We had the good fortune of connecting with 3rd Ai and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi 3rd, what do you attribute your success to?
One thing I always love myself or others for is being Versatile. I feel that in itself opens so many more doors to creatively being able to collaborate with others and looking at the problem at hand and finding the best way to achieve a finished product. That idea in itself I feel like some creative people don’t understand how that is relevant. I think about this a lot, and I believe that I wouldn’t of been as successful if I had limited way to bring a clients image to life.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
I am a artist who didn’t come from a lot of opportunity or tools to really create how I wanted to, but I made it work. I am also troubled with sometimes being “looked over” as a artist or maybe sometimes being judged on my outside image. I started off as a street artist, I get a bunch of raw inspiration from that. Honestly being a artist is kinda a weird place to be professionally and for me it was something that I took on a day to day basis. I didn’t have resources so I took it to the street. Selling art on the side of street in Hollywood and Venice Beach California helped meet people who were doing things more professional than I was, and for some reason a lot of these people gave me a opportunity to work for them. To think back on those days and how I simply did this off the strength of believing in myself and my artwork. I would go out to these places almost every single day, and stay there all day. Most of these days in beginning I can say I wouldn’t make very much and used to beat myself up for it. I soon even just started looking for jobs and going to interviews and doing all that, It really sucked that I almost gave up. Then one day, and I can’t explain what happened exactly, I started to think about what people would like to buy if they saw art just on the street. These places where i was selling are major tourist attractions, so I thought that maybe they would like portraits of popular celebrities or musicians, pop culture, and things like that. I went to the drawing pad and started doing that, that worked. I then began painting live in front of crowds, in Venice Beach there are Art Walls where you can spray paint and do that kind of stuff in front of people, so I just focused on doing that. This helped a lot I must say and It was awesome! All of the sudden I had a new found energy about me, and I just felt more happy and content with my life. It was like having a new pair of shoes and that feel ya know? You put them on, walk down the street, people are commenting them saying how good they look and you just feel like you’re on top of world. It was that feeling but with my artwork and how I felt as a creative being recognized for what they made. I took that and ran with it, still to this day I tell people about this time in my life, because even though I have been a artist most of life who might of had bits of success here and there. This was a time in my life that was critical to me finding out who I was and if i even had it in me to work hard, and believe in myself, and not give up on that dream.

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?
Well I would say that in Albuquerque, the must see spots are places like Knob Hill and Acme Yards. These are places with murals and street art that are very good, colorful and beautiful. I would also say taking a stroll down Downtown and Barelas are spots where you can see some very nice murals by a number of artists. Knob Hill and Downtown are also good places to get some food and some drinks.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I’d like to give a Shoutout to the city where i’m from and the people that I meet in it. They have given me a sense of importance and a artist. I get a lot of love and encouragement. I feel that sometimes I am influencing people to push and challenge their own artistic creativity and love that. I never want to be a symbol of mediocrity with art. I want people to see what I do and be like “This guy can do so many different styles, I want to be like that”.

Website: Under Construction Currently
Instagram: @therdai
Twitter: @therdai
Facebook: www.facebook.com/therdai.artisan
Other: www.deviantart.com/therdai