Today we’d like to introduce you to Dave Alsobrooks.
Hi Dave, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
My background is in art and design. I started out in advertising as a designer and art director but didn’t stay long. I left to make art and explore what creativity looked like without a brief attached. That period shaped how I think about expression, purpose, and how ideas can connect people.
Back in the fray a few years later, I helped establish The PARAGRAPH Project in Durham, NC. I was part of an open, collaborative team that shaped how I think and work to this day. I brought the perspective of an artist and designer to the worlds of market research and brand strategy, and in turn, learned a great deal from the talented people around me. For me, it became the perfect melding of disciplines, a way to explore how creativity and analysis work together to unlock truth and uncover meaningful connections.
My latest artistic venture, Bound, grew out of that mix. It’s a practice that develops brands and conceptual art experiences that foster connection. Sometimes that looks like helping organizations find their voice and identity. Other times it’s about building experiences that bring people closer together around a subject matter or topic.
At the center of everything I do, whether it is a strategy session or a creative installation, is a simple idea that guides the work. You can’t fake connection. You have to offer an honest truth in a way that resonates with others. That applies as much to brand work as it does to art. In both, the question stays the same. What lies at the core of the message, how is it communicated, and what is the most genuine way to bring it to life? When people or organizations reach that level of clarity, they don’t need to force it.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
It’s never a smooth road for anyone, right? Over the years, running a business has brought its share of ups and downs, like economic shifts, changing technology, and the usual unpredictability of creative work. Looking back, I’m certain that what once felt like struggles are the times I learned the most. Clients across industries and of all shapes and sizes, keeping my art on a slow burn, and adapting to constant change have all shaped what I’d like to think of as a kind of steadiness. Staying in the moment while we ride this crazy wave is the only way I’ve found to keep struggles framed in healthy ways.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
Here’s my general artist statement:
I’m an artist from the South, but it’s not that cut and dry. Being from the South is rife with inconsistencies if not outright contradictions. Listening to The Geto Boys on the way to church. Humidity and suits and ties. Integrated schools and segregated towns. New South. Old South. Bless your heart. These cultural peculiarities and how they sync with our hyper-connected world interest me a great deal.
Over the years, I’ve formed a conceptual art practice: installations of projections and sound, a series of paintings that co-opted found signs in symbolic materials, a decade-long sticker and merch campaign that spreads HUGS around the world, or shrines to Southern Hip Hop lyrics of candy paint, wood grain, and site-specific dirt. I’ve re-contextualized graphic symbols of hate and historical importance in national biennials. I’m not afraid to tackle a subject from its point of origin or to have a laugh. Most of all, I want to move others to think, and bring them closer together in conversation and reflection.
Is there something surprising that you feel even people who know you might not know about?
My deepest fascination in this world is with the ancient Egyptian culture. The architecture, language, design, and understanding and meaning assigned to the world around them hits something inside me. I’m often in awe of the intentionality of every aspect of their lives, from the most mundane to the most high.
And I’m a napper, for sure.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://boundis.us
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/boundis.us
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davealsobrooks
- Other: https://boundis.art
