June 24, 2025 • 38 mins
Albert Gonzales is on the show today a self-taught San Antonio artist known as Treble Art on Instagram. Albert discusses his journey from quitting a banking job in 2014 to becoming a full-time artist, selling his work on the streets, and eventually exhibiting in major galleries. He emphasizes the importance of authenticity, community, and engagement in his work. Albert shares his vision for making art more accessible in San Antonio, including his ambitious plans for street art installations and a nonprofit called The Cool Artists. He also explains the significance of his name and the acronym "Time Resolves Everything But Love Answers."
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Episode Transcript
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(00:00):
As a fourth generation entrepreneur and business owner,
I know the grit and grind that it takes to run a business.
With Qingon Essay, we're capturing stories from other
local business owners and sharing them with you, our
Querigo community of San Antonio, from the culture for
the culture. What's up everybody?
Welcome back to another episode of Qingon Essay.
(00:22):
I'm Luis, I'm the host of the show, and we're coming to you
once again from the MIG Studios.Super excited about today's
guests. Some of you may know who he is,
some of you may not. And we're really excited to
introduce Albert Gonzalez to youguys.
Just before we get into the show, I want to thank you so
much for tuning in. Sharing the episodes on your
social media really helps us getout the word for the show.
(00:45):
So I want to thank you guys for doing that, but super excited to
to bring on Albert Gonzalez, known on Instagram as Trebla
art. If you have not had an
opportunity to check him out, besure.
We'll obviously put links in theshow notes below, but be be sure
to he's a great follow, really good stuff and his artwork is
(01:06):
amazing. So Albert is a visionary post
contemporary artist based here in San Antonio, entirely
self-taught, which I think is amazing.
We're going to get into that forsure.
He's carved out a vibrant creative path rooted in
authenticity, intuition, and color.
And if you have seen some of hiswork, you definitely know
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there's a lot of color involved there.
His art blurs boundaries betweengallery and St. fine art and
community, often weaving abstract floral montifs with
themes of family, identity, and healing.
I love that Albert's career has taken him from grassroots pop up
to major exhibitions. His solo shows including Step
(01:49):
Inside My Mind and Step Inside My Mind Part 2 have captivated
audiences while participating incitywide events like Luminar
Luminaria, Chalk It Up and the Coca-Cola Final Four Music
Festival. His work has been featured
across Texas and New York with key exhibitions at the Blue Star
Contemporary Dock Space Gallery,Centro de Artas and the River
(02:13):
Band Church in Austin. Albert, welcome to the show,
man. What's up?
Dude, thanks for thanks for coming on, man.
Yeah, thanks for inviting me to be a part of it.
Yeah, man, I, I've been a huge fan from a distance for for a
little while. I think one of the things that
made me reach out to you initially was you recently
posted on Instagram your what you called your one minute
(02:35):
story. And I thought what what a good
opportunity to kind of reach outand give you a platform to share
really, you know, a little more detail about what your story is
because I'm excited to hear about it.
Yeah, I know it's, it's funny because I was sitting down with
a friend of mine, Jessica, who'san amazing creative director and
director. And we, we had this, this
(02:56):
meeting about sharing information and then how we want
that information, you know, received.
And especially now with, like, social media storytellings,
like, everywhere, right? Yeah.
And so I think for me, it was really ironic, right, 'cause
it's like, I'm, I'm editing the video and I'm just like, oh, I
need to keep it short. Yeah.
(03:17):
And so at first it was gonna be like a 32nd.
And then I was like, you know, you know what, Like my story is
like so vast and, and there's somany cool little stories within
this huge story. Like, one minute.
It was really tough for me to like, sum everything up.
But yeah, for sure, I was glad Iwas able to connect and like,
here I am. Yeah.
Yeah. To, to share that.
But I quit my job in 2014 and I,I told myself that I was gonna
(03:43):
just go after this dream of being a full time self-taught
professional artist. Yeah.
I, I, I at that time, I thought it was the craziest thing ever.
It was something that was just very, like, spontaneous.
Before that, growing up in, you know, elementary school all the
way to like high school, I was. Always.
(04:03):
What part of town you grew up in?
I grew up on the South Side and the West Side, and so literally,
I, I went to Lowell Middle School, which if you're not
familiar where it's at, it's, it's pretty much on the border
of the South Side and the West side.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Once you crossover, you know,
the frail city. Yeah.
Chain tracks. Yeah.
Like I, I have this idea of doing this like street art
(04:24):
installation one day where I'm going to have like a pop up on
one side of the train tracks that's going to say welcome to
the South side. And then like literally like
right across the other side of the train tracks and say welcome
to the West side. And so they're going to be like
facing each other. So that's like a future thing
that I'm going to be doing. But I grew up in that area.
Zazimoto. I say anywhere in Zazimoto, it's
(04:46):
like the back of my hand. Like my parents were divorced,
so we moved around a lot, lived on my grandma for a little bit
as well, my mom. And and so it was a really
interesting upbringing. But I was talking about it with
one of my, my really good friends yesterday.
It's like if you are past Theo and Malone, you're more of like
(05:06):
South side, South side. But I feel like if you, if you
grew up like right, like on thatborder of like West side and
South side, you're like a hybrid, right?
Because like, you get to experience, you know, the West
side and the South side. And so, yeah, I, I, I, I like to
claim the South side and the West side.
There you go. And I'm I'm.
Very what high school? Did you go to Lanier Lanier
pride of the West side, baby. And so, you know, I, I, I love
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the fact that, you know, the South side is like that middle
place between the West side and the East side and two very
cultured areas in the city. And San Antonio has like that
rich historic culture of, you know, so many good and so many
bad things. But I feel like with that, that
energy that Santo San Antonians bring, especially from these
(05:50):
areas, it's like, hey, we're going to get stuff done no
matter what, like, regardless what issues we're facing, like
we're going to be for the peopleand we're going to keep, you
know, just empowering each other.
And so I feel like, like my career has literally just been
that like me going with that gutfeeling, me trying to just
advocate for, you know, my fellow, yeah, fellow San
(06:12):
Antonians and just trying to putgood out in the world.
Yeah. You know, doing my street art,
trying to make art accessible and just, you know, just trying
to persevere cuz you know, beingan artist and stuff, being an
entrepreneurial is, is super tough, but.
What did you do before you you were an artist?
I'm just. Curious, I was in banking I was
in I was a one of my first site banking positions.
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I was a personal online banker with Citibank and it's probably
back in like 2011. I moved around a lot in
different jobs. For me ever since high school,
even while I was in high school I worked at La Fiesta.
I'm not sure if any of y'all remember La Fiesta, but that was
my first job at La Fiesta was putting is that is that still
(06:59):
right? I hope so.
Yeah. It was a spot for, you know, the
fajitas and stuff. But my first job was La Fiesta.
And then like every couple of months it was funny because it's
like an inside joke between likemy friends growing up.
It's like, man, like what job you got now?
Yeah. But I was always searching for
like better pay and I was alwayssearching for like that ideal
work schedule, which is like that Monday through Friday.
(07:21):
And if I. And if I could, you know, at
that time, find something that was going to pay me more and
still maintain that nine to five, like I was going to jump
shit. Yeah.
And so eventually, you know, my last position was coverage
determinations for the CVS pharmacy in their back office.
And so pretty much I just sat ina cubicle and just looked over
(07:45):
people's contracts for their insurance policies.
What? What was the the catalyst to you
deciding, you know what? I don't want to work in
corporate America. I want to go off on my own and
and do. This thing, there's one night I
had a dream and and you know, before that I had this encounter
with someone that said, you knowwhat, I bet if you were an
artist, you'd be amazing at it. I was just drawing on like a
(08:05):
napkin. And this person couldn't believe
that I wasn't a proclaimed artist.
And yeah, and so it wasn't till like, you know, weeks later,
because subconsciously that stuck with me.
In the moment I was just like, yeah, whatever, dude.
But subconsciously, that stuck with me eventually, you know, go
to work and I was always doodling again.
I never called myself an artist,but I someone said, hey, like,
(08:28):
who's creative or who likes to doodle?
I'm like first guy raising my hand.
And yeah, one night at that time, I was living back at my
mom's house. I was occurring all this like
dad and my roommate before had bailed on me and I was in this
really sucky position. Yeah.
(08:48):
And my mom was charging me rent.Like anytime I lived with my
mom, it wasn't like, oh, me, youneed to get back on your friend.
Get. We live here for free.
Was never. That was like, I'll give you a
discount, right? You know that that was it, but.
You get the family. Yeah.
But at that time, you know, I was trying to, you know, save
some money, but I really wasn't because I was in this, like,
circle of, like, partying and, you know, being dumb.
(09:09):
Yeah. And, well, you were financially
irresponsible. Yeah, but I think that's youth.
Right. Yeah, but I was 24 and I didn't
really have anything going for me.
I wasn't in school then. Then again, like just doing
stuff that wasn't honestly. Yeah.
And so, yeah, eventually I wouldgo to work and when things were
(09:31):
slow, I'd kind of have that fantasy of like, if I was an
artist, I'd be not here, you know, doing stuff and getting
paid for it. Which it's always funny because
when we think about our dreams and our goals long term,
especially when we're fantasizing about it, it's
always like point A and point B,right?
It's not like that. Like it's always A through Z and
(09:52):
like sure, all those hardships in between and so.
That's a great point to to to make man.
Yeah. And so I would think about it
like that, right. And then so you know, that
happens couple weeks. And then one night I remember
I'm looking down at my bed and Ihad a little twin sized bed and
little I didn't even have a car at this time either.
I have my, my helmet, my bike and my work clothes for the next
(10:12):
day. And I remember just thinking up
to myself, like how much I hatedthat position that I was in.
Yeah, I appreciate it. I appreciate everything that my
mom and my my step stepfather were doing for me at that time
to like help me out. But at the same time, I was
like, I'm not going anywhere with this.
Like, and I, I wasn't saving anymoney.
And so that night I had this dream where I was like an artist
(10:36):
and it was like so vivid and so beautiful.
And, and there's just one of those like inspiring vivid
dreams. And the next morning I wake up,
I'm running late to work. Thankfully, my mom lived near
where I worked at that time. So I would ride my bike to work.
And at this time, I have this like adrenaline rush and I'm
like, oh, I gotta get to work. I gotta get to work.
(10:56):
And I, I get to work right on time.
That adrenaline still in me. I go to turn on my computer.
And this is, like back when, youknow, everyone had those Dell
computers in the office. Yeah, yeah.
I go to turn it on and hear it all.
And then an error screen pops up.
And I'll never forget, like, once I see that error, like, the
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adrenaline starts to, like, leave my body.
And I feel it from, like, the top of my head all the way down
to my toes, just, like, leaving.And I remember just feeling so
like disgusted and, and the, thethought comes to my head of
like, oh, I bet if I was an artist, I could have used that
adrenaline, that energy to do something positive or
productive. But now I'm going to be sitting
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here for 9 hours, right? And so as that thought comes to
my head, I'm like, oh, you know what, the computer's going to
boot. I'll just doodle while, you
know, things get back on track. And so at that time, my manager,
we had this inside joke where hewould always be like, oh, I'm
going to write you up, Albert. You know, you're going to be the
(12:02):
first guy, you know, fired for drawing some legs for us and
that. And, well, he tells me that this
time. And he's like, hey, I'm gonna
write you up. And I'm like, I quit.
I can't do this no more. And he's like, oh, dude.
Yeah, yeah. He thought you were joking.
Yeah. And I was like, no, like I'm
serious. And I always think about it now
it's like man, like he was looking out for me too.
(12:23):
Because he looks he he leans forward and he's like, Hey,
maybe you want to put like 2 weeks notice or give me a letter
of resignation just so that you're rehireable in case this
workout. And I'm like, Nah, I'm leaving
now. And he's like, all right, man,
OK. And then I see all my coworkers,
all these people that were olderthan me that when we got into
(12:45):
that training class, everyone was like, man, we're set.
This is a good job. Work your way up, get your
benefits, this and that and I'm this young 24 year old kid and
I'm just like, OK, yeah cool. But now I'm like leaving this
position and and all my coworkers and the.
Safety, the, the stability, leaving all of that, yeah.
I'll never forget looking back, thinking like people were like,
(13:06):
man, that's what's up. Thinking of that, that was going
to be the scene. But everyone's just like, man,
what's this guy? Yeah.
He's throwing away his life. He's throwing away an
opportunity. And that was like a awakening
too, because I'm sure, well, like this isn't this isn't going
how I expected it to. And they get the security you.
Always imagine that you rememberthat movie with Tom Cruise where
(13:29):
he gets up and says, you know, you know who's going with me and
Jeremy McGuire. Jeremy McGuire.
Yeah, and you know who's going with me?
And he's looking around the roomand nobody's getting up, and
finally one person and he's like, all right, that's what I
needed. Yeah, I was more on like the
show me the money. But, you know, money, you know,
money was showing up. But I remember, you know, I
(13:49):
didn't have money saved up. I was living paycheck to
paycheck, paying my mom rent. Yeah.
And so I remember leaving with like the little stuff that I had
out of the office and just thinking in my head, like, what
the hell are you doing? Like you don't even know the
first step of yeah, selling art or creating art, Sure.
And or. Creating a business around it?
(14:10):
Exactly. Right.
Yeah. And so, yeah, I, I eventually, I
got home. My mom was like, what are you
doing home? And I had to explain to her and
how like, I was still going to make rent.
You know, I might have been a little bit late, but I was going
to figure it out. And then, you know, just from
there just transpired into like me making these like difficult
decisions and putting myself in positions that I never thought
(14:31):
I'd. Yeah, you know, I was on the
streets and surf, couch surfing primarily.
You know, I maybe stayed out andone or two places where it's
like out in the open. But I never was really like
sleeping on the streets for me. It was always like an IHOP or,
you know, stuff like that where I would just get back on the bus
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and repeat. But every single day, you know,
for like a whole year, I was figuring out ways to on the
street corners of San Antonio and trying to sell my art, You
know, back when they were doing all the construction on the
Macy's, that's now Dave and Buster's like, yeah, like I'll
never forget like pushing the fence that they used to have to
like block off for the construction.
Yeah, yeah. Like I would get there really
(15:13):
early in the morning before theystarted doing any work.
And I would like lean like really hard into the fence or it
starts to like, you know, go inwards.
Sure. Just enough to where like the
cup, the the roof of like the Macy's walk in area.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Was like giving me a little bit
of shade sometimes, like the workers would be like, hey, man,
don't be doing that. But sometimes, like, they'd be
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like, man, like, yeah, this guy ain't bothering nobody.
But you're talking about over atRiver Center, Yeah, in downtown.
So that's where you started selling your work was, was
downtown at, at at River Center.Yeah, right there for now, it's
the entrance to like Dave and Buster's and the whole new area.
Like when they were building allthat out.
Yeah, they had it all blocked off.
And I would push that that fencein for that construction and I
(15:55):
would set up like right there. Like I would try to get as much
shade as like could, but there was times where I wasn't able
to. So like you know, now in days,
you know when it's like 100 and something degrees like I vividly
remember what it was like, of course being out there trying to
sell art and not. It's important to remember those
days, right? Like the early stages, the
beginning, because it, it kind of keeps you humble in a sense,
(16:18):
right? As a business owner, as even as
an artist, not forget about the business aspect of it, but to
remember where you came from, toremember where you know the the
struggles that you went through to get to where you are today.
Oh, yeah. And even now, like I appreciate
even more so like when when I'm in my studio and if I know that
it's going to be like a really nice day, like I take the time
(16:38):
to like, you know what, I'm going to go out and paint like
the way I used to. Nice.
And, you know, there's somethingvery organic about like just
being out there with people and engaging with them.
And it's also like a great form of marketing.
You know, it's, it's guerrilla marketing.
I'm not necessarily like pain tobe at an event, but you know,
San Antonio is 3 million people and we have tourists that are
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coming in not just for for freaking conventions, but almost
every week. Every week someones graduating
from the Air Force Academy and you got, you know, another
couple of 1000 people. And that's one thing I don't
think a lot of people really comprehend when it comes to like
how valuable the the street marketing is here in San
Antonio. Like you got people from all
(17:21):
over the world, like walking through the streets of downtown
San Antonio. Yeah, they got to.
Capitalize on that. There's, there's a bit of a
stigma, don't you think, though,about, about St. artists that
are going out there? And, and I mean, I think it
needs to be talked about, right,because I don't think that every
street artist is out there, you know, just trying to, you know,
(17:43):
whatever. I think, I think people are, are
really proud of their art. They want to share it with the
world. And they don't, they're not
paying to rent a space or anything like that.
But you know, they're, they're looking for creative ways to get
their, their artwork in front ofpeople.
And I think that's one way that that they can do that.
Yeah. Is right.
Yeah. And I think that it then it
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comes back to to engaging, like,you know, it's one thing to
create work. You can go stand on the street
corner of San Antonio and like anyone could stand on a street
corner with. But it's how do you engage?
You know, how do you talk to people?
Are you smiling at people? Yeah.
Are you waving at people? You know, it, it makes a huge
difference, you know, the ability to talk.
(18:26):
And I feel like that's one thingthat I've learned early on is,
you know, that close mouths don't get fed, right?
And so for me, it's just like, hey, you know what, I'm going to
try to talk to everyone that looks at my art.
Like I learned that early on, like when I was like trying to
make money off my heart for the very first time.
I'm like, you know, what if I just stay painting and looking
at my art and just glancing overand seeing who's looking and
(18:48):
like, I'm always going to catch people looking, sure.
But it's like, how do I engage? So every time I saw someone
looking, I said, hey, what do you think of my art?
Oh, hey, what do you like about it?
Oh, this and that. And I started like doing those
like open questions, right? Like it's not just yes or no
questions, right, right. And.
You're not trying to push a sailon somebody.
(19:08):
Exactly. And so I'm all about like, how
do I build a relationship? How do I, how do I get to know
this person? And you know, even if they don't
like my art, at least they can like me.
Sure. And so you know that and it just
goes from there. It's just like, you know, I just
try to be genuine, trying to just be positive.
(19:29):
I know, you know, early on in mycareer, I didn't really know a
lot of people. But as I've been able to build
relationships with people, it's like, oh, hey, you like doing
this. Oh, I know someone in this field
or I know someone that's doing this.
And it's just like. You're a connector.
Yeah. And so through that, it's
allowing me to like be in circles and events and stuff, or
I never imagined being, but likejust through communicating and
(19:53):
talking to people through my art, that gives me the platform
to, to be confident in what I'm doing because it's, it's coming
from like a true genuine place. One thing I think that like even
business owners, you know, who, who are not necessarily in the
creative space have to realize is that when somebody invites
(20:16):
you into a room, you belong there, right?
And you've got to walk in there with that confidence.
And I think that we forget that sometimes because I, I'm, I'm
the same way, right? I mean, I, I own a business, I
have for the last 15 years. And even sometimes I walk into a
room thinking, man, I, I don't know, I think somebody messed up
when they invited, you know, they, they sent the invitation
to the wrong location, right? Or the, the wrong e-mail.
(20:39):
But when you walk in with that confidence, with that, with that
attitude that you belong, it changes the dynamic of the
conversations that you're havingwith the people in the room,
right? Yeah, yeah, I had this
experience recently because Alamo College's district just
purchased one of my like largestpaintings for their permanent
collection. And they're, they're creating
(21:00):
this like very huge effort and, and mission to like start really
incorporating local artists and then just arts in general into
their their schools and, and building these collections like
museum type or museum quality collections.
And I was one of their first like purchases for wow, that's
(21:21):
awesome. And it was crazy.
I get goose like goosebumps. You know, I could see it too,
Goosebumps just thinking about it.
But they invited me to be a guest for this summit and I
didn't know like, like it's a summit.
I've never been to a summit. So I'm just like, I don't know
what to expect, but like it was just really cool to be invited
to have a seat at the table and to like be able to be amongst
(21:43):
people that are like making really big decisions for San
Antonio's like education system,sure, collegiate level.
And like, to be sitting there just like that, fly in the wall
at first, but then being able toengage and ask questions and,
you know, have those conversations that sparks, you
(22:04):
know, what can be, you know, very positive changes in in the
city. Yeah.
And yeah, it's just really wild to think about.
But yeah, like having that confidence really does make a
huge difference. Yeah.
And I remember that sometimes, like you said.
I'm curious man, how did you come up with the Trebler name?
What is, what is? What is the significance there?
All right, so the funny story isI couldn't really come up with
(22:28):
anything that sounded really cool.
And I was just like writing stuff out and I wrote my name
and then I decided to write my name backwards and I'm like
sounding it out. I'm like Albert Trebla.
I'm like Trebla sounds pretty cool.
And so I thought that I thought it was really cool for like the
longest time. Who I still think it is, it is
(22:49):
still really cool. But what was funny, the funny
part about it is that I would have people like follow me on
Instagram and occasionally I'll like run into people on the
streets and they would be like, oh, treble this and that.
We'll talk. And then the question always
came up, what does Treble mean? Yeah.
(23:09):
And if you could imagine the look of disappointment on
someone's face when you just like, Oh, it's just my name
backwards. Like, like I, I think I maybe
had a couple like unfollows. I'm just saying, but not as cool
as I thought he was. But it was funny because it
became an inside joke for me andmy wife because like, if we were
(23:30):
out and then someone's like, Oh,shit, blood, she would give me
that side. I'd like, Oh, you're about to
disappoint this, this person. And so that question always came
up right. And so one night me and my wife
were having some wine and we're just having a laugh and, and,
and I was like, you know, I, I, I think I'm very funny and I
think I'm really funny. And I told my wife I was like,
(23:52):
man, I'm tired of just disappointing everybody.
Like, I, I see it in their heart.
Like they don't, they don't evenlike me no more when I'm telling
her I'm just being super sarcastic.
And I said, you know what, I'm going to come up with an acronym
for TREBLA. And she rolls her eyes.
She's like, yeah, like, what? What are you going to come up
with? And it took me like 100 tries.
I couldn't even get past the R. And she's like, just give up.
(24:16):
Like it does not sound cool. Like you're going to make people
more disappointed. And finally I sat down, kind of
meditated a little bit, and thenit finally hit me.
And now it's like the coolest acronym that I it's very poetic.
Time resolves everything but love answers.
(24:40):
Wow, that's awesome. Yeah, time resolves everything
but love answers. That's awesome, man.
So what does that mean to you? It's just like.
On a deeper level. Yeah, on the deeper level for
me, it's like, yeah, you could forgive, right?
And you can forgive anything. Like, again, my, my parents grew
(25:01):
like my parents had divorced andthe relationship between me and
my parents wasn't always like the best, right.
So the idea that like time resolves everything.
It's like, yeah, like as you move forward, like things are
going to resolve themselves, right?
Like if you keep being positive,things are going to be resolved.
But like, if you go into it withlove and, and, and you have that
(25:23):
intention of just like forgivingand just loving, like being,
being who you are, being genuineand you know, being a nice
person to others, like trying tohelp others.
Like things just have their way of just like working out the way
they need to. Like if you, if you don't, you
know, carry a grudge, if you're not like spiteful or anything.
And if you just act with love, like everything has its way of
(25:46):
answering, that might not happenexactly when you want that thing
to happen, right? But like I can guarantee you,
like if you just act with love, things have their way of just
like answering. And I, and I think that's,
that's so prevalent in your artwork, if I'm being honest
with you, like the what, what I see in your, in your artwork is
(26:11):
simple, but like in the best way.
I don't mean that as an insult, right?
Like simple in the best way, butlike so powerful when it's
message and man, just thank you for that.
This is that's that's really awesome.
I've been really, really lucky and again, a little bit of
goosebumps too, but I've been really lucky that like my work's
able to like leave such a positive impact for people.
(26:34):
And it makes me really happy to know that like people feel that
way about my heart because, you know, it's, it's coming from a
place of a lot of struggle for sure.
A lot of, you know, pain, especially from my, my
upbringing, you know, feeling alone a lot growing up.
Like there's some paintings thatI've created that are very
cathartic that are about like these very dark times, but being
(26:57):
able to create something that connects on a very, you know,
powerful level and a positive light.
It, it means the world to me because, you know, I remember
being that kid and, you know, having suicidal thoughts and I
remember, you know, just feelingso alone.
And just to know that like people feel empowered and people
feel happy and positive. Like if there's one thing that I
(27:20):
can, you know, leave as like a legacy, like my, my art and then
that, that story, that influenceand that positivity.
I hope you know people throughout time, you know, if my
work gets to be up for the next,you know, 200 years, I hope that
it still gets to make people feel positive.
I have no doubt that that is that will absolutely happen,
(27:41):
man. I'm curious, you know, you talk
about legacy, you talk about your art being your your legacy.
What is what does that look likefor you?
Like are like? Do you envision your art being
in museums? Do you envision your art?
I know you know, you do a lot ofstreet art right now and you're,
(28:02):
and one thing that I want to askyou about as well is like the
street art that you're doing nowthat you're that you're, you
know, kind of putting up in random places throughout town.
But like long term, like where do you see that that legacy
going? Like how does that, how do you
express that legacy? Man, I have some like really
ambitious goals and some of my, my, my wife especially, but some
of my like really close friends can kind of explain.
(28:23):
Like sometimes I'll share these ideas out loud and not
necessarily like the full game plan.
A lot of times I'll keep that tomyself, but I'll share like
these really ambitious ideas that I have for like, you know,
2550 years, like what I imagine.And they're, they're very, very
ambitious. But like that legacy is like,
(28:43):
like going after those. And even though it's like, yeah,
it's street art and all this other stuff and doing my
entrepreneurial stuff on the side and, you know, really
trying to generate these things on my own and doing it in the
right way, right. And during these things time, I
think like that patience that that legacy of like, like, yeah,
(29:05):
I'm doing all I'm doing this art, but like behind the scenes,
like with all the support that I'm getting for from people
behind the scenes, I'm working on all these other things.
And I think that's one thing that a lot of my supporters and
especially some of my biggest collectors like really enjoy.
It's like, yeah, I'm always likeworking on the stuff that I put
out for people to see. There's also like a lot of stuff
(29:26):
like behind closed doors that like I'm slowly working on and,
and putting pieces together. Like I, I have a lot of domains
and, and one that I'm very proudof that I'm working on is art
studiotours.com. And so I'm working on making
stuff accessible for people and especially for tourism in San
(29:48):
Antonio. There's a big gap that needs to
be filled on making artwork accessible, not just for San
Antonians, but for people that want to visit and get like a
true like grass roots San Antonio art experience.
Sure. I want to fulfill that gap.
Well, also I think it's important for people to know
that it exists here, right? Because I don't, I don't really
(30:09):
think that San Antonio's well known for being a community of
of artists. Right.
It's a very affordable place forartists to live and to work.
But as far as like a market, it's not like one of the primary
markets in Texas, but you can make a living as an artist in
San Antonio. It's just not well known.
(30:30):
As for art sales, there's a lot of collectors in San Antonio,
but they're not really spending their money here in San Antonio.
You know, they're going to Houston, Dallas, Lockhart,
Austin, you know, these these prominent places that are, you
know, justified for showing great art and showing San
Antonio artists and, and making,you know, big, big moves.
(30:54):
But as far as like commercial galleries, like we have a very
small amount of of commercial galleries here in San Antonio
compared to, you know, all theseother spaces but.
How do we change that? We need people to invest.
We need people to the people that have money to spend like
that, yeah, we need them to invest in the artist run spaces
(31:20):
at least. But again, that's just me
advocating and trying to get people to spend money on the
arts. But at the very least, we just
need more people out at art events and we need more people
to spend what they can afford, you know, take off that live
love, laugh. If you're watching this and you
have live love, laugh somewhere in your house, especially if you
(31:44):
bought it, put it away and make an effort to like go find
something to replace that that'sfrom, you know, a local, you
know, art event, a local gallery.
You know, don't don't be afraid to ask artists, like, what is
this piece about? How much is this?
Can I do payments on it? Yeah.
(32:04):
You know, our artists are very easy to.
Well, I don't want to say easy to work with.
The artists can be very difficult to work with, but at
least I like to say that we're approachable.
Yeah. And and you know, don't feel
afraid to ask questions for sure.
And so I think it's just all about making art accessible and
(32:26):
really advertising that that way.
And that's another reason why I do my street art is when you
think about street art, what area do you think of when I say
or not street art, but when I say public art, what areas of
San Antonio do you? I mean probably Blue Star would
be the only thing that comes to mind.
Maybe the Pearl a little bit. It was very centralized.
(32:47):
Yeah, right. Like for sure.
If I were to say, oh, public artpast six and a four exactly
right. So it's like my whole, my whole
idea is like, I would just want to act at least activate spaces
with art, even if it's temporarily.
Yeah, that's beautiful. And so hopefully, well, I got
(33:08):
emailed, I got notified that I didn't receive the grant for the
artist individual artist grant. So that's off the table.
And so funny enough, like I had slowed down doing my street art
cuz I was like, I'm gonna apply for this, this grant.
And it's like a much larger mission than just doing street
(33:29):
art. It was this idea of documenting
each zip code installation with photography, journaling, yeah,
yeah, yeah. And videos and then putting
together a book and all that. And then in celebration of this
mission accomplished, hosting orcreating a new annual street art
(33:55):
event for the city that would highlight artists that are
utilizing recycled materials to create street art installations
throughout San Antonio. That's beautiful.
And creating hubs during the event for people to go out and
support local businesses, but also create opportunities for
local artisans, local vendors, local sponsorships that can
(34:17):
activate, you know, certain bus routes and people on the buses.
And there was a whole, like, bigpicture of like, turning $15,000
into a potentially multi $1,000,000 project event.
But hey, you know, yeah, better than next.
Well, I mean, you know, who knows, maybe there's somebody
(34:38):
out there who's who's listening,watching this, property
managers, if you're out there and you got a space for Albert.
I know there's, there's a lot ofpotential, you know, there's a
lot of business owners that a lot of business owners and, and
property owners that have vacantspots and they're not being
utilized. Yep, Yep.
And for artists, you know, hey, like, give us something that's
(35:00):
climate controlled. Even if it's not climate
controlled, there's a small percentage of artists that won't
work. You you need it to be climate
controlled man for sure. Well, I, I have all these,
again, I have all these ideas ofentrepreneurial, you know,
journeys and even like nonprofitstuff.
Like I have this idea of I, I really want to start a nonprofit
(35:24):
called the Cool Artist. And what I want to do is, is
work with property owners that have vacant buildings that maybe
been sitting for like 5 to 10 years, maybe 2 years, but
incentivize them with putting ACS in their buildings and
(35:44):
having them sign like a five year lease agreement where they
would lease it to artists as like a commune.
And so they get like a free AC for the building.
And then we get a creative hub for whatever area that they're
in. And then it gives the artists an
opportunity to to, you know, grow within five years with,
(36:06):
with the right sort of planning and the right sort of
programming, we could get artists on their feet.
Yeah. And even set them up with HVAC
training. Yeah.
There you go. That's awesome, man.
Man, this has been such a fun conversation.
Super insightful. Thank you so much for coming on
(36:27):
the show and and sharing. You know, your your vision for
the city, your vision for the creative community in, in San
Antonio. I'd love to be a part of that in
any way, shape or form that I can.
I'm glad that we were able to get you on the show and just,
you know, kind of help you lift that platform up.
So I. Appreciate it.
(36:48):
Thanks for. Coming on the show, man, it's,
it's before we, before we wrap up the conversation.
If people want to connect with you, do you, first of all, do
you do Commission work? Is it just?
I do. I do Commission work.
My bread and butter are my paintings.
So I I sell my paintings out of my studio I'm also representing.
Your studio open like. By appointment only.
(37:09):
So. So I'm over off of Mitchell and
Probant. Yeah.
Near Hwy. 90 and Confluence Park, Yeah.
And so I'm in that general area,yeah.
You can visit albertgonzalezart.com if you
want to schedule a studio visit or if you want to follow me on
Instagram. I have all my stuff on there too
as Trebla under score Art. Yeah.
I'm also represented by local gallery and Arctic Gallery off
(37:33):
of Sunset and Broadway. So if you want to see any of my
work and just walk into that gallery, they have a few of my
pieces up there too. But yeah, if you want to, you
know, buy a painting from me, you can contact me directly.
Awesome. Albert Gonzalez, art.com.
Awesome. Albert, thanks so much for
coming on the show, man. Guys, thanks so much for tuning
in to another episode of ChingonEssay.
(37:56):
Thanks so much to Albert for coming on the show and for
tuning in. We'll see you guys next week.
This has been an MIG Studio and Serafina digital production.
Be sure to follow and subscribe the show on your favorite stream
platform and tell a friend aboutthe show by sharing this episode
on your Facebook and TikTok. Last, if you're a business
(38:18):
owner, entrepreneur or someone doing something really cool in
San Antonio and want to get yourstory on our show, e-mail me at
luis@myinsurancegroup.com.
As a fourth generation entrepreneur and business owner,
I know the grit and grind that it takes to run a business.
With Qingon Essay, we're capturing stories from other
local business owners and sharing them with you, our
Querigo community of San Antonio, from the culture for
the culture. What's up everybody?
Welcome back to another episode of Qingon Essay.
(00:22):
I'm Luis, I'm the host of the show, and we're coming to you
once again from the MIG Studios.Super excited about today's
guests. Some of you may know who he is,
some of you may not. And we're really excited to
introduce Albert Gonzalez to youguys.
Just before we get into the show, I want to thank you so
much for tuning in. Sharing the episodes on your
social media really helps us getout the word for the show.
(00:45):
So I want to thank you guys for doing that, but super excited to
to bring on Albert Gonzalez, known on Instagram as Trebla
art. If you have not had an
opportunity to check him out, besure.
We'll obviously put links in theshow notes below, but be be sure
to he's a great follow, really good stuff and his artwork is
(01:06):
amazing. So Albert is a visionary post
contemporary artist based here in San Antonio, entirely
self-taught, which I think is amazing.
We're going to get into that forsure.
He's carved out a vibrant creative path rooted in
authenticity, intuition, and color.
And if you have seen some of hiswork, you definitely know
(01:28):
there's a lot of color involved there.
His art blurs boundaries betweengallery and St. fine art and
community, often weaving abstract floral montifs with
themes of family, identity, and healing.
I love that Albert's career has taken him from grassroots pop up
to major exhibitions. His solo shows including Step
(01:49):
Inside My Mind and Step Inside My Mind Part 2 have captivated
audiences while participating incitywide events like Luminar
Luminaria, Chalk It Up and the Coca-Cola Final Four Music
Festival. His work has been featured
across Texas and New York with key exhibitions at the Blue Star
Contemporary Dock Space Gallery,Centro de Artas and the River
(02:13):
Band Church in Austin. Albert, welcome to the show,
man. What's up?
Dude, thanks for thanks for coming on, man.
Yeah, thanks for inviting me to be a part of it.
Yeah, man, I, I've been a huge fan from a distance for for a
little while. I think one of the things that
made me reach out to you initially was you recently
posted on Instagram your what you called your one minute
(02:35):
story. And I thought what what a good
opportunity to kind of reach outand give you a platform to share
really, you know, a little more detail about what your story is
because I'm excited to hear about it.
Yeah, I know it's, it's funny because I was sitting down with
a friend of mine, Jessica, who'san amazing creative director and
director. And we, we had this, this
(02:56):
meeting about sharing information and then how we want
that information, you know, received.
And especially now with, like, social media storytellings,
like, everywhere, right? Yeah.
And so I think for me, it was really ironic, right, 'cause
it's like, I'm, I'm editing the video and I'm just like, oh, I
need to keep it short. Yeah.
(03:17):
And so at first it was gonna be like a 32nd.
And then I was like, you know, you know what, Like my story is
like so vast and, and there's somany cool little stories within
this huge story. Like, one minute.
It was really tough for me to like, sum everything up.
But yeah, for sure, I was glad Iwas able to connect and like,
here I am. Yeah.
Yeah. To, to share that.
But I quit my job in 2014 and I,I told myself that I was gonna
(03:43):
just go after this dream of being a full time self-taught
professional artist. Yeah.
I, I, I at that time, I thought it was the craziest thing ever.
It was something that was just very, like, spontaneous.
Before that, growing up in, you know, elementary school all the
way to like high school, I was. Always.
(04:03):
What part of town you grew up in?
I grew up on the South Side and the West Side, and so literally,
I, I went to Lowell Middle School, which if you're not
familiar where it's at, it's, it's pretty much on the border
of the South Side and the West side.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Once you crossover, you know,
the frail city. Yeah.
Chain tracks. Yeah.
Like I, I have this idea of doing this like street art
(04:24):
installation one day where I'm going to have like a pop up on
one side of the train tracks that's going to say welcome to
the South side. And then like literally like
right across the other side of the train tracks and say welcome
to the West side. And so they're going to be like
facing each other. So that's like a future thing
that I'm going to be doing. But I grew up in that area.
Zazimoto. I say anywhere in Zazimoto, it's
(04:46):
like the back of my hand. Like my parents were divorced,
so we moved around a lot, lived on my grandma for a little bit
as well, my mom. And and so it was a really
interesting upbringing. But I was talking about it with
one of my, my really good friends yesterday.
It's like if you are past Theo and Malone, you're more of like
(05:06):
South side, South side. But I feel like if you, if you
grew up like right, like on thatborder of like West side and
South side, you're like a hybrid, right?
Because like, you get to experience, you know, the West
side and the South side. And so, yeah, I, I, I, I like to
claim the South side and the West side.
There you go. And I'm I'm.
Very what high school? Did you go to Lanier Lanier
pride of the West side, baby. And so, you know, I, I, I love
(05:29):
the fact that, you know, the South side is like that middle
place between the West side and the East side and two very
cultured areas in the city. And San Antonio has like that
rich historic culture of, you know, so many good and so many
bad things. But I feel like with that, that
energy that Santo San Antonians bring, especially from these
(05:50):
areas, it's like, hey, we're going to get stuff done no
matter what, like, regardless what issues we're facing, like
we're going to be for the peopleand we're going to keep, you
know, just empowering each other.
And so I feel like, like my career has literally just been
that like me going with that gutfeeling, me trying to just
advocate for, you know, my fellow, yeah, fellow San
(06:12):
Antonians and just trying to putgood out in the world.
Yeah. You know, doing my street art,
trying to make art accessible and just, you know, just trying
to persevere cuz you know, beingan artist and stuff, being an
entrepreneurial is, is super tough, but.
What did you do before you you were an artist?
I'm just. Curious, I was in banking I was
in I was a one of my first site banking positions.
(06:35):
I was a personal online banker with Citibank and it's probably
back in like 2011. I moved around a lot in
different jobs. For me ever since high school,
even while I was in high school I worked at La Fiesta.
I'm not sure if any of y'all remember La Fiesta, but that was
my first job at La Fiesta was putting is that is that still
(06:59):
right? I hope so.
Yeah. It was a spot for, you know, the
fajitas and stuff. But my first job was La Fiesta.
And then like every couple of months it was funny because it's
like an inside joke between likemy friends growing up.
It's like, man, like what job you got now?
Yeah. But I was always searching for
like better pay and I was alwayssearching for like that ideal
work schedule, which is like that Monday through Friday.
(07:21):
And if I. And if I could, you know, at
that time, find something that was going to pay me more and
still maintain that nine to five, like I was going to jump
shit. Yeah.
And so eventually, you know, my last position was coverage
determinations for the CVS pharmacy in their back office.
And so pretty much I just sat ina cubicle and just looked over
(07:45):
people's contracts for their insurance policies.
What? What was the the catalyst to you
deciding, you know what? I don't want to work in
corporate America. I want to go off on my own and
and do. This thing, there's one night I
had a dream and and you know, before that I had this encounter
with someone that said, you knowwhat, I bet if you were an
artist, you'd be amazing at it. I was just drawing on like a
(08:05):
napkin. And this person couldn't believe
that I wasn't a proclaimed artist.
And yeah, and so it wasn't till like, you know, weeks later,
because subconsciously that stuck with me.
In the moment I was just like, yeah, whatever, dude.
But subconsciously, that stuck with me eventually, you know, go
to work and I was always doodling again.
I never called myself an artist,but I someone said, hey, like,
(08:28):
who's creative or who likes to doodle?
I'm like first guy raising my hand.
And yeah, one night at that time, I was living back at my
mom's house. I was occurring all this like
dad and my roommate before had bailed on me and I was in this
really sucky position. Yeah.
(08:48):
And my mom was charging me rent.Like anytime I lived with my
mom, it wasn't like, oh, me, youneed to get back on your friend.
Get. We live here for free.
Was never. That was like, I'll give you a
discount, right? You know that that was it, but.
You get the family. Yeah.
But at that time, you know, I was trying to, you know, save
some money, but I really wasn't because I was in this, like,
circle of, like, partying and, you know, being dumb.
(09:09):
Yeah. And, well, you were financially
irresponsible. Yeah, but I think that's youth.
Right. Yeah, but I was 24 and I didn't
really have anything going for me.
I wasn't in school then. Then again, like just doing
stuff that wasn't honestly. Yeah.
And so, yeah, eventually I wouldgo to work and when things were
(09:31):
slow, I'd kind of have that fantasy of like, if I was an
artist, I'd be not here, you know, doing stuff and getting
paid for it. Which it's always funny because
when we think about our dreams and our goals long term,
especially when we're fantasizing about it, it's
always like point A and point B,right?
It's not like that. Like it's always A through Z and
(09:52):
like sure, all those hardships in between and so.
That's a great point to to to make man.
Yeah. And so I would think about it
like that, right. And then so you know, that
happens couple weeks. And then one night I remember
I'm looking down at my bed and Ihad a little twin sized bed and
little I didn't even have a car at this time either.
I have my, my helmet, my bike and my work clothes for the next
(10:12):
day. And I remember just thinking up
to myself, like how much I hatedthat position that I was in.
Yeah, I appreciate it. I appreciate everything that my
mom and my my step stepfather were doing for me at that time
to like help me out. But at the same time, I was
like, I'm not going anywhere with this.
Like, and I, I wasn't saving anymoney.
And so that night I had this dream where I was like an artist
(10:36):
and it was like so vivid and so beautiful.
And, and there's just one of those like inspiring vivid
dreams. And the next morning I wake up,
I'm running late to work. Thankfully, my mom lived near
where I worked at that time. So I would ride my bike to work.
And at this time, I have this like adrenaline rush and I'm
like, oh, I gotta get to work. I gotta get to work.
(10:56):
And I, I get to work right on time.
That adrenaline still in me. I go to turn on my computer.
And this is, like back when, youknow, everyone had those Dell
computers in the office. Yeah, yeah.
I go to turn it on and hear it all.
And then an error screen pops up.
And I'll never forget, like, once I see that error, like, the
(11:19):
adrenaline starts to, like, leave my body.
And I feel it from, like, the top of my head all the way down
to my toes, just, like, leaving.And I remember just feeling so
like disgusted and, and the, thethought comes to my head of
like, oh, I bet if I was an artist, I could have used that
adrenaline, that energy to do something positive or
productive. But now I'm going to be sitting
(11:41):
here for 9 hours, right? And so as that thought comes to
my head, I'm like, oh, you know what, the computer's going to
boot. I'll just doodle while, you
know, things get back on track. And so at that time, my manager,
we had this inside joke where hewould always be like, oh, I'm
going to write you up, Albert. You know, you're going to be the
(12:02):
first guy, you know, fired for drawing some legs for us and
that. And, well, he tells me that this
time. And he's like, hey, I'm gonna
write you up. And I'm like, I quit.
I can't do this no more. And he's like, oh, dude.
Yeah, yeah. He thought you were joking.
Yeah. And I was like, no, like I'm
serious. And I always think about it now
it's like man, like he was looking out for me too.
(12:23):
Because he looks he he leans forward and he's like, Hey,
maybe you want to put like 2 weeks notice or give me a letter
of resignation just so that you're rehireable in case this
workout. And I'm like, Nah, I'm leaving
now. And he's like, all right, man,
OK. And then I see all my coworkers,
all these people that were olderthan me that when we got into
(12:45):
that training class, everyone was like, man, we're set.
This is a good job. Work your way up, get your
benefits, this and that and I'm this young 24 year old kid and
I'm just like, OK, yeah cool. But now I'm like leaving this
position and and all my coworkers and the.
Safety, the, the stability, leaving all of that, yeah.
I'll never forget looking back, thinking like people were like,
(13:06):
man, that's what's up. Thinking of that, that was going
to be the scene. But everyone's just like, man,
what's this guy? Yeah.
He's throwing away his life. He's throwing away an
opportunity. And that was like a awakening
too, because I'm sure, well, like this isn't this isn't going
how I expected it to. And they get the security you.
Always imagine that you rememberthat movie with Tom Cruise where
(13:29):
he gets up and says, you know, you know who's going with me and
Jeremy McGuire. Jeremy McGuire.
Yeah, and you know who's going with me?
And he's looking around the roomand nobody's getting up, and
finally one person and he's like, all right, that's what I
needed. Yeah, I was more on like the
show me the money. But, you know, money, you know,
money was showing up. But I remember, you know, I
(13:49):
didn't have money saved up. I was living paycheck to
paycheck, paying my mom rent. Yeah.
And so I remember leaving with like the little stuff that I had
out of the office and just thinking in my head, like, what
the hell are you doing? Like you don't even know the
first step of yeah, selling art or creating art, Sure.
And or. Creating a business around it?
(14:10):
Exactly. Right.
Yeah. And so, yeah, I, I eventually, I
got home. My mom was like, what are you
doing home? And I had to explain to her and
how like, I was still going to make rent.
You know, I might have been a little bit late, but I was going
to figure it out. And then, you know, just from
there just transpired into like me making these like difficult
decisions and putting myself in positions that I never thought
(14:31):
I'd. Yeah, you know, I was on the
streets and surf, couch surfing primarily.
You know, I maybe stayed out andone or two places where it's
like out in the open. But I never was really like
sleeping on the streets for me. It was always like an IHOP or,
you know, stuff like that where I would just get back on the bus
(14:52):
and repeat. But every single day, you know,
for like a whole year, I was figuring out ways to on the
street corners of San Antonio and trying to sell my art, You
know, back when they were doing all the construction on the
Macy's, that's now Dave and Buster's like, yeah, like I'll
never forget like pushing the fence that they used to have to
like block off for the construction.
Yeah, yeah. Like I would get there really
(15:13):
early in the morning before theystarted doing any work.
And I would like lean like really hard into the fence or it
starts to like, you know, go inwards.
Sure. Just enough to where like the
cup, the the roof of like the Macy's walk in area.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Was like giving me a little bit
of shade sometimes, like the workers would be like, hey, man,
don't be doing that. But sometimes, like, they'd be
(15:33):
like, man, like, yeah, this guy ain't bothering nobody.
But you're talking about over atRiver Center, Yeah, in downtown.
So that's where you started selling your work was, was
downtown at, at at River Center.Yeah, right there for now, it's
the entrance to like Dave and Buster's and the whole new area.
Like when they were building allthat out.
Yeah, they had it all blocked off.
And I would push that that fencein for that construction and I
(15:55):
would set up like right there. Like I would try to get as much
shade as like could, but there was times where I wasn't able
to. So like you know, now in days,
you know when it's like 100 and something degrees like I vividly
remember what it was like, of course being out there trying to
sell art and not. It's important to remember those
days, right? Like the early stages, the
beginning, because it, it kind of keeps you humble in a sense,
(16:18):
right? As a business owner, as even as
an artist, not forget about the business aspect of it, but to
remember where you came from, toremember where you know the the
struggles that you went through to get to where you are today.
Oh, yeah. And even now, like I appreciate
even more so like when when I'm in my studio and if I know that
it's going to be like a really nice day, like I take the time
(16:38):
to like, you know what, I'm going to go out and paint like
the way I used to. Nice.
And, you know, there's somethingvery organic about like just
being out there with people and engaging with them.
And it's also like a great form of marketing.
You know, it's, it's guerrilla marketing.
I'm not necessarily like pain tobe at an event, but you know,
San Antonio is 3 million people and we have tourists that are
(17:01):
coming in not just for for freaking conventions, but almost
every week. Every week someones graduating
from the Air Force Academy and you got, you know, another
couple of 1000 people. And that's one thing I don't
think a lot of people really comprehend when it comes to like
how valuable the the street marketing is here in San
Antonio. Like you got people from all
(17:21):
over the world, like walking through the streets of downtown
San Antonio. Yeah, they got to.
Capitalize on that. There's, there's a bit of a
stigma, don't you think, though,about, about St. artists that
are going out there? And, and I mean, I think it
needs to be talked about, right,because I don't think that every
street artist is out there, you know, just trying to, you know,
(17:43):
whatever. I think, I think people are, are
really proud of their art. They want to share it with the
world. And they don't, they're not
paying to rent a space or anything like that.
But you know, they're, they're looking for creative ways to get
their, their artwork in front ofpeople.
And I think that's one way that that they can do that.
Yeah. Is right.
Yeah. And I think that it then it
(18:04):
comes back to to engaging, like,you know, it's one thing to
create work. You can go stand on the street
corner of San Antonio and like anyone could stand on a street
corner with. But it's how do you engage?
You know, how do you talk to people?
Are you smiling at people? Yeah.
Are you waving at people? You know, it, it makes a huge
difference, you know, the ability to talk.
(18:26):
And I feel like that's one thingthat I've learned early on is,
you know, that close mouths don't get fed, right?
And so for me, it's just like, hey, you know what, I'm going to
try to talk to everyone that looks at my art.
Like I learned that early on, like when I was like trying to
make money off my heart for the very first time.
I'm like, you know, what if I just stay painting and looking
at my art and just glancing overand seeing who's looking and
(18:48):
like, I'm always going to catch people looking, sure.
But it's like, how do I engage? So every time I saw someone
looking, I said, hey, what do you think of my art?
Oh, hey, what do you like about it?
Oh, this and that. And I started like doing those
like open questions, right? Like it's not just yes or no
questions, right, right. And.
You're not trying to push a sailon somebody.
(19:08):
Exactly. And so I'm all about like, how
do I build a relationship? How do I, how do I get to know
this person? And you know, even if they don't
like my art, at least they can like me.
Sure. And so you know that and it just
goes from there. It's just like, you know, I just
try to be genuine, trying to just be positive.
(19:29):
I know, you know, early on in mycareer, I didn't really know a
lot of people. But as I've been able to build
relationships with people, it's like, oh, hey, you like doing
this. Oh, I know someone in this field
or I know someone that's doing this.
And it's just like. You're a connector.
Yeah. And so through that, it's
allowing me to like be in circles and events and stuff, or
I never imagined being, but likejust through communicating and
(19:53):
talking to people through my art, that gives me the platform
to, to be confident in what I'm doing because it's, it's coming
from like a true genuine place. One thing I think that like even
business owners, you know, who, who are not necessarily in the
creative space have to realize is that when somebody invites
(20:16):
you into a room, you belong there, right?
And you've got to walk in there with that confidence.
And I think that we forget that sometimes because I, I'm, I'm
the same way, right? I mean, I, I own a business, I
have for the last 15 years. And even sometimes I walk into a
room thinking, man, I, I don't know, I think somebody messed up
when they invited, you know, they, they sent the invitation
to the wrong location, right? Or the, the wrong e-mail.
(20:39):
But when you walk in with that confidence, with that, with that
attitude that you belong, it changes the dynamic of the
conversations that you're havingwith the people in the room,
right? Yeah, yeah, I had this
experience recently because Alamo College's district just
purchased one of my like largestpaintings for their permanent
collection. And they're, they're creating
(21:00):
this like very huge effort and, and mission to like start really
incorporating local artists and then just arts in general into
their their schools and, and building these collections like
museum type or museum quality collections.
And I was one of their first like purchases for wow, that's
(21:21):
awesome. And it was crazy.
I get goose like goosebumps. You know, I could see it too,
Goosebumps just thinking about it.
But they invited me to be a guest for this summit and I
didn't know like, like it's a summit.
I've never been to a summit. So I'm just like, I don't know
what to expect, but like it was just really cool to be invited
to have a seat at the table and to like be able to be amongst
(21:43):
people that are like making really big decisions for San
Antonio's like education system,sure, collegiate level.
And like, to be sitting there just like that, fly in the wall
at first, but then being able toengage and ask questions and,
you know, have those conversations that sparks, you
(22:04):
know, what can be, you know, very positive changes in in the
city. Yeah.
And yeah, it's just really wild to think about.
But yeah, like having that confidence really does make a
huge difference. Yeah.
And I remember that sometimes, like you said.
I'm curious man, how did you come up with the Trebler name?
What is, what is? What is the significance there?
All right, so the funny story isI couldn't really come up with
(22:28):
anything that sounded really cool.
And I was just like writing stuff out and I wrote my name
and then I decided to write my name backwards and I'm like
sounding it out. I'm like Albert Trebla.
I'm like Trebla sounds pretty cool.
And so I thought that I thought it was really cool for like the
longest time. Who I still think it is, it is
(22:49):
still really cool. But what was funny, the funny
part about it is that I would have people like follow me on
Instagram and occasionally I'll like run into people on the
streets and they would be like, oh, treble this and that.
We'll talk. And then the question always
came up, what does Treble mean? Yeah.
(23:09):
And if you could imagine the look of disappointment on
someone's face when you just like, Oh, it's just my name
backwards. Like, like I, I think I maybe
had a couple like unfollows. I'm just saying, but not as cool
as I thought he was. But it was funny because it
became an inside joke for me andmy wife because like, if we were
(23:30):
out and then someone's like, Oh,shit, blood, she would give me
that side. I'd like, Oh, you're about to
disappoint this, this person. And so that question always came
up right. And so one night me and my wife
were having some wine and we're just having a laugh and, and,
and I was like, you know, I, I, I think I'm very funny and I
think I'm really funny. And I told my wife I was like,
(23:52):
man, I'm tired of just disappointing everybody.
Like, I, I see it in their heart.
Like they don't, they don't evenlike me no more when I'm telling
her I'm just being super sarcastic.
And I said, you know what, I'm going to come up with an acronym
for TREBLA. And she rolls her eyes.
She's like, yeah, like, what? What are you going to come up
with? And it took me like 100 tries.
I couldn't even get past the R. And she's like, just give up.
(24:16):
Like it does not sound cool. Like you're going to make people
more disappointed. And finally I sat down, kind of
meditated a little bit, and thenit finally hit me.
And now it's like the coolest acronym that I it's very poetic.
Time resolves everything but love answers.
(24:40):
Wow, that's awesome. Yeah, time resolves everything
but love answers. That's awesome, man.
So what does that mean to you? It's just like.
On a deeper level. Yeah, on the deeper level for
me, it's like, yeah, you could forgive, right?
And you can forgive anything. Like, again, my, my parents grew
(25:01):
like my parents had divorced andthe relationship between me and
my parents wasn't always like the best, right.
So the idea that like time resolves everything.
It's like, yeah, like as you move forward, like things are
going to resolve themselves, right?
Like if you keep being positive,things are going to be resolved.
But like, if you go into it withlove and, and, and you have that
(25:23):
intention of just like forgivingand just loving, like being,
being who you are, being genuineand you know, being a nice
person to others, like trying tohelp others.
Like things just have their way of just like working out the way
they need to. Like if you, if you don't, you
know, carry a grudge, if you're not like spiteful or anything.
And if you just act with love, like everything has its way of
(25:46):
answering, that might not happenexactly when you want that thing
to happen, right? But like I can guarantee you,
like if you just act with love, things have their way of just
like answering. And I, and I think that's,
that's so prevalent in your artwork, if I'm being honest
with you, like the what, what I see in your, in your artwork is
(26:11):
simple, but like in the best way.
I don't mean that as an insult, right?
Like simple in the best way, butlike so powerful when it's
message and man, just thank you for that.
This is that's that's really awesome.
I've been really, really lucky and again, a little bit of
goosebumps too, but I've been really lucky that like my work's
able to like leave such a positive impact for people.
(26:34):
And it makes me really happy to know that like people feel that
way about my heart because, you know, it's, it's coming from a
place of a lot of struggle for sure.
A lot of, you know, pain, especially from my, my
upbringing, you know, feeling alone a lot growing up.
Like there's some paintings thatI've created that are very
cathartic that are about like these very dark times, but being
(26:57):
able to create something that connects on a very, you know,
powerful level and a positive light.
It, it means the world to me because, you know, I remember
being that kid and, you know, having suicidal thoughts and I
remember, you know, just feelingso alone.
And just to know that like people feel empowered and people
feel happy and positive. Like if there's one thing that I
(27:20):
can, you know, leave as like a legacy, like my, my art and then
that, that story, that influenceand that positivity.
I hope you know people throughout time, you know, if my
work gets to be up for the next,you know, 200 years, I hope that
it still gets to make people feel positive.
I have no doubt that that is that will absolutely happen,
(27:41):
man. I'm curious, you know, you talk
about legacy, you talk about your art being your your legacy.
What is what does that look likefor you?
Like are like? Do you envision your art being
in museums? Do you envision your art?
I know you know, you do a lot ofstreet art right now and you're,
(28:02):
and one thing that I want to askyou about as well is like the
street art that you're doing nowthat you're that you're, you
know, kind of putting up in random places throughout town.
But like long term, like where do you see that that legacy
going? Like how does that, how do you
express that legacy? Man, I have some like really
ambitious goals and some of my, my, my wife especially, but some
of my like really close friends can kind of explain.
(28:23):
Like sometimes I'll share these ideas out loud and not
necessarily like the full game plan.
A lot of times I'll keep that tomyself, but I'll share like
these really ambitious ideas that I have for like, you know,
2550 years, like what I imagine.And they're, they're very, very
ambitious. But like that legacy is like,
(28:43):
like going after those. And even though it's like, yeah,
it's street art and all this other stuff and doing my
entrepreneurial stuff on the side and, you know, really
trying to generate these things on my own and doing it in the
right way, right. And during these things time, I
think like that patience that that legacy of like, like, yeah,
(29:05):
I'm doing all I'm doing this art, but like behind the scenes,
like with all the support that I'm getting for from people
behind the scenes, I'm working on all these other things.
And I think that's one thing that a lot of my supporters and
especially some of my biggest collectors like really enjoy.
It's like, yeah, I'm always likeworking on the stuff that I put
out for people to see. There's also like a lot of stuff
(29:26):
like behind closed doors that like I'm slowly working on and,
and putting pieces together. Like I, I have a lot of domains
and, and one that I'm very proudof that I'm working on is art
studiotours.com. And so I'm working on making
stuff accessible for people and especially for tourism in San
(29:48):
Antonio. There's a big gap that needs to
be filled on making artwork accessible, not just for San
Antonians, but for people that want to visit and get like a
true like grass roots San Antonio art experience.
Sure. I want to fulfill that gap.
Well, also I think it's important for people to know
that it exists here, right? Because I don't, I don't really
(30:09):
think that San Antonio's well known for being a community of
of artists. Right.
It's a very affordable place forartists to live and to work.
But as far as like a market, it's not like one of the primary
markets in Texas, but you can make a living as an artist in
San Antonio. It's just not well known.
(30:30):
As for art sales, there's a lot of collectors in San Antonio,
but they're not really spending their money here in San Antonio.
You know, they're going to Houston, Dallas, Lockhart,
Austin, you know, these these prominent places that are, you
know, justified for showing great art and showing San
Antonio artists and, and making,you know, big, big moves.
(30:54):
But as far as like commercial galleries, like we have a very
small amount of of commercial galleries here in San Antonio
compared to, you know, all theseother spaces but.
How do we change that? We need people to invest.
We need people to the people that have money to spend like
that, yeah, we need them to invest in the artist run spaces
(31:20):
at least. But again, that's just me
advocating and trying to get people to spend money on the
arts. But at the very least, we just
need more people out at art events and we need more people
to spend what they can afford, you know, take off that live
love, laugh. If you're watching this and you
have live love, laugh somewhere in your house, especially if you
(31:44):
bought it, put it away and make an effort to like go find
something to replace that that'sfrom, you know, a local, you
know, art event, a local gallery.
You know, don't don't be afraid to ask artists, like, what is
this piece about? How much is this?
Can I do payments on it? Yeah.
(32:04):
You know, our artists are very easy to.
Well, I don't want to say easy to work with.
The artists can be very difficult to work with, but at
least I like to say that we're approachable.
Yeah. And and you know, don't feel
afraid to ask questions for sure.
And so I think it's just all about making art accessible and
(32:26):
really advertising that that way.
And that's another reason why I do my street art is when you
think about street art, what area do you think of when I say
or not street art, but when I say public art, what areas of
San Antonio do you? I mean probably Blue Star would
be the only thing that comes to mind.
Maybe the Pearl a little bit. It was very centralized.
(32:47):
Yeah, right. Like for sure.
If I were to say, oh, public artpast six and a four exactly
right. So it's like my whole, my whole
idea is like, I would just want to act at least activate spaces
with art, even if it's temporarily.
Yeah, that's beautiful. And so hopefully, well, I got
(33:08):
emailed, I got notified that I didn't receive the grant for the
artist individual artist grant. So that's off the table.
And so funny enough, like I had slowed down doing my street art
cuz I was like, I'm gonna apply for this, this grant.
And it's like a much larger mission than just doing street
(33:29):
art. It was this idea of documenting
each zip code installation with photography, journaling, yeah,
yeah, yeah. And videos and then putting
together a book and all that. And then in celebration of this
mission accomplished, hosting orcreating a new annual street art
(33:55):
event for the city that would highlight artists that are
utilizing recycled materials to create street art installations
throughout San Antonio. That's beautiful.
And creating hubs during the event for people to go out and
support local businesses, but also create opportunities for
local artisans, local vendors, local sponsorships that can
(34:17):
activate, you know, certain bus routes and people on the buses.
And there was a whole, like, bigpicture of like, turning $15,000
into a potentially multi $1,000,000 project event.
But hey, you know, yeah, better than next.
Well, I mean, you know, who knows, maybe there's somebody
(34:38):
out there who's who's listening,watching this, property
managers, if you're out there and you got a space for Albert.
I know there's, there's a lot ofpotential, you know, there's a
lot of business owners that a lot of business owners and, and
property owners that have vacantspots and they're not being
utilized. Yep, Yep.
And for artists, you know, hey, like, give us something that's
(35:00):
climate controlled. Even if it's not climate
controlled, there's a small percentage of artists that won't
work. You you need it to be climate
controlled man for sure. Well, I, I have all these,
again, I have all these ideas ofentrepreneurial, you know,
journeys and even like nonprofitstuff.
Like I have this idea of I, I really want to start a nonprofit
(35:24):
called the Cool Artist. And what I want to do is, is
work with property owners that have vacant buildings that maybe
been sitting for like 5 to 10 years, maybe 2 years, but
incentivize them with putting ACS in their buildings and
(35:44):
having them sign like a five year lease agreement where they
would lease it to artists as like a commune.
And so they get like a free AC for the building.
And then we get a creative hub for whatever area that they're
in. And then it gives the artists an
opportunity to to, you know, grow within five years with,
(36:06):
with the right sort of planning and the right sort of
programming, we could get artists on their feet.
Yeah. And even set them up with HVAC
training. Yeah.
There you go. That's awesome, man.
Man, this has been such a fun conversation.
Super insightful. Thank you so much for coming on
(36:27):
the show and and sharing. You know, your your vision for
the city, your vision for the creative community in, in San
Antonio. I'd love to be a part of that in
any way, shape or form that I can.
I'm glad that we were able to get you on the show and just,
you know, kind of help you lift that platform up.
So I. Appreciate it.
(36:48):
Thanks for. Coming on the show, man, it's,
it's before we, before we wrap up the conversation.
If people want to connect with you, do you, first of all, do
you do Commission work? Is it just?
I do. I do Commission work.
My bread and butter are my paintings.
So I I sell my paintings out of my studio I'm also representing.
Your studio open like. By appointment only.
(37:09):
So. So I'm over off of Mitchell and
Probant. Yeah.
Near Hwy. 90 and Confluence Park, Yeah.
And so I'm in that general area,yeah.
You can visit albertgonzalezart.com if you
want to schedule a studio visit or if you want to follow me on
Instagram. I have all my stuff on there too
as Trebla under score Art. Yeah.
I'm also represented by local gallery and Arctic Gallery off
(37:33):
of Sunset and Broadway. So if you want to see any of my
work and just walk into that gallery, they have a few of my
pieces up there too. But yeah, if you want to, you
know, buy a painting from me, you can contact me directly.
Awesome. Albert Gonzalez, art.com.
Awesome. Albert, thanks so much for
coming on the show, man. Guys, thanks so much for tuning
in to another episode of ChingonEssay.
(37:56):
Thanks so much to Albert for coming on the show and for
tuning in. We'll see you guys next week.
This has been an MIG Studio and Serafina digital production.
Be sure to follow and subscribe the show on your favorite stream
platform and tell a friend aboutthe show by sharing this episode
on your Facebook and TikTok. Last, if you're a business
(38:18):
owner, entrepreneur or someone doing something really cool in
San Antonio and want to get yourstory on our show, e-mail me at
luis@myinsurancegroup.com.
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