@mgthegenius and @_chrxx have teamed up to create @geniusfrequencies podcast. I'm so excited for this new journey they are embarking on. remember your "why" fellas, and keep inspiring us the way you do. ✨ • • • • • #geniusfrequencies #artsmuseum #chrxx #episode1 (at Los Angeles, California)

Genius Frequencies 3 - MIKNNA Listen and subscribe https://itun.es/us/IQa5gb.c

Genius Frequencies 2 - Lance Skiiiwalker https://itun.es/us/IQa5gb.c

Genius Frequencies - A series of conversation pieces with CHRXX and Matt Genius Experience episode 1 soundcloud.com/artsmuseum/gf1

“AS MUCH AS I AM A CREATOR, I AM MORE SO A CONDUIT FOR THE ENERGY PEOPLE EXUDE” Wordsmith, photographer and filmmaker Christian San Jose (aka CHRXX) is fundamentally a storyteller. Utlising his creativity as a channel through which he communicates and captures the energies of his subjects, his work emanates the integrity and intimacy that gives it its magnetism. We speak to the artist about his creative process, the importance and meaning of a muse and his beginnings in the arts. WHAT DREW YOU TO CREATING, AND IN PARTICULAR TO FILM AND PHOTOGRAPHY? It’s a bit of a ‘cause and effect’ as to the reason why I started creating. As a kid I had some unfortunate events happen to me, and it has deeply affected the way I think, move, and express myself to people (and the world as a whole). I believe it’s this awareness that has allowed me to gravitate towards creating as a way of venting out. Eventually I fell in love with words-with literature and the way you can shout them out or whisper them with such clarity. I wanted to be a poet. I knew it was what I was good at. I could tell from the way people interacted with my writings or the short conversations we would have. The only thing was…I couldn’t really see a way of creating an impact large enough to influence the world...much less making a living off of poetry alone. Just to give you a bit of a metaphor, at the time, I felt like my poems and short stories, though loved, were like a fancy car, stuck in a cul-de-sac…going round and round, passing by the same 4 or 5 houses who appreciate it but that’s it. I knew the world was bigger than that; something had to give. This was eventually what lead me to picking up a camera. In that journey, I guess you can say that I recognized story telling was my passion. Because in the end, words, poems, photographs and short films…they are all but techniques in how to take people to a place they have never been before. I’m a storyteller, this journey has taught me that much…but passion only lasts for so long. Eventually I yearned for something tangible, a reason as to why I was put on this earth. I wanted a purpose for myself, and that led me back to the reason why I even started creating-I wanted to change the world-but more specifically, I wanted to reach out to the people who share this hardship that I went through, and maybe give them hope, or inspiration, or maybe even meet them. I wanted to remind them that they’re not alone, and that they, too, are storytellers. Just like me. HOW DO YOU DECIDE WHAT AND WHO TO CAPTURE? For me, this requires a couple of things: 1) Energy-the energy that I get from them has to be correct. At the end of the day, as much as I am a “creator”, I am more so a “conduit” for the energy that people exude. It makes creating easier, but when your subject already has substance, it just amplifies the work you’re going to make even more (simply put, you can’t turn shit into gold) 2) I try to narrow down the people I want to work with as much as possible…almost as if you’re curating who you choose to exchange energies with. In the fashion industry, they call this “casting”; in employment they call this “interview and hiring”: same principle. We should try to curate what and who we want to shoot as much as possible, because if we say YES to everybody in hopes that one of them would be a good fit, we end up wasting too much time and energy on the wrong people. Now, I’m not saying that you stick with this particular notion, the key to creation is flexibility and more importantly… 3) Curiosity. Stay curious. Like forever. Lol. It’s really the only way for you to find out what you like to capture. Eventually, you gravitate to what you like best to shoot. For me, it’s very much about love. I started out shooting my girlfriend, and then I shot everything from cars, to rappers and artists. But in the end, there’s this magnetic pull so irresistible when it comes to love. And the only way I found out that that’s what I liked to shoot, was by doing other stuff. WHAT MAKES SOMEONE A MUSE? It’s how you feel about them. How they can bring about the best or the worst in you. Something that others can’t ever manifest with the work you guys do together. I hate it when someone throws around the word “muse” a lot. It’s an obsession. Every damn scene, set, pose, smile, words and feelings, you have him/her in mind…it consumes all that is you, and you let it devour you. But maybe I can leave you with this quote in answer to the question: “The heart has reasons, that reason cannot know”-Blake Pascal. FOR YOU, WHAT IS THE MOST IMPORTANT PART OF YOUR WORK IN BOTH THE CREATIVE PROCESS AND ITS PRESENTATION? Its a harmonious ensemble of integrity, honesty and taste. Integrity and honesty stem from the same place, that of ‘self’, whereas taste level is this interaction between you and the outside world. It’s a vague answer but I think if I over-explain it, I run the risk of not respecting my audience’s ability to decide for themselves what is good and true, vs what is not. As far as actual presentation-I’m very much a full immersion kind of guy. Kinda like how when you step into one of James Turrell’s installations, your senses are no longer yours. He only shows you what he wants you to see. SEE CHRXX’S WORK HERE: CHRXX.COM INSTAGRAM.COM/CHRXX

@chrxx