Duane Ackley shared their story and experiences with us recently and you can find our conversation below.
Hi Duane, thank you so much for taking time out of your busy day to share your story, experiences and insights with our readers. Let’s jump right in with an interesting one: What is a normal day like for you right now?
I wake up at 5 am. 5 am! It used to be 4 but ever since quitting my job I have myself a break. I don’t do it because I’m some sort of morning person, I do it because I’m a crazy person. An obsessed person. After waking it’s pretty quickly to painting some magnets, followed by social media updates, food, and more paint time. Then I I get to nap for like an hour or maybe a small bit more. A little tv time, more creating, food, and a late night coffee that helps me get drowsy for bed no later than 11 pm. Repeat that pretty much every day with very little actual physical human contact until an event or the occasional social gathering and you’ve summed up how I very happily currently live. The things one might do when they’re focused on something they truly live and care about. Even with being committed, it’s still a crapshoot as to if it’ll work. For a crazy person, beats the luxury of working for others.
Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
My given name is Duane, but I’m not really concerned with it. I’m me every day so I don’t find me that particularly interesting, that is, outside of creating. Being a painter I spend a lot of time alone. I suppose it doesn’t have to be that way, but less distraction allows for more creativity. Badubu Art is the vehicle for my creativity, something that in the long term will allow for the full scope of all my creative dabbling. The driving force is painting in acrylic. I absolutely love painting and have taken a wonky path on creating something of it. I started to learn to paint in December of 2021, pulling on a 16 year commitment to being a tattooer that was followed by becoming a farmer and a break from art. It inevitably lead me back to a traditional creative practice. I was more of a tattooer than an artist when I had that career, meaning everything was oriented toward tattoos. No painting unless it was a design for a tattoo done with ink and traditional “spitshading”. I didn’t think in terms of being an artist or creating painterly type things. It was 90-95% black outlines and heavy structure to last under the skin as best as possible. That’s not what I do now, but it definitely can be seen in its influence in some of my current work. This new endeavor is not the same as all that in the past, it’s an exploration of my internal world, brought out in picture form to be consumed, shared, judged, and pondered upon. All the experiences and information my curiosity has taken my me through, as well as the continuing of, is now splayed upon various canvas. Aspects of psychology, philosophy, interconnectedness of all things, myth, religion and spirituality, and the questioning of existence are thrown about and blended together into pieces that hold a lot of questions and answers as well as pieces that are just fun or beatiful. Badubu Art is the fullest expression I can muster of everything that life has given me. That’s probably long winded enough.
Appreciate your sharing that. Let’s talk about your life, growing up and some of topics and learnings around that. Who taught you the most about work?
I don’t separate work and life if that’s what’s meant, but regardless my greatest teacher was Tito. He was my dog companion of like 13-14 years, a mirror of my heart, and a incevin a lifetime relationship. He perfectly showed me what it is to be a good human, encouraged me to work on the parts of myself that needed resolving, to be gentler in ways and still be able to show my teeth when needed. The single most important relationship outside of the one with myself that I’ve ever had in 45 years of spinning around the sun.
Was there ever a time you almost gave up?
I have given up a million times and died a million deaths. The me that exists now is because I’ve never fully given up. While art is my conduit for expression, life has had its hard moments with me. Part of the gig. Been through a lot in my experience of life, things that have temporarily taken the want to continue living out of me. Both physical and psychological pain that has had me praying for death. I’ve learned it’s just part of the gig. I was led away from emotions and back to embracing them… all of them. I allow myself to give up whenever I want, so long as I get back at it once I’m done quitting. There’s much I could say on it but there are more questions so….
Sure, so let’s go deeper into your values and how you think. What would your closest friends say really matters to you?
I’ve been told I put high value on accountability, authenticity, and honesty. We all fall short on things, it’s pretty common, but I’m likely tied to those and being in the world in a way that achieves that because it’s great for relationship building, which I care deeply about.
Okay, so let’s keep going with one more question that means a lot to us: If immortality were real, what would you build?
I’d keep doing what I’m doing and build something to allow for death. Like if immortality was just it, no other option. I really personally enjoy the fact we are here for a long and brief time, perspective speaking. Limitations make for easier decisions and also help with developing appreciation and meaning. I think most of the obsession with immortality comes from a poor relationship with the beauty of death. Beginnings and endings are wonderful. Deep. Understanding of things tends to come from the temporary nature of life. You don’t have to like it, hell loss can suck it sometimes. Same for suffering. Those are temporary too, and on the other side of it is the gift. Relief, gratitude, joy. Those only seem to exist and be really understood with their opposites. As above so below type thinking.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.badubuart.com
- Instagram: @badubuart
