WRDSMTH: The Street Artist Diving Into the Unknown

Not Real Art

If you’ve spent any time in Los Angeles, you’re probably familiar with WRDSMTH. The street artist’s iconic stencil of a typewriter cranking out pages of inspirational text is almost as ubiquitous as the city’s traffic.

In today’s podcast episode, host and NOT REAL ART founder Scott “Sourdough” Power sits down with WRDSMITH (aka Phil Brody) to discuss the artist’s unconventional path from Midwestern bookworm to renowned writer and street artist. “I was being creative from when I was a comic book kid,” says WRDSMTH, who initially relocated to L.A. to chase his screenwriting dreams. “When you look at who I am now and what I'm doing now, it just all made sense, all these little stops and starts and different lives that I had.”

Realizing he needed a hobby when he arrived in L.A., WRDSMTH took to the streets and began stenciling, painting, and wheat-pasting his heart out. And the rest, as they say, is history. Today, his work resonates with city dwellers from L.A. and New York to Melbourne and Tokyo. “I always believed in my writing, but when you're a street artist, you're putting art out for the people,” says WRDSMTH. “I was hoping to inspire them and motivate them. But then, when people said, ‘I'd like this on canvas or wood or glass,’ I was taken aback—I never expected to make a dime, but then I realized there might be something here.”

His most memorable messages are inspired by the conversations he hears, the things he sees everyday, and his journey from comic-book-kid to world-renowned artist. Join us as WRDSMTH shares his thoughts on making authentic connections, reinventing yourself as often as possible, and choosing “paths that make you happy,” even if they’re less traveled. “Dive into pools of the unknown,” he advises. “I think that's so healthy. It's scary, but it's healthy.”

Key Points From This Episode:

• Insight into WRDSMTH’s trajectory, from writing scripts to writing on walls.
• Rising together: what he really means when it says it’s about “who you know.”
• WRDSMTH’s cookout approach to making connections in the LA art scene.
• How he brought what he loved about comic books and movies into his street art.
• The role of reinvention and why he encourages us to “dive into pools of unknown.”
• How Star Wars inspired WRDSMTH’s dream to become a writer.
• Why he loved the creative control that street art gave him.
• Being the black sheep and choosing an unconventional path to success.
• From vice to candy: some of the brands that WRDSMTH worked on as a copywriter.
• Why he believes you’re doing it wrong if you’re focused on the payout, not the journey.
• How he navigated the “sprawling” world of LA and started doing street art as a hobby.
• The correlation between commissions and building a career as an artist.
• A glimpse into WRDSMTH’s creative process and where he gets inspiration from.
• What the future holds for WRDSMTH (plus a sneak peek into his next book!)

For more information, please visit http://notrealart.com/WRDSMTH