Remember you can’t fail — You may never reach what other people determine to be a level of success — you may never even reach the goals you set for yourself — that is ok — as long as you create and express yourself and do your thing — you can’t possibly fail. The success is in showing up and doing the work — painting the painting, writing the book, telling the story — whatever it is that you are doing — if you are doing it — you are succeeding — so keep at it.
As a part of our series about “5 Things I Wish Someone Told Me When I First Became An Artist” I had the pleasure of interviewing Fritz Schaper — Artist, Poet and Author of Subversive Literature.
Fritz Schaper is an Artist, Poet and Author who is actively pursuing his ambition to be known as the most famous American Haiku Poet of all time, while also creating abstract representational psychedelic paintings that challenge the perception of the viewer.
Thank you so much for doing this with us! Can you tell us the story of how you grew up?
When I was young I grew up in Columbia Maryland, a planned community (built by the grandfather of the actor Ed Norton) sandwiched in between Baltimore and Washington DC — then when I was 11 my mom kidnapped me to raise me in South Florida in the 1980s. From there, the Florida sun got to my brain — and thus an artist was born.
Can you share a story with us about what brought you to art?
I initially grew up visiting the Smithsonian every other weekend so I was able to develop an appreciation for art at a young age — and from there I just sort of naturally gravitated to the other “weirdo kids” like me who as it turned out were also into art and music. That was always the place I felt most at home because it was ok to be an outsider and to be different — as I grew up I just decided to try things that would interest me and I began writing comedy, music and haikus and eventually found painting as an outlet as well.
Can you tell us the most interesting story that happened to you since you began your career?
I’ve been fortunate enough to have a few different experiences that I would consider noteworthy — probably my favorite was back in 2017 when I was volunteering for Artomatic. The show was taking place in Crystal City — which is a subterranean portion of Arlington which in itself is unusual and fun and I was assigned to operate a freight elevator as a passenger elevator because it was opening night and there were so many people coming to the show. I started just talking to people and calling out the different floors and cracking jokes and singing and just having fun, and before long people were actually waiting in line to get in the freight elevator because they wanted to be part of “the show”, which at first I didn’t even realize was a thing. I was just having fun and enjoying myself, and then once I realized what was happening I just went with it and enjoyed it and it was one of those moments where as it was happening I knew it was special and something I would always remember — so I was really able to enjoy it and I think the people attending the show did as well. I was in that elevator for over 5 hours and it felt like maybe 5 minutes
What are some of the most interesting or exciting projects you are working on now?
I am most excited to be participating in this year’s Artomatic, a signature event drawing 100s of artists and performers from throughout DC, Maryland and Virginia for a seven-week free exhibition to celebrate the arts! It runs from March 8 — April 28. I have also been working on a new series of paintings, and I also have my tenth book coming out called Sounds from a Black Hole — which is another collection of poems and stories, but is somewhat of a departure from my usual “pop culture themed haiku poetry”.
Who are some of the most interesting people you have interacted with? What was that like? Do you have any stories?
I was fortunate enough to meet Caroline Rhea at a charity event and she was even more talented and funny then I even thought was possible — I honestly tried to flirt with her and she shut me down immediately and then spent the rest of the night cracking jokes at my expense — it was hilarious and something I’ll never forget. She is just one of those people that could entertain people and make them laugh by reading a phone book — and also super sweet and kind
Where do you draw inspiration from? Can you share a story about that?
In most cases it comes from conversations I am having with friends — we discuss a specific topic and it kind of grows from there -if it is poetry it usually just pops right out — if its painting it becomes how can I express this visually and it gets a little deeper.
Probably my favorite “how did you come up with this story” is how I ended up writing the trilogy of ‘Her Vagina’ joke books (I call this the Vagilogy). My best friend who is a lady had met a new guy and they were sort of dating/flirting but nothing really physical had happened and she was getting frustrated, so she was at his house one day and she pulled the “naked under the blanket” move (where he had gone into the garage for something and she stripped off her clothes and was waiting naked under a blanket on the couch) when he came back in the room. She dropped the blanket… and he basically ran away from her. It was awkward and she was confused and devastated so she got dressed and left. She told me about what happened, and I just went right into making jokes about how awesome she and her vagina are to cheer her up. I started texting them to her — and after about 30 or 40 of them in the span of maybe 10–20 minutes she texted me back that I should write these in a book — so I did….
And then I ended up writing 2 more books about Her Vagina.
How have you used your success to bring goodness to the world?
Using art as a way to encourage other people to be creative and using art as a way for people to understand the value of cooperation and collaboration brings goodness in to the world. And on a smaller scale donating artwork to the comfort cases charity to support children in the foster care system is something I love to do as well.
What are your “5 things I wish someone told me when I first started” and why?
1 . Dont try — the philosophy of Bukowski — don’t try and be an author or a painter or a poet — just go out and be an author and a painter and a poet
2 . Art is not a competition — art is subjective and people will like what they like — it isn’t a competition and you will never do your best work if you are trying to beat out someone else.
3 . Always support other people being creative — Sort of an extension of rule 2 — being creative is challenging and it is not a competition. Artists benefit from collaboration so it is very important to always encourage other people to explore their creativity and find their voice.
4 . Don’t compromise — If you go about your work trying to please other people, rather than sticking with your own vision of what you want to do — you aren’t being genuine and you won’t ever reach your best — because even if you gain fame and fortune — it wasn’t on your terms with your creations -it would be like having a number one record of all cover songs — sure that’s great — but it isn’t really your work and doesn’t really represent your vision or the best of what you can do.
5 . Remember you can’t fail — You may never reach what other people determine to be a level of success — you may never even reach the goals you set for yourself — that is ok — as long as you create and express yourself and do your thing — you can’t possibly fail. The success is in showing up and doing the work — painting the painting, writing the book, telling the story — whatever it is that you are doing — if you are doing it — you are succeeding — so keep at it.
If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. 🙂
My goal is always to support other people being creative and finding their own voice — I think if that happened people would let go of the idea that we always have to compete with each other and the idea of cooperation would win out — art is universal to humans and to our culture and history and if we approached each other with that understanding and through that lens of encouragement, understanding and cooperation this would be a much happier and more fulfilling and beautiful place to be.
We have been blessed that some of the biggest names in Business, VC funding, Sports, and Entertainment read this column. Is there a person in the world, or in the US whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch with, and why? He or she just might see this.
There are many — Arnold Schwarzenegger would be the first — he has accomplished more than almost anyone else and his work ethic and success is legendary — anyone and everyone should have Arnold on their list!
The second person I would choose is more local to my area and that is Joe Theisman — he has said many times “if I don’t believe in myself, who else will?”. As an artist you are going to deal with heaps of rejection — you are going to be dismissed and judged and told you aren’t good enough over and over again — so you have to have that Theisman level of confidence in yourself to keep creating without compromising your vision. I can say that whenever I’ve had doubts or wanted to give up or wanted to change what I was doing I just heard his voice saying “if you don’t believe in yourself, who else will?”. He has kept me going and if I ever had the chance I’d shake his hand and thank him for that
What is the best way our readers can follow you on social media?
I’m on most of the socials @schaperart — and there is always the website as well schaperart.com
This was very inspiring. Thank you so much for joining us!
Fritz Schaper of Schaper Art: Five Things I Wish Someone Had Told Me Before I Became an Artist was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.