel. And I want this painting.” And now I’ll catch a song and you’ll put it on loop because you’re trying to catch that moment. I’ll listen to it 35 times in a row.

01:33:53:14 – 01:33:54:06
Brandon Adams
It’s so—

01:33:54:06 – 01:34:06:22
Gregory Siff
crazy. And I know the cadence, I know where it goes, I know where the heart and what—that’s what’s like a good movie is like: when you see the movie and at the same spot, you feel that and you’re like, “Why does that work every time? It should only work the first time.” That’s a good work of art.

01:34:06:24 – 01:34:27:04
Gregory Siff
So those are kind of the songs that I like to catch. And then, it’s great when I’m lazy, I’ll put on a podcast and I’m like, “I’ll listen in.” But there’s nothing like when you’ve got the music going, right. However there’s podcast painting, there’s like painting and there’s silence painting where you’re just in my thoughts right now.

01:34:27:06 – 01:34:55:17
Gregory Siff
But I mean, the music—I make playlists for each show with the titles and like that, that will remind me of the show. Like, could be like 30 songs and that’ll be what I’m listening to during. Yeah, but I have—I mean, I have stuff that reminds me of my mom—loves Billy Joel—and things that my mom played me when I just want to hear stories in the songs.

01:34:55:19 – 01:35:19:16
Gregory Siff
And, I’ll never lose my love for—there’s new, there’s tons of new stuff that comes out. I really like. And I love things that make me feel young to me. And I had so many different moments of being able to go to concerts in New York.

01:35:19:16 – 01:35:45:07
Gregory Siff
And I saw Nirvana when I was in 1993 at the New York Coliseum and I got to like experience all these kind of cool things that were there. And I was from an era that I wanted to like—everyone want to be a rock star, too, but I think that music is infused in a bunch of the pieces, and especially where sometimes it’s words and text and lyric.

01:35:45:13 – 01:36:05:03
Gregory Siff
I remember that’s why I gravitated to your playlist when it was going, because some of those are hidden tools. You had some like rare tracks that weren’t—those pieces make me feel good because that’s quick time travel is listening to music.

01:36:05:05 – 01:36:24:20
Brandon Adams
Yeah. And I do the same thing with the—hear one song and it hits you. So much impact. Right. And I’ll loop it, like you said, and I’ll loop it for 30 times in a row—it was so funny to hear you say that. I do that every time. And it’s like a dopamine shot every time it comes on.

01:36:24:20 – 01:36:47:02
Brandon Adams
And I’ll do it again and do it again and do it again and do it again. And I’ve also caught myself to where it’s like, “All right, I’m at number like 20, 25 now. Like I need to wean myself off before I burn this thing down.” Because I can do it, you know, until it doesn’t have that one little flutter, you know.

01:36:47:04 – 01:37:07:18
Brandon Adams
I remember at the gym one time, a long time ago. And that song that had hit me that way came on during my workout. And I remember I put my hands in my ears on my earbuds, and I close my eyes, and I was listening to it and then just had a moment. And then I took my hands off like this and opened my eyes.

01:37:07:20 – 01:37:18:08
Brandon Adams
And there was a guy staring at me, and he was like, “You okay?” And I said, “Yeah.” He goes, “Whatever you’re listening to, I wish I could feel that.”

01:37:18:10 – 01:37:19:04
Gregory Siff
Wow.

01:37:19:04 – 01:37:30:14
Brandon Adams
And I was like, “Wow, that was crazy,” because I was like—just stop me down, you know? But he recognized it and walked over and like experienced what I was doing right in front of me.

01:37:30:16 – 01:37:49:02
Gregory Siff
That shows how open your heart is that you were creating a piece off of that. You were right back there in that moment. Yeah. And that could be someone who’s always denied their creativity. Could be someone has an opened up, a resolve something in their heart and saw that elation on your face.

01:37:49:04 – 01:37:54:21
Gregory Siff
That’s what we’re trying to paint. No, no, that’s what we’re trying to leave here. Yeah.

01:37:55:02 – 01:38:01:08
Brandon Adams
And I think it’s amazing that you said that too, because like I have said that in my own mind of—

01:38:01:10 – 01:38:02:21
Gregory Siff
I wish.

01:38:02:23 – 01:38:27:17
Brandon Adams
My paintings would evoke emotion the same way words can. Words and melody can absolutely pierce you and it’s accessible to everyone, you know. Put it on Spotify. It’s open for everyone. It’s free. Take it. Artwork’s not—if I share it on social media or something, it gets to a few people, whatever.

01:38:27:17 – 01:38:36:21
Brandon Adams
But music gets to everyone. That’s also why I love murals that are outdoors, because traffic comes by. People tell their story. People interact.

01:38:36:21 – 01:38:41:04
Gregory Siff
So many impressions if you want to call it a digital term. But yeah, like—yeah.

01:38:41:06 – 01:38:56:10
Brandon Adams
And I saw this one lady—I did one that says “Hope”—this one lady was driving around and she’s crying. She just got back from the hospital. So they said she needed to terminate her baby at nine months because it was going to not live. Right. So she pulls up, she’s crying, she goes to stops and she looks over.

01:38:56:10 – 01:39:15:03
Brandon Adams
She sees “Hope” there. She puts her car in park in the middle of the street, walks over and has a walker by. I take a photo in front of her—the whole mural I painted—and she sends me a message and says, “Just so you know, because I saw ‘Hope’ today and I saw your mural, I’m keeping my child. Whatever happens, happens.”

01:39:15:06 – 01:39:35:23
Brandon Adams
And then she’s like—fast forward—”It’s been a year and a half. My child is a year and a half old now. He has a lot of problems, but he’s alive and with me.” And I just was like, that type of connectivity that was as close as I’ve gotten to reaching up and feeling someone’s heart, you know.

01:39:35:23 – 01:39:36:23
Gregory Siff
You know.

01:39:37:00 – 01:39:51:04
Brandon Adams
Through something that I drew or painted or anything like that. It was as close as I’ve ever gotten to that. And that’s why I love the experience of sharing and letting it be outdoors and letting it be where people can see it and live it and love it, you know.

01:39:51:06 – 01:40:13:20
Gregory Siff
That’s a literal sign, and that’s a sign that you’re in the right spot and you’re here—you found your calling, you’re doing it. That’s a reminder to keep doing it. And she’s going to take a picture with her sign in front of that mural. And she’ll always have that. Like, that’s a beautiful story. And sometimes that’s going on and we don’t even get to know that.

01:40:13:20 – 01:40:31:05
Gregory Siff
So the fact that she reached out—you know, just how when you’re like, “That song saved my life”—there’s musicians and there’s art out there that affect us and that give us that one good day that got us to the next day or the next day. I’m all for that.

01:40:31:07 – 01:40:49:16
Gregory Siff
Like, that’s when someone says, you know, “Your song changed my life.” You had a moment to—she had a moment to tell you that. Yeah.

01:40:49:21 – 01:41:04:06
Brandon Adams
That was crazy. All right, I’m going to jump off sad stuff, but—or the heartfelt stuff. Do you have any hobbies that you are almost scared to talk about?

01:41:04:06 – 01:41:05:06
Gregory Siff
Hobbies I’m scared to talk—

01:41:05:06 – 01:41:08:01
Brandon Adams
about, like you’re addicted—shoes or—sure.

01:41:08:02 – 01:41:32:10
Gregory Siff
Oh, yeah. I’m addicted to the perfect leather jacket. I mean—because I paint on leather jackets and stuff, but like I love designers, I love fashion. My girl’s got such a great taste when it comes to pieces and putting them together and I’m very in awe of the way she does that.

01:41:32:10 – 01:41:56:00
Gregory Siff
And I like that because clothing is another arrangement of a painting—like how we present ourselves. But I’m addicted to—yeah, I find myself like looking at things that when I was a kid, whether it would be like action figures or clothing that I wore or things that you couldn’t get back then—I’ll have crazy eBay things that will just make me feel like that time is still alive.

01:41:56:00 – 01:42:16:15
Gregory Siff
So—but I love finding like leather jackets or jeans or things that I can add my paint to, which is really cool. The hobbies, man.

01:42:16:15 – 01:42:39:09
Gregory Siff
I mean, I love food and I love chocolate and I’m trying to eat the best that I can without getting rid of the things that I love. So if it’s French fries, we’re going to chop our own French fries and put some beef tallow on it and put it in the oven and make those things.

01:42:39:09 – 01:43:06:10
Gregory Siff
But like trying to evolve. I love working out, and I’m also conscious of what goals are. So I just want to do stuff like—when you wake up in the morning, hit 100 pushups, do 100 squats, make sure you do those things. These are different things building in my—and I love chilling with my girl and laughing on silly things.

01:43:06:12 – 01:43:35:10
Gregory Siff
I’m in LA, moving to Vegas. So I mean, there’s so many cool things that go on in Vegas that inspire me from magic shows—the Criss Angel show, which she took me to, and it was just being inspired by his story of all the different people that his art has touched—I love figuring out new ways to share my work.

01:43:35:10 – 01:43:50:01
Gregory Siff
Everything’s related to art. But there’s like an off switch when it comes to that. I mean—trying to think about what can I admit about myself that I like—I mean, I’m a Spider-Man fiend.

01:43:50:04 – 01:43:51:20
Brandon Adams
What’s your favorite movie?

01:43:51:21 – 01:44:20:08
Gregory Siff
Favorite movie? Whoa. Oh, that’s a tough one. I mean, I’ve always loved the stories about the artists. Like, I love “Pollock,” “Basquiat”—obviously those are artist movies—but it’s a movie called “Running on Empty” with River Phoenix. Favorite movies, man? You know, 1989 “Batman.” It’s one of the hardest things to pick, but—

01:44:20:10 – 01:44:45:09
Gregory Siff
Dude, I love insane stuff. I’m running around like thinking I’m the Ultimate Warrior when I’m working out. I like getting energy to put on my wall that I want to work out close to. So, like, whether it’s Muhammad Ali’s shorts, Tyson—things that are there that I want when I’m lifting. I’m feeling like I want to examine the greats and explore that.

01:44:45:09 – 01:45:10:17
Gregory Siff
And I look at myself like—yeah. Timothée Chalamet did the “A Complete Unknown” Bob Dylan movie and yeah, man, I just want to be the best version of myself. And whatever hobby I’m doing is kind of feeding that. But sometimes it could be shopping—is addictive. Like, I love sunglasses, man. I love to—

01:45:10:19 – 01:45:27:19
Gregory Siff
I love to find pieces that were around when I was in the ’90s and things and bring those back into there. And this kind of—I don’t know—is it like cheating time when were dressing up when it looked like back then and just having those things around?

01:45:27:21 – 01:45:29:10
Brandon Adams
You a car guy at all?

01:45:29:12 – 01:45:54:18
Gregory Siff
I love F1. We watch that and being in Vegas experiencing that. I love G-Wagons like old school because they’re—it’s like a tool for me. I was an ambassador for Mercedes-Benz. Yeah. And they help support my work and I painted a wagon for the Art of Elysium, a charity that’s in LA.

01:45:54:18 – 01:46:20:21
Gregory Siff
And that car that I was able to have for six years while I used different ones. Yeah. And it’s become like a character in my life—carries my paintings, it brings them places. I’ve filled the full show in there. Yeah, I love watches. Not like the traditional watches that are like the big balling situation. But I like watches that have remnants of van Gogh and Jackson Pollock.

01:46:20:21 – 01:46:21:07
Brandon Adams
That’s cool.

01:46:21:08 – 01:46:32:11
Gregory Siff
And then yeah, but I do—my brother has dealt time Rolexes in New York City. So I have an appreciation for all that.

01:46:32:11 – 01:46:41:04
Brandon Adams
Yeah. You get to pick one artist—the best. Your favorite. The best. Who is it? Oh, man, one artist.

01:46:41:06 – 01:47:09:00
Gregory Siff
I got to go with someone that I know. Louis Cannizzaro, my buddy, my best pal. Because—pay attention to who’s alive and who’s your friend. And I’m learning that. I’m learning every day to give people their flowers. Right? Yeah. Give because they deserve it and you wouldn’t be here without them.

01:47:09:00 – 01:47:33:22
Gregory Siff
But they laid it out before us. But yeah, I love all artists, man. That’s kind of why—people are the other greatest. People—you learn, like every person you come into contact with can give you a little bit more to find the better part of you and—yeah. I mean awesome. We got—I mentioned Vincent and Picasso. How about you?

01:47:47:09 – 01:47:47:09
Gregory Siff
I want to hear who your guy is—

01:47:47:11 – 01:48:15:03
Brandon Adams
Gosh, man, it’s so hard not to say Michelangelo, honestly. Like just—the so few. I love him because of everything that he stepped in, much like I feel for myself on a much smaller scale. He stepped into so many different worlds and succeeded very well in them. And I’ve been very impressed by that my whole life. He’s like 16 paintings and it’s like there’s 16 of the greatest portraits ever done, right?

01:48:15:03 – 01:48:32:11
Brandon Adams
Like, 16. That’s enough, you know? Next it’s like an unbelievable—”Oh, let me go invent something that flies real quick,” you know what I mean? Yeah. So for that purpose alone, I think—

01:48:32:13 – 01:48:35:19
Gregory Siff
That’s really cool.

01:48:35:21 – 01:48:53:08
Brandon Adams
For another purpose, my buddy Tex. Because he’s one of the most genuine artists that I’ve ever come across that forced me to put a can in my hand, you know? You—

01:48:53:08 – 01:48:54:17
Gregory Siff
were telling me that. Yeah.

01:48:54:19 – 01:49:18:02
Brandon Adams
So, super thankful. Always be thankful for him for that. And highly impressed with his ability to share his story or do do it the way he wants to do it regardless of everybody else’s—not moved by anyone else’s insight or influence or whatever—he’s doing his original self. So I love that.

01:49:18:04 – 01:49:20:12
Gregory Siff
So it’s dope. Yeah.

01:49:20:14 – 01:49:23:01
Brandon Adams
Well tell everybody where they can find you, if you don’t mind doing this.

01:49:23:03 – 01:49:49:00
Gregory Siff
Thank you. Yeah. You can find me at @gregorysiff. S-I-F-F—super ice cream fantastic fantastic. Say that on the phone and then yeah, gregorysiff.com. And I’m coming back out here. You can find me at Gallery Defy right next to this man and Tex. And then you can also—I’m going to have a show coming up April 9th, TF Gallery.

01:49:49:02 – 01:50:03:04
Gregory Siff
It’s going to be dope. I would love to see anyone that is from Dallas and beyond. And thank you for this experience, man. Thank you for letting me kick it with you and speak.

01:50:03:06 – 01:50:12:20
Brandon Adams
Well, thank you so much for coming on. And again, it’s great to get to have another conversation with you and see your true heart. I mean, it’s pretty easy to see and thankful you made it.

01:50:12:22 – 01:50:15:15
Gregory Siff
Thank you.

01:50:15:17 – 01:50:23:10
Brandon Adams
Yeah. Well, everybody, I told you. And that’s The Blueprint. Until next time, peace.