Featured Artist: Massai

Have the best doggone day possible by becoming a member of the Self-Confident Hot Dog Club with DBH artist Massai. If you’re looking to add a little humor to your day or strut your stuff in a new way, then it’s time to experience the wild, the unconventional, and the little bit quirky that is Massai’s artwork. His designs – with collages of bright colors and zany characters – is the chance to join the most unique club around.

Leandro – known to his friends and his art community as Massai – is a 33-year-old artist from Belo Horizonte, Brazil. He jokes that his style is a “mutant thing” that transforms like a living breathing entity; still, it maintains a sense of his personality and his “art DNA” throughout its evolution. He imagines that the “creative mind is like a sponge” and that it is constantly learning and being changed by our environment. He believes that his own creative mind has been heavily influenced by the world around him and is an amalgamation of themes like punk rock, 1980s pop, and Brazilian culture.

Massai admits that he struggles with maintaining discipline with his art, but that he still pushes himself to become the “best version of myself” possible. He also likes the idea of being able to share what he has learned by teaching or by passing “my knowledge forward” on his YouTube channels and social media accounts. He disagrees with the idea that creativity is something we are born with or a “gift” from the gods. He considers that it is a “trainable skill” and that everyone and anyone with the right discipline can fulfill their creative passion.

Massai never lost confidence in his dreams to be an artist; he says that even when others rejected or discouraged him, he persisted and now sees his work sold around the world. He says, “believe in who you are and keep going with it in mind.”