Meet Trew Love | Artist and Visionary

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

Hi Trew, can you walk us through the thought-process of starting your business?
As any artist will likely tell you, art is not something that’s chosen, its something that choses you. I was a professional makeup artist for almost 20 years before I decided to branch off on my own and venture into the fine art world. I needed something that felt more unique to my personal expression. As I evolve, my expression evolves, even to my own amazement. I am still learning the balance of work, life, art, and business, but I’m here for the adventure and the challenge of finding balance.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
My art is all about love. It wasn’t always. In fact, it was quite the opposite.

You could say I began my art career at age 5 when I spent my afternoons scribbling instead of playing outside. My mom, an art teacher and potter, had me in the arts early, including my first professional outside-of-school lessons in fourth grade. I won awards for things, but I really didn’t value my talent, or myself, at all.

This is the conundrum and struggle of my path- daring to dream big, while fighting a hidden belief system that said I’d never make it, my art wasn’t worth anything, and everyone could do everything better than I could.

I often made courageous moves that demonstrated a sort of fearlessness, like moving to LA, or quitting a successful career in makeup to pursue art, yet in the back of my mind, I was in many ways, running away from a deep fear of failure and total lack of self worth.

My first introduction to pop art was in 2014. I’d just met my soon-to-be boyfriend at Coachella. I’d taken some makeup from my bag and scribbled a portrait on the lineup schedule. He saw my talent and asked me if I was familiar with the pop art scene in Los Angeles. I said no, he later took me to shows all over the city. I was hugely inspired by the bright colors and the cultural imagery. I decided to see if I too could create pop art.

My ex helped me a lot initially with creative inspiration. As I evolved however, I began craving a deeper expression of myself than duplicating logos and icons.

I put the brushes down and got involved in community activism. I was struck by the injustice of the battle of Standing Rock where the Dakota Access Pipeline was to be implanted through the sacred burial lands of the Lakota tribes in North Dakota. As I was called into action, I was overwhelmed with what I was learning about how our society actually works. It was my awakening.

From that moment, I decided that I wanted to tell people the truth of what I was learning- about how corporations are eating this planet- and humanity- alive. But I didn’t know how to do it without turning people away-until it dawned on me.

I could Sugar Coat it.

Hence, the creation of my largest exhibit, “Sugar Coated” Where Truth Never Tasted So Sweet. Each piece was a layered neon acrylic wall sculpture using candy and sugar imagery to spotlight social and political truths of our time. I wanted to lure people in with bright colors, then in the description, lay down the bitter truth, but in a sweet and satirical way.

To promote the show, I knew I had to go big. I didn’t have much of a following at the time (still don’t, frankly) so to get the word out, I collaborated with 8 other street artists in the Los Angeles area to do a 21 day street art scavenger hunt across the city. It was inspired by Banksy Does New York- one of the most epic art stunts of our era.

This show really expanded my network and visibility. The show was a great success and I really had to push my limits to pull it off. But I did! and It grew my understanding of what’s truly possible. That translated into bigger dreams- bigger challenges- bigger adventures.

From my Sugar Coated promotion, I was discovered by my now-writing partner, Boris Amado. As Covid shut things down in 2020, he and I began writing two adult cartoon series, Rhyme & Reeson and SophistiCats. This was my first, but not last experience with script writing.

This year, as I was about to launch Sugar Coated 2, the painted series, I had all of my Trew Love accounts hacked and everything that I had built along with it- the advertising campaigns and mechanisms, my facebook page, my business page- all of it.

For anyone who’s experienced this, it’s emotionally devastating. Hundreds of hours of tech labor- the grueling hours of building digital infrastructure- demolished in an instant. This brought me back to the drawing board. I couldn’t help but feel it was a divine intervention telling me DO NOT COLLECT $200.

I decided to step back to the canvas to paint – just to paint. Not to send a message, or to put on a show. It was my first step in years connecting with my craft for the sake of creation, not for the sake of recognition.

The journey has been long and challenging, yet as I grow, I see how God is forming me in real time, slowly removing the constructs that keep me from being my highest expression- which is Love.

Throughout the years, I have been diving deeply into myself, and what I’ve realized, is that it’s all a hunt for Love. Not only romantic love, as we’ve all been taught, but love of life itself. Love for my craft, which required that I find love for myself first.

My upcoming projects include “What Would Love Say”, a global artist collective concept to turn our cities into sanctuaries, one mural at a time using messages of love in languages across the world and “Spray Saints”, a graphic novel where I, and two other street artists from Los Angeles play ourselves as cartoon characters in a artist vs government takedown comic book story.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
San Diego gardens for sure! Andaz rooftop bar. CRSSD Festival, Tom Hams lighthouse- if you’re in to fancy sea food 😉

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
I thank God first and foremost for creating this experience called Life. I thank my mom, for being an Earth Angel. Her kindness, wisdom and patience are unmatched. I thank my dad for encouraging me to step out on my own, and for teaching me to be wise in the world and to speak with consideration and elegance. I thank my sister for being my spiritual guide and best friend. I thank my boyfriend who taught me about the power of true love, even through tribulation. I thank every friend and every foe, for each has taught me who I want to be, and thus is a part of who I am.

Website: https://www.trew.love

Instagram: @iamtrewlove

Linkedin: Trew Love

Twitter: iamtrewlove

Youtube: @iamtrewlove