Metaphysical and Marketing with GaijinIsntPhysical

I met GaijinIsntPhysical a few years back through the virtual realm of freelance projects, and since then have enjoyed taking nourishment in his inexhaustible production of motion visuals that bring hallucination and conceptuality to the scene of emergent underground sound. His bright gradations, bends worlds and turn fashion, video games, and most notably music videos, into metaphysical experiences. When not filming ‘in a city near you’ or color-moshing humans into aberrations, he’s holding dialogue for the importance of seeking truth and empowerment through investing in your artistry.

You’re rather young and have already produced a wide range of projects — what choices ensured your ability to thrive?

GP: Dropping out of college. Quitting the basic jobs that don't pay me what I think I am worth. TAKING RISKS and traveling to other cities to get my name out there. Investing in self. BELIEVING IN MYSELF above anything or anyone else. Can't always listen to the advice that other people give, when they are still living in circumstances they dislike. Got to focus on yourself.

What’s behind your choice to remain independent?

GP: I stand with independent artists because they gave me a platform. Independents gave me that chance. They enabled my "come up". So now I give back: the knowledge needed to stand out from the ocean of artists trying to make it and connections to help spread their work.

Any advice for artists new to the ocean?

GP: MARKET YOUR WORK. Yes, you can create a hundred visual HITS in a year, but if they don't get seen then they don't exist. Take a portion of the budget you are paid and market EVERY SINGLE VIDEO. If you have one that is a surefire hit, market it more than others. Every project you put out, should bring you at least five more projects. If not, then you didn't market enough.

It seems like your’e always on the road for shoots, is travel an integral part of your practice?

GP: Indeed, travel is a huge part of my being. One of my favorite things about life. Traveling to a new place, taking in the surroundings and people I meet, then regurgitating it into my digital art form.

Has your military upbringing contributed to this nomadism?

GP: Now that you put it that way, maybe the military moving around did solidify a "forever travelling" concept in my mind. I really don't want to stay in one place at all, mentally and physically. How can evolution occur in a single "circle"? I feel like I evolved the most when I left Alabama and lived in Alaska for three years. Literally, the farthest you could get away from the south (culturally and physically) while still being in America. My personal favorite land and culture has always been Japan, ever since childhood. I celebrated my sixteenth birthday there. I want to return with my current state of mind though. See it with my new lens.

Speaking of Japan… might you share where GaijinIsntPhysical derives from?

GP: Ah yes the golden question. Ever since childhood, the word Gaijin resonated with me. It means "outsider/foreigner" in Japanese. I was a kid who lived in Alabama most of my life, the school in my area was mostly black or white people and I never 100% fit into one of those groups personality-wise. As Earl Sweatshirt summed up "too black for the white kids, and too white for the blacks". I was always somewhere in the middle with my ragtag group of friends. Eventually I embraced that. The "IsntPhysical" came later on, I used to go by GaijinFromTheNether then I switched it up. IsntPhysical is because "what is a man without his ideas". Ideas are mental, not physical.

Sometimes I relish in the concept of ideas being as real as the physical because it means ideas can reach fruition in my head. But I often feel an obligation to materialize them into collective space, have you felt this?

GP: As kids it’s much easier to live in our heads with ideas. Maybe because we were still fresh out of the spirit realm and not indoctrinated into the world's society. Eventually we lose that spark, only to bring it back later in life by recreating our thoughts in the physical world. We want others to be able to play with these "solid thoughts" of ours too. Eventually we got back to the non-physical, we never really die. Our soul lives on just as it has been. We are just driving a "meat vehicle" right now.

I admire that you’ve always utilized your digital platform as a space for social awareness. What are the intentions within the dialogues you open?

GP: I‘ve always wanted people to question everything that was pushed to us as "the truth", I don't even know "the truth" because I am still learning. But what I do know is that the mainstream "knowledge" pushed to us is garbage. I really just want to make sure people know that THEY HAVE THE POWER TO CHANGE THEIR LIFE, off the power of their own mind. It's not impossible to do this, just gotta be focused and dedicated. The internet has opened up easier ways to connect to the masses.

Who are some genres or artists that inform your creative approach?

GP: I purposefully try to not learn another form or genre. Sound- and thinking- wise. Adult Swim and the Newgrounds community REALLY pushed me into how I am now. Abstract, weird, grotesque, fantasy, all that.

Music artists inspire me the most. Tyler the Creator, Childish Gambino, XXXTentacion, Kanye West, etc. Especially when they do interviews and allow peeks into their mind without instrumentals. Just floods of unfiltered thoughts, showing that they are like us. And that they made something out of nothing.

What’s the importance of seeing others ‘make something out of nothing’?

GP: Being able to see another person, who came from similar "normal" origins reach their goal is what sparks that fire in me. Makes it "real". It let the past version of myself, who was a student working at Starbucks, know that I could be more than a stereotypical "starving artist". That I could really make it off the ideas in my head. Then I, in turn, inspire someone else and the saga continues.

What’s important to focus on during our current state and saga?

GP: Our potential is limitless. They want to put locks on it. Right now in society, they are really looking to take our peace of mind. We have to be able to separate the outside controlled narrative from our inner peace, or else all of us would feel hopeless and depressed. A great human awakening is coming about. People are starting to get hip to the "chess game" that is being played and are not having it. It may seem like chaos right now, but from the ashes comes a new life.

———————————————

We’ll hear more from Gaijin at The Invisible Sun Experiment—his new project series bringing creatives together into a single house—first stop, Palm Desert, California.

“I planned this to give a glimpse of the freedom we have as an independent. The power we have without a corporation telling us what to do.”

…’til then keep up with his newest releases on @gaijinisntphysical or watch full videos on vimeo and pornhub.

Interview by Casey Cameron