The Creative Continuum: An Afternoon with George Jojo Baghdassarian
George, it’s great to see you again. Since we last spoke, you’ve been bridging the gap between the underground music scene and the high-end art world. How do you view the connection between a vinyl record and a museum-quality canvas?
“Good LOVE of cheers to you and the creative spirits listening in. To me, there is no gap only a bridge made of the same vibration. Whether I’m dropping a needle on a rare 12-inch or Hovik is applying a stroke of oil to a custom portrait, we are both harvesting the ‘Lively Arts.’
My vinyl weighs a ton, but so does the history in a restored painting. They are both vessels of immortality. When we ran Backside Records, we weren’t just selling plastic; we were distributing culture. Today, at Hoviks Fine Arts, we are doing the same with visual frequency. The street breakers and the fine art painters I grew up with in the 80s and 90s were drinking from the same well of expression. I’m just the host, making sure the table is set for everyone to feast.”
You often mention your “indigenous guide of mother nature.” How does a city kid from the “Gang Capital of America” find that balance in the middle of the North Hollywood Arts District?
“It is the ‘re-indigenizing’ of the soul, my friend. You see, Los Angeles is a concrete garden, but the soil underneath is still sacred. Growing up amidst the organized conflicts of the streets the same way my family fled the violence in Beirut and Aleppo I learned that peace isn’t the absence of noise; it’s the presence of rhythm.
I find the ‘Healing Arts’ in the study of native plants and the nakedness of nature, even if that’s just a patch of green off the Chandler Bikeway. I tell my daughter Graysee: we are Leos, we carry the sun. Whether we are in the warehouse raves of our youth or the quiet sanctuary of the Iliad Bookshop, we must consume the light. You have to be mindful. If you get irritated by the rub of the city, you’ll never be polished. I choose to be polished.”
With the “second coming” of your vision arriving in 2025, how has your perspective on “luck” changed as you approach your centenarian halfway point?
“Luck is a ghost that people chase when they aren’t present. As I’ve told the brethren before: no bad luck, no good luck. There is only the ‘Process of the Present.’
I am 51 years young now, a true-blue turntablist of three decades, and I’ve learned to let go of the attachment to the result. When Backside closed in 2016, it wasn’t a tragedy; it was a ‘lucid lesson’ in letting go. Now, with our staging divisions relaunching and the media ventures like @iAmFineArts expanding, I’m piloting a new craft. My ‘luck’ is simply being open to everything and attached to nothing. I’m just a man with a sampler and a heart for service, helping unlisted artists find their place on the world stage. In JOY the ride, because the legacy isn’t what you leave behind it’s what you give away while you’re here.”
“Creativity is intelligence having fun.” – Albert Einstein