Today we’d like to introduce you to Andres Ospina.
Andres, we’d love to hear your story and how you got to where you are today both personally and as an artist.
I grew up in Greenwich, CT to immigrant Colombian parents, the son of a housekeeper and limousine driver. While never really fitting in, in my early childhood, in a predominately white community and never truly fitting in within my Colombian family and network for being raised in a predominantly caucasian Connecticut, I was resourceful enough to leverage this to study cultures and art across all spectrums.
It allowed me the freedom to discover and express without the parameters of sticking to the norms of a specific culture and the consequences that can come from being “different”.
My family in my teens struggled with both financial and alcohol-related troubles that led to me seeking both healthy and unhealthy forms of escape. Anger and frustration were common in my teenage years as I didn’t have many people to rely on for emotional support. Luckily a handful of good friends that allowed me to walk with some degree of confidence in the tough years of high school, but insecurity was prominent in my psyche.
My study of cultures and theology lead to me becoming an atheist at the age of 16 when I really started to learn the borderline diabolical history of most religions and the carnage that has ensued for a millennium, and the objective truths of how the ancient text gained their popularity. Those years of atheism were by far my hardest as I had lost faith in everything. Purpose was a joke, and pessimism was my norm.
Until one day I came across a book that explained how the atoms that make up our bodies have existed in the Cosmos for billions of years. It brought to light that at our core we are truly infinite and life was more than an anomaly. I started studying the true culprit, consumerism, vanity, and the mainstream media sensationalism and at the age of 18 decided to play by my own rules.
I quit college to pursue a career in health, wellness, and personal development. Self-education became the only choice as the decision was made to let the universe guide me towards the information it needed me to find to make a true impact on the world.
11 years later I have worked with some of the most prominent motivational speakers in the country, hosted conferences all over North America, hiked over 300 miles in the wilderness, and work towards a goal that I truly believe will improve humanity as a whole.
Fitting in would have been the death of who I truly am today. We all deserve a chance to stand out. Today I work every day with that mission at the forefront of everything I do. How do we teach our youth that not fitting in could be the best gift life has ever given them. That self-expression is true freedom, and that violence and anger is not the answer.
When I started on my journey I was able to cure myself from chronic depression, anxiety, feelings of loneliness, but as I healed, the world seemed to only fall deeper into its insecurities, it’s pain, and it’s low self-esteem. Creating a new urgency for me to be an example to our youth to not hide our true colors as the world is not as black and white as it seems.
We’d love to hear more about your art. What do you do you do and why and what do you hope others will take away from your work?
The spoken word, poetry, teaching social truths, improving genuine and open communication amongst each other and bringing conscious awareness to the masses is my true mission. And it all started off with a simple identity crisis.
I use to hide my writing. I was in a relationship that I assumed my partner would not be able to handle the thoughts, at times dark and lustful, that I wrote on paper. In a community that I thought would shun me for my controversial perspectives on the education system and religion.
So I would write my poetry or record my speech only to throw it away, for years, out of fear that it could be found and expose what I really feel about society as a whole, and the thoughts that sometimes cross my mind due to certain traumas I had faced growing up. It wasn’t until I really started to share those feelings that I saw how I could help others through their own pain through my vulnerability.
Luckily being raised as a 3rd culture child, that could never truly fully fit into my caucasian surroundings and my ultra-Colombian family, it allowed me the freedom, to see the beauty in all art forms. Whether it was Korns super dark lyrics and insane instrumentals, to Lauryn Hills poetry, I could hear the call to rise up for a common truth in all these art forms.
From studying the tonality of great speakers like Martin Luther King, and international superstar Tony Robbins, I learned the power of influence not only through the words we speak but how they are delivered through our spirit. Our tenacity and belief that our words could make difference.
Expression is like a pressure cooker. It’s bound to explode in very ugly ways if kept suppressed. My mission is to help others discover the power in their own authentic expression, which in turn will eliminate low-self esteem and depression that has our country in a medicated and phycological crisis in all 50 states, and innocent people are paying for it.
My art and work are meant to show the cause of the problem, as ugly and hard to face as it may be, so we can step away from a culture that is only worried about masking the symptoms. With an emphasis on the ‘masking”.
Do current events, local or global, affect your work and what you are focused on?
As I mentioned earlier, 8 years ago I wanted to save the world when I discovered the power of training your mind to let go of insecurity and learn to express itself more authentically.
People have only become more depressed, more senile, more impulsive, and more medicated. The media doesn’t care about people, and it’s pretty clear in my mind today that people are stuck in the “matrix”, brainwashed to believe every headline without verification.
The artist holds more influence today as the channels of communication have expanded widely. We can now hear from an artist on Facebook, Instagram, TV, Twitter, Linkedin, their website, a magazine, and so many more ways.
But they squander it for the almighty dollar regardless of the consequence. Parents have less control to monitor what their child is being influenced by as the age of the smartphone is officially here, and not letting your kid have one could be just as dangerous as them having access to one. The artist is more accountable today to the behavior of their followers than ever before.
And as I see the most influential artist take the shortcut by playing to peoples animalistic desire for stimuli, I will call them out more and more through my own channels and create art that exposes the abuse that mainstream media has embraced.
Do you have any events or exhibitions coming up? Where would one go to see more of your work? How can people support you and your artwork?
I moved to Miami in March of 2017 and within a year launched a company with 3 other business partners called Epic Life Masters. We host an event at the end of the month, every month, and bring top influencers and artist to share as well. EpicLifeMasters.com.
Our goal is to clean up the superficial and vain image that is Miamis brand. I am the host for each event and we do powerful breakthroughs to help people breakthrough their insecurities in order for improved performance in business, health, and intimate relationships. I recently hired an agency to start helping me put out my content and story, I will be launching my personal website soon to start promoting my public speaking.
The goal is to mix my poetry/ hip-hop and public speaking ability in one to bring both art and wisdom in one package. To teach kids and teenagers to express themselves more authentically in order to discover who they truly are, what they desire, and what they wish to accomplish sooner, and with no shame regardless if it fits within what is considered a social norm.
I have spoken on over 250 stages, in over 26 states, but I failed in one major aspect. Utilizing social media as a tool to get my message and art out there. If it resonates, all I ask is that it be shared.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.epiclifemasters.com
- Phone: 203-715-0375
- Email: challenge.me56@gmail.com
- Instagram: @andres_ospina88
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