Wesley Knight 0:00
This is a Kun V studios original program. The content of this program does not reflect the views or opinions of 91.5 jazz and more the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, or the Board of Regents of the Nevada System of Higher Education.

Anika Jones 0:16
Let's get scratching. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the vibrant world of graffiti Park radio, where creativity knows no bound, we'll tap in with artists, educators, our proud partners and community stakeholders who believe in empowering the next generation of visionaries beyond the hidden alleyways, abandoned warehouses and local city transits, where artists are known to leave their mark, graffiti Park Foundation has redefined and reimagined the persona street Museum.

Dan Moloney 0:44
Hello, howdy. We're back. We got Dan and Dan and Miss Anika Jones, well, hello, another wonderful episode of graffiti Park radio. Good morning, good afternoon. Good moral, wherever, whenever you might be listening. We're happy to have you today. We are joined by a very special guest, Mr. Angelo, how you doing?

Angelo Vigilia 1:01
Doing awesome. Thank you guys for having me. Of the course. Of course. Angelo, also

Dan Moloney 1:05
known as art Dragon, yes, sir. Is your? Is your little pseudonym there thing? Tell us a little bit. Tell us a little bit about yourself. Angelo, yeah, definitely.

Angelo Vigilia 1:15
So, um, well, first of all, I'm super happy to be here. Thank you guys so much. This is really exciting. A little bit about me is, I'm actually a student here at, you know, okay, yep,

Dan Moloney 1:24
yep. So red, Alma Mater, red, oh yeah, I know

Angelo Vigilia 1:27
you guys are fellow alumni. So that's pretty exciting. You know what? You know, rebel family we are, yeah, so that's a little bit about me. I'm an art major here, minoring in Japanese. Yeah, that's a little bit about myself. What?

Dan Moloney 1:41
Thank you. Are you? Where are you from? So I'm from, I'm

Angelo Vigilia 1:43
a, I'm from here, Las Vegas, local high school. I went to Western High School. Nice. Yeah, I know you guys have been busy over there. We have done some stuff. Yes, you guys move quick, because I've been wanting to go visit and see the work you guys have done and visit some teachers. You know, don't

Dan Moloney 1:59
have you? Yeah, I think we did some stuff there, and they're like, you work with my old student, Angelo.

Angelo Vigilia 2:05
Was that mentioned, very were mentioned, very

Anika Jones 2:07
cool. Pretty awesome. Your celebrities in your own right. So

Dan Moloney 2:11
you're an art major. What kind of medium concentration?

Angelo Vigilia 2:15
Yeah, focus in drawing, print, making and painting. Yeah. So it's a little different from the, you know, the graffiti medium, but I feel like arts art, you know, yeah,

Anika Jones 2:25
absolutely. So

Dan Bulgatz 2:26
what, what got you started, I guess, originally, and then how did you end up at UNLV in the art program? Yeah,

Angelo Vigilia 2:32
that's actually a great question. Thank you for asking that. Because I was not an art major at first, right? Like, I think that, like, art is just, you know, not a career that's believed in, or, you know, I've talked about, unfortunately, yeah, so I was actually a civil engineer major combined. Yeah, different, yeah,

Dan Moloney 2:51
good, switch, yeah.

Angelo Vigilia 2:55
Honestly, I'm gonna say this engineer. No, no, this, no, dis. But to anyone thinking about it, it's been the one of the best decisions I've made, you know, so but, yeah, I was a civil engineering major, and I know things just didn't feel right, like I felt like I wasn't doing what I really wanted to do. It didn't feel like me. So took a little break from classes and did some like, self discovery, and that's when I realized, like, you know what, life's too short. Yeah,

Dan Moloney 3:19
love, if you feel comfortable sharing what ended up giving you that confidence at the end of the day to make that leap? Yeah,

Angelo Vigilia 3:25
that's another great question. Um, one of the things that gave me that confidence is, uh, you know, I just, I had to look at, like, what makes me unique, you know, I really genuinely like, What can I offer to the world that I feel like only I can offer, you know? And I feel like it has to be something you're, like, passionate about, you know, like I did a lot of, like, YouTube is one of the greatest sources in the world, you know, right? Like, YouTube University is really, yeah, I have

Dan Moloney 3:49
a master's. Oh yeah, there you

Angelo Vigilia 3:50
go. I'm working on it, PhD. And so I was, like, going through YouTube, just looking at a lot of people who I looked up to, people who I felt like have followed their path and made the most out of life and a lot and, like, I think that the the main thing across any field, whether it's art or, you know, acting, it's like, just do what you love. You know, don't even worry about anything else. Just do what you love. So I was like, Well, what do I even love? You know what? I mean, what's like, you know, it's so hard, it's a hard question when you haven't thought about that for your life, yeah, yeah. And, you know, doing some self discovery, I actually left college, left Vegas, went joined the military, kind of just went away from everyone, wow. And just, you know, try to find myself. When was this? This was, let's see, I joined college first in 2019 and then, you know, I was just going downhill because just classes weren't working. So 2021, is when I left. Okay, so two years of college wasn't working out. Left, yeah, and then did some thinking, okay,

Dan Bulgatz 4:47
so yeah, and what? What branch of the military, Army, yeah,

Angelo Vigilia 4:50
I'm in the National Guard right now. Okay, yeah, yeah. So I'm still in that. I still have a contract with them. Yeah,

Dan Moloney 4:58
I love to hear that. Okay. What's your MOS?

Angelo Vigilia 5:02
Educated My MOS, which is my military job. It's a 88 mic, so it's a truck driver has nothing to do with like, okay, so, yeah, sometimes I know

Anika Jones 5:13
more skills. I feel like you're super well rounded with all of these different acts, like you just, literally just told us all these different aspects of your life and such a short amount of time, I also was kind of peeking into your life, getting a little stock on before we started the show, and I saw that you were doing martial arts. Are you grounded in that way from the martial arts, and then how do you put that into your artwork? Yeah, oh, I appreciate

Angelo Vigilia 5:32
that question a lot. We appreciate you. Yeah, yeah. You know, I'm so going back to why I chose art, like I have been drawing just out of passion since I was young. I just draw in my free time, yeah, and that's when I was like, okay, um, you know, I just, I love to draw, like, regardless, you know. So I'll do, I'll do that, you know. And I felt, I feel that art is just timeless, right? Like, we talk about art, we talk about Van Gogh Monet, like, you know, Hokusai, the Great Wave, and it's just timeless. And it felt like something that's worth putting your time in, and then going back. Going back to, I am grounded in martial arts too, because it's just another one of my passion, like a passion of mine, like growing up, I grew up watching martial art movies. I started when I was, like, nine years old. But before that, I was always pretending, you know, like it was in my nature, you know. So that's that those two, I would say, is, like, what grounds me is art and martial arts, yeah. And if I could define myself, you know,

Dan Moloney 6:24
which, which martial arts. So I have

Angelo Vigilia 6:27
a heavy background in Taekwondo. ITF, taekwondo, nice,

Dan Bulgatz 6:29
yeah, yeah, yeah. And so that was the one that you started when you were nine. Or what did you start with? Yeah, you've kind of graduated your way. Yes,

Angelo Vigilia 6:36
sir, yeah. I started with ITF taekwondo when I was nine, and then when I wanted to Western High School, I wrestled. I consider, even though wrestling is not from, like East Asia, it's like a martial art, to me, anything combat related. So absolutely, yeah, yeah, okay, I'll be

Anika Jones 6:51
training with him, by the way, just let's go. Yeah, you guys ready? Oh yeah,

Dan Moloney 6:55
we'll give it a shot. Taekwondo is that Korean?

Angelo Vigilia 7:00
Yes, Taekwondo is Korean martial art, yes, yes,

Dan Bulgatz 7:03
yeah. So can we talk a little bit, what is your background and how does that influence your artistic style? Yeah,

Angelo Vigilia 7:10
like, like, what background you mean? Like, cultural, background, culture. Okay, yeah, yeah. So my family comes from Philippines, okay, uh huh. And right now I haven't really been paying homage to that in my artwork so much, I think I should, you know, I'd like to pay respects and roots, absolutely. Some Filipino art that I have made is from sceneries that I've done. I do like to travel. So when I find like a scenery is really beautiful. There's a I've done this painting, and it's called a, it's a benauer rice terraces. These beautiful rice terraces. You guys should look it up. It's amazing. It's like staircases in the mountains used to cultivate rice in an efficient way. And it's just a beautiful site. And it's just a wonderful example, I think, for humanity, because they worked with nature, they didn't just, like, exploit it, yeah, and I think that's something that's it's possible, and we should think about that. But that was my most recent, like, you know, connected to my heritage. You know that I've done.

Dan Bulgatz 8:06
I love that. Yeah. And so what inspired you to study Japanese as a minor here at UNLV, yes,

Angelo Vigilia 8:10
yeah, yeah. So I'm not Japanese at all, but, um, I I just am infatuated by Japanese culture. You know, I grew up, of course, watching anime, as a lot of people do, and I just love the music, and I love the culture as well. I just came there. I just came from there for the first time. A super great experience. Oh, heck yeah, yeah, thank you.

Dan Bulgatz 8:31
When did you go? Was your experience like,

Angelo Vigilia 8:33
yeah, I went this past I went this past spring break, and the experience was just mind opening. You know, it's just like, because the Eastern world is just the total opposite from here. I think it's, it'd be great for us to both just see each other's worlds, you know. And when I'm there, it's, it's just, everything is different. Everything's different, you know. And you really, it's humbling, too, you know. Like, you know, I feel like, here we have a lot of people coming into states from other countries, and when you're from the States, you don't really understand. When you're in the shoes of someone else, like in another country, like, not outside of, you know, when you're out, outside of your own home, you don't even speak the language, and it's so hard, like, it really makes me respect these people out. I don't even know how they do it, you know, it's always a beautiful experience. And art, art there art, Japanese art, is my favorite when it comes to, you know, and it's just amazing. Will

Dan Bulgatz 9:21
you tell us a little more? Why? Why Japanese art? Let's see.

Angelo Vigilia 9:24
Well, Japanese are like the Edo period, the wood block prints. It's just that style. And I love nature, and Japanese are really Japanese art and culture really emphasizes nature, and respecting nature is absolutely part of their one of the things I want to share. It's random, but, like, This is crazy. I was like, they don't do this, and it's changed the way I actually am. I actually move now that I'm here. It's a simple but super effective, I think. Like, they don't use paper towels to dry their hands. After you wash your hands in the bathroom, you just, I'm saying, so like, you wash your hands, you know how we take out the paper, dry it, throw it away, and. That is not a thing there. There's no paper towels, you know. And it was just like one of the biggest, like, smallest but biggest differences. So now, like, every time I'm in the every time I wash my hands here, I'm like, need those paper towels? Yeah, I don't like the air is gonna dry it, you know. But it just shows like there was, you know, there's respect in their consciousness of working with nature,

Anika Jones 10:19
kind of like the sustainable, art concept you were just talking about earlier. Yeah, I dealt with that a little bit. I lived on Oahu for a short amount of time. My very first, first Friday experiences were downtown Honolulu like and it was predominantly Japanese art, and it just encompass everything that was happening the aloha spirit in Hawaii, and being able to just connect with that spirit and also with the difference in culture. We're mainland folks. We know mainland things. Oh, you know what I mean. So it was, it was a learning experience for the focal point to not be black and white, the focal point not to be about politics, the focal point not to be about what's happening on the mainland. And it was such a beautiful thing to see in a place that wasn't even Japan, like, you know what I mean. So it was such a great introduction to that. So I totally get what you're where you're coming from, and how that transitioned into your art, and especially your martial arts as well. Thank you. Thank you. Yeah, that's very cool, for sure. So

Dan Moloney 11:12
how would you describe your artistic style? You've talked about a lot of your influences and some of the things you're focusing on here at school, but how would you describe your style and kind of that sort

Angelo Vigilia 11:21
of thing, yeah, thank you for that question. Because I will say I'm, it's definitely developing, you know, because I've done some projects with you guys, right? And it's, I'm super beginner and, and I'm around all these, like, professionals, you know? It's, it's really amazing, yeah, kind of intimidating too, because I'm like, Oh man, they have their style. What's, what's my style, right? You know. And, you know, going back to why I'm even learning Japanese right now, and my interest in Japanese culture is, you know, I'm trying to, like, blend the Eastern world with, you know, this world, right? Like, I'd like to introduce what's called kanji. Like, I feel passionate about putting kanji on my art. Kanji is Chinese characters, you know, it's a Japanese name for Chinese characters. That's what the Kanji is. And, you know, because for me, Kanji is a beautiful art, you know? It just looks amazing, yeah, you know? And it's crazy, because when you think about it, it's the same as graffiti, you know, it's writing, yeah? And it's express its expression through writing that

Dan Bulgatz 12:15
were originally, it was really cool that you bring this up. They were originally, like hieroglyphics, essentially written on the insides of caves. And so the Chinese language is written based on some of these different hieroglyphics that are written on the side of the cave. So they don't have like alphabets the same way that we do in English. It's completely different to where character

Dan Moloney 12:34
represents a group of words, yeah, or an image of words, beautiful, spelling out lion,

Angelo Vigilia 12:40
exact character, yes, yes, yes, yes. So, and it's, and, you know, in a So, going back to that calligraphy and just learning those characters, it's really a, you know, it opens you up to this new world, because it's just a different way of looking at writing, like, like you said, it's images and it's and when you look at the character, it's not just, you can't really look at a character and say a meaning, a lot of the times it's concepts. So it's a lot more abstract. Like, you look at a character, it's like, it means something like this. You don't say this character means death, you know, it could mean, it could mean whatever the context you put it in, you know, yeah, and yeah, it could be end, or it can be like, you know, I don't know, the list is pretty much endless, yeah, but, but, yeah. So going back to, you know, my style is, you know, I definitely want to, I want to, you know, convey a message for sure, and I want to connect, like an image to the message I'm trying to convey. Yeah, I want to do abstractly, more abstractly, right, like I'm not just going to put in Kanji, follow your dreams. You know, it has to. Your dreams, yeah, yeah, no, because, like, there's so many you know, Proverbs, you know, just things that are deep, like that you have to think about, you know. And you have to search if you really want to know what it is, you gotta, like, search, you know. And I just want to with that. I just want to spark, you know, curiosity, you know. I don't want people to look at something like, all right, I got it, you know. I want them to be like, Man, what is that? You know? And then, like, start to think about it, you know. And if they're interested, look into it more, because that's when the magic happens. You got to, like, Look, do some searching, you know,

Dan Moloney 14:12
yeah, and you mentioned when I when you were first answering that question, that it can be kind of intimidating being around other artists that have a developed style and that sort of thing. So we, I mean, we ask all of our guests that kind of same question, like, how would you define that? And they all kind of have that first initial answer that you were saying. It's like, you know, I don't really know. I'm still trying to find it. Whether they've been doing art for a couple years or 20 years, right? So I think that's something cool about art in general, is like, there's no destination, yeah, yes, yeah, you know, you know, if you look at, like, all the famous names you were talking about earlier, like Picasso, if you just look his style changed every decade, you know, yeah, depending on what were, what were his influences, what he was experiencing in life, what he was trying to convey. So, right, right, I think that's, uh, that's a kind of a tough question to answer as an artist. So I. Appreciate you giving us a little insight

Dan Bulgatz 15:02
when it comes to integrating kanji into your artworks is, do you have a specific inspiration or something that like, Are are you finding these phrases while reading and then creating artworks around them? Or are you creating artworks and then using kanji to fill them in or to add meaning to your artwork?

Angelo Vigilia 15:18
Yeah, that's man. That's a great question, because it's kind of both, you know, I don't really have like, a process of, like, all right, I want to make a piece based off this idea, you know, it's more like, sometimes I'm like, Okay, I have this image in my head, for example, like, a temple or something, you know, and then, uh, and then I'll look at kanji, you know, in regards to that, you know, or like, when I say a temple, that's a that would be associated with Buddhism, you know, just a little bit of a like, I guess, Crash Course, like, Temple is Buddhism. So I'm like, Okay, what are like some Buddhist philosophers? Okay, okay. And then if I were to say, Oh, I'm painting, or I'm doing artwork on a jin or, sorry, I was gonna say the Japanese word Jinja, but shrine on a shrine, then that's more like Shinto, you know. And there was some Shinto ideas, so, yeah, sometimes the image comes, but then other times the kanji comes, the kanji are the characters, and it's, it's so funny, you know, because, like, inspiration is really the best tool that you can have, because that's, like, your compass, you know, yeah. And so I'm like, let's say I see the kanji of, like, heart, you know? I'm like, Okay, I see it. It might not hit the first time, but the more I do, I just look into text or, you know, I live life, I go to Japan. It's like, oh, that Kanji is coming out again. Sometimes these characters, some will stick to you, and then that's where I'm like, Okay, I want to do artwork on that, you know? So sometimes, and then sometimes I find proverbs just in like, random, spontaneous ways, whether it's through a book or on a sign or, you know what I mean, or through, like, the martial arts life, like, for example, like I'm watching like, a Martial Arts video, right? So I'm not thinking of art at all, like, not visual art, but the physical art, martial arts. And then I'll see, like, scrolls. I've been getting into calligraphy too, because it's like, part of martial arts culture. I'll see a scroll behind it, and I'm like, Oh, what's that kanji? You know, that's exciting. So I'm like, what is that? Pause, the video screenshot, it, look into it, and then, you know, it's search. Because I'm like, wait, what does that even say? So now I have to ask my Japanese teachers, what is this, you know? And then when they tell you, it's like, oh my gosh, that's epic, you know, yeah, because it's something like a strength to move a mountain, you know, it's not just strong, yeah, it's always like, very, you know, like symbolic in a way, you know. So, yeah, it's

Dan Bulgatz 17:13
not those, those, like, risk, you have to, know,

Angelo Vigilia 17:18
yeah,

Anika Jones 17:19
COVID times, yeah, that's beautiful. I love the idea of this deeper language within the art that you're expressing and that you even see. You know, of course, this has been around for many years, but I think when we connect to that language behind the art, that's the voice that we're all missing, that's the voice, that's the song that we're all wanting to sing, but we can't quite figure it out, figure out the words. So being able to create that for people, I think, is a beautiful thing, and you've definitely expressed that to us, so it's really

Dan Bulgatz 17:48
cool. I did want to kind of jump back, as you said, you allow creativity to be your compass. What do you mean by that? I

Angelo Vigilia 17:54
feel like it's as cliche as it sounds. It's like it's just following your heart and just like staying curious, you know, like staying curious and always wanting to create, you know, I want to create. Like you should want to create, you know, like you should tell yourself you want to create. And then like that creative spirits can be like, Oh, okay. Then it's gonna start looking, you know, that that activates it. If you don't ever tell yourself that you want to create, I don't think like the creativity is gonna like, you know, come out. Like, I think you got to be like, Man, I want to create. But what, you know, then it's like, Oh, okay. Then, you know, you let it, let it come to you. It's not it's, you know, as much as I wish it was like, oh, I want to create something. Okay, I know what I want to create. You know, it's more just like, you know, you know, just letting that, I guess, like Curiosity, you know, guide you. And just looking back onto like, you know, what are some things that have sparked my attention. It's kind of interesting, you know, because it's like, you can look at it. Art is so abstract, right? So you can look at it either ways. I can look to the past and be like, what's some things? For example, if I were looking back to my Japanese trip, or my trip to Japan, like, what are some, maybe, pictures that I took, you know, that I know I wanted to use, I guess some. At some point, it gets to a point at at some point when you're when you get into the flow of creating, you start to kind of, like, plan ahead for your next creation. So when I was out there, I wasn't taking, okay, for anyone who's like, thinking about traveling, I feel like there's levels to it. So first you go and you travel, and you're taking these pictures. Like, oh, it's so cool. I want to post it, you know. But now, like, I've gotten to the point where I'm like, Okay, I'm gonna take a picture, but, like, how am I gonna use this? Yeah, so this past trip was a little different, because I was like, you know, how can I use this in my art? It just feels a little bit more deep than versus, like, how, you know, I wanna put this on my story. It's more like, Okay, what inspires my art? So it's kind of like, planning ahead, is part of it, you know, like I was a I'm actually gonna reference black. I'm gonna reference black because he was a huge inspiration to me. And he said something on this podcast that has been on my mind, and it's, you know, just keeping that open mind, you know that that's gonna serve your creative spirit, you know, he had said, he said a small example, but it stuck with me. And that's like, even something like noticing a colorway, you know, and that's like, really opened my eyes, because I remember. I was the specific point. I was in the plane, you know, going to another country. And I was like, it was like, sunset time is beautiful, you know? And there was like, this purple lighting because it was darker outside, so the purple lighting comes on in the plane, but then you had this, like, bright orange coming in from the sunset. It was very specific to the moment. And I was just like, Dude, this is what he was talking about. Exactly this color palette right now, is beautiful, you know what I mean? And it opens your like, it opens your desire to notice the world around you. So

Dan Bulgatz 20:27
it makes the world so much more beautiful. It does give you that option of looking at the world almost for the first time, or through a child's eyes, or through somebody that's, you know, constantly learning to learn new things, as opposed to the preconcision, yeah, you know things that have been for sure,

Anika Jones 20:41
brought to you, yeah? And it's the connection to, like, the idea that you were able to see what he was talking about before you even saw that sunset says something. And then you did, and you're like, Yes, this is it. You know, that's, that's that missing song lyric, yeah, like that, yeah, that's really cool. Well, it's

Dan Bulgatz 20:59
a huge step up. Is there have been any other of those that you feel like have drastically improved your art career, anything that you felt was like, not a shortcut or a cheat code, but something that you really feel like leveled out.

Angelo Vigilia 21:11
Aha moments. Yeah, yeah. So, like I said, it was, it's always, I feel like it's always spontaneous, you know, because I feel like, when I'm searching for it, it's like, I can't find anything. All right, I'll leave it. Oh, snaps, you know. So just, like, just keep an open mind, you know? But um, I think another one of those moments was, uh, let's see, um, that's kind of hard right now. I want to say the most recent. I can't think of one, a specifically right now, that's like, like that, where it kind of things like, clicked and made sense, but, but I just have been taking a lot of pictures for the sake of, like, I've just been, I'll say this what I know, I like, I record it down just in case for the future, you know. I mean, so like, anything in regards to martial arts, you know, like, I went to a martial arts history museum. I was just taking pictures. Boom, boom, boom. Oh, this kind of inspires me. I don't know if I'm gonna use it, but maybe I will, you know. And I think, like, that's another thing I discovered. Like, another discovery, I guess I can say, is, like, don't put too much pressure on yourself, you know, that. Like, take a picture of this and make an art piece out of Yeah. More like, take a picture of it inspires you. And, like, let it, let it, you know, grow if it was meant to, you know. And like, I think that's been the biggest thing. So now, if I feel passionate about it, if I love it, and if it's in the realm of, like, I kind of know what, what my passions are at this point, you know, it's kind of funny, right? Because that's like, a growing moment. Because, like, initially, I didn't know who I was, and I didn't know like, I didn't know like, what I loved, I didn't know I wanted to do art. But now I'm like, I know what I love. Now I'm searching. So it's kind of like, you know, you get deeper into that. And then you can hone in certain stuff and, but anyways, yeah, for me, it's like, martial arts, you know, East Asian culture, or even, like, even, just even, I'm glad you brought up aloha spirit, because, you know, Philippines is like Islander, and I went to Hawaii and, like, just anything in like that, that, like Island, I think, like Islander, or anything that, like that. I guess aloha spirit, you know, when I say aloha spirit, I feel like that doesn't, I feel like that doesn't like single it to just Hawaii. I feel like that's just, like the life spirit, yeah, you know, love spirit, and whatever I know, like sparks that. So, like, I said, like martial arts, or, like, you know, Japanese culture, nature. I love nature, you know, as, like, I feel, like every artist does, but like, I've been taking a lot of pictures of flowers recently, you know, and just, and just with the open mind of, like, Man, this is, this is striking. Let me just, like, enjoy this moment, you know, catch it. And now I have, like, a little drive just where, like, you know, just where I can reference if I need to, you know. So it's thinking of head, it's thinking ahead, but also looking in the past, you know. So to

Dan Bulgatz 23:37
rekindle those thoughts, those feelings, yeah,

Dan Moloney 23:39
sounds like the the like, underlying, I guess, theme of what you've been talking about is, like, allowing yourself to be open minded, but also, like being intentional about what you're taking, yeah, it's like a balance, but the balance of not requiring yourself to, like, use that, right? So it's just kind of, it's like you got to be like, water. Oh, yeah, right. Like, what? And so, and, you know, Angela, honestly, like, I think, if not, one of the youngest people we've had on the show, I think you've had some of the more insightful, like just, just things that you're talking about, that being said as a creative as you've been on this journey, has there been, you know, a challenge that stands out to you, like a roadblock that you've had to overcome. Mm, hmm,

Angelo Vigilia 24:25
definitely a lot of challenges, right? I think one of the hardest challenges is, um, you have to really, like, respect your own time to create. You know, one of the challenges is like, oh, man, I don't have the time to create. You know, it's like, and it's really like, you have to prioritize it, like it's a job, like your life depends on it, you know. And I'm not gonna say like, I create, you know. I'm not gonna say like, you know, I work two jobs and then I go home and create, you know, it's not like that for me, you know, like, I go to school and then I work a part time job, and I try to have a social life, you know. I try to live very organically and not like. You know, like, I need to wake up at 5am you know, and sleep at 4am get one hours. I create three days, one day. Like, you know, I try to, like, really be, be forgiving with myself. But, um, the hardest part is, like, Dude, I need to create because, because it's only you that's gonna do, but I'm not, I will say that, like, doing it as my major has helped a lot, yeah, because it's like, Okay, now, like, I can satisfy a requirement as I do it. I'm not, like, studying Civil Engineering then trying to create. Yeah, I'm creating in for a major, which is a blessing, you know, that's a huge blessing. But, yeah, that's the hardest. I think that's like, the biggest roadblock, you know, is like, Oh man, like, you know, and I start to beat myself up. I didn't, I didn't even sketch for 15 minutes today. You know what I mean? Like, little like, things like that, you place on yourself. You just got to self, love and forgive yourself, keep going.

Dan Moloney 25:45
So how much longer UNLV Do you have? I always love this question

Angelo Vigilia 25:48
because it's kind of abstract as well, you know, just like art is, you know. So, like, you know, if I wanted to, I could bust out UNLV in, like, two semesters if I wanted to, you know, but, um, one of the things that's in my factors that I'm considering is I'm an Army until March of 2027 so I'm kind of thinking of just, like stretching it, taking my time until I because they're gonna pay for it, luckily, yeah, paying for shout out, yeah, shout out, National Guard, you know? But, yeah, they're covering it until 2027 so I'm like, oh, you know, maybe I should, you know, just take my time, stretch it out and do the most I can with that time. So it's a range between a year to two years, so two semesters to four semesters. Like the range, yeah,

Dan Moloney 26:29
yeah. So close, man. If people, those that are listening are interested in finding you seeing some of your creations, where can they look?

Angelo Vigilia 26:37
Yeah, for sure. I'd really appreciate if they followed me on IG, that's at art dragon key. And then I also have a YouTube you could follow. You could find my YouTube at our dragon. You can see it in my Instagram link. Nice. It will be there.

Dan Moloney 26:51
Yeah. So if you are interested in learning more, checking out what Angelo or art dragons got going on, that's where you can find them. Where'd you real quickly we're coming to an end. It's been a very quick 30 minutes here. We got two minutes left or so. Where'd you come up with art dragon?

Angelo Vigilia 27:06
Oh, yes, thank you for asking that question, too. Man, like, I feel like creating a one of the coolest parts of being a creative is like creating your name, you know. So it definitely took a lot of time. It probably like took me three names, you know, but I came up with art dragon one because so I'm born in the Year of the Dragon. 2000 is the year of Dragon. Yep, cool. Thank you. And yeah. And I always, you know, like, the idea of like, oh, you know, making my identity out of both art and martial arts really struck me. And I felt like Dragon kind of embraces the martial arts aspect. And then I just threw art in front, you know what I mean, like, you know, just try to keep it simple. And yeah, that's kind of how that that came about. Just the idea of, like, what's the name that kind of sounds like both.

Dan Moloney 27:48
That's, it's awesome, man, yeah, thank you. Well, I'll tell you what, man, I have thoroughly enjoyed this. I have a bunch of follow up questions for you. Yeah, I appreciate you taking some time last minute to hop on here and chat with us today. I know that we've worked with you several times over the last few years, and so I've learned a whole lot, man, and I'm sad we haven't had this conversation sooner, but I'm happy we had it today. So sure. So you you know where to find. Angelo, if you are interested, if you are interested in finding more graffiti Park information. You can check us out on Instagram, at graffiti Park, underscore, LV or at graffiti park.org and if you are listening to this prior to may 10, 2025, we have our annual foundation fest event coming up from 10am to 2pm may 10. Details can be found on our social media or on our website. If you are interested, it is free to attend. We'd love your time. It's on Eventbrite all ages if you are interested in vending or whatever it might be attending vending partnering, We're all ears. We'd love to see you there. Angela, I hope you're there. We appreciate your time. Anika, Dan, pleasure deuces, thank

Angelo Vigilia 29:02
you guys. You.