Today we’d like to introduce you to Michael Rataj.
Michael, please kick things off for us by telling us about yourself and your journey so far.
My story is about the struggle between being an artist and being financially successful. I’ve been an illustrator as long as I can remember and picked up drumming when I was 13. My college life kept me in Chicago at Columbia College where I studied film, editing, traditional and computer animation. Shortly after graduating I detoured to follow a career in finance, while still drumming, illustrating and editing projects for my bands. In April of 2016 with the birth of my son I left the financial career to focus on starting my business in the creative field. I started a small art gallery and art sharing hub called Bulb Brain Gallery curating a worldwide audience on Instagram and Facebook. I commissioned over 20 pieces from artists throughout the world for the Bulb Brain ‘permanent collection’ which is currently displayed at Andersonville Galleria. Through my background in video production, content curation and audience engagement learned through bringing awareness to my drumming and Bulb Brain Gallery I moved to the services side of providing unique and creative content for businesses websites and social media platforms.
Can you give our readers some background on your art?
Video was the natural progression for someone like me who loves the immediate gratification of a project while still being able to explore the limitless possibility of incorporating motion graphics, green screens and even practical effects. I think art that stands the test of time are always true explorations of the stories in the time and place it happened. Video is the literal documentation of our current time. While we’re going to see a bigger rise of amateur filmmaking as our phones become full-on media devices, people are still interested in good, thought out stories. I hope to create as many authentic stories and events as possible.
What would you recommend to an artist new to the city, or to art, in terms of meeting and connecting with other artists and creatives?
Connect! Literally. Find whatever networking or meet-ups or shows are happening in your area and get out to them. If you need a bit of liquid courage to say “hi” so be it, but after going to these events you’ll see the same people and then reach out and say hi. The road blocks to talking to someone are usually in our own heads. We’re social creatures and most other people are looking to connect, too. You may catch someone at the wrong time and they may not be social, but don’t take it personally. You don’t know what they’re going through. Just be an authentic and great person and try to be friendly with someone!
What’s the best way for someone to check out your work and provide support?
The last small project was some 360/Virtual Reality footage of the Chicago Cultural center, you can find a short clip https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FNwEHa3Av2I. If you keep an eye on my YouTube channel (subscribe) I’ll be releasing the full footage shortly, as well additional projects.
To see 1 song from the Unity Temple project please visit https://www.youtube.com/edit?o=U&video_id=nwQ1CS8DZAY. This has been the biggest project to date. There was a 4-hour rental period of the space with 3 camera men, 6 cameras and 2 360 cameras. Editing was the biggest challenge as it was important to not show the different camera men in each shot! However, since it was clearly a recording, they do make some brief appearances as it helps add to the mystery why they’re not there the whole time! They say that the movie doesn’t come together when it’s filmed but it comes together in the editing room! This was such an inspirational project to be able to perform in such a historic building, but it was one of those personal projects that combined some of my top loves: Drumming, filmmaking and Frank Lloyd Wright architecture.
You can follow me on instagram.com/bulbbraincreative facebook.com/bulbbraincreative or https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCN30jf7N1KBUaPG_SVzeOCA. I’ll continue to post my updated projects at www.bulbbraincreative.com and if you’d like to support me you can hire me for projects!
Contact Info:
- Address: Chicago, IL
- Website: www.bulbbraincreative.com
- Phone: 7089421791
- Email: mike@bulbbraincreative.com
- Instagram: facebook.com/bulbbraincreative
- Facebook: instagram.com/bulbbraincreative
- Twitter: twitter.com/bulbbraincreatv
- Other: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCN30jf7N1KBUaPG_SVzeOCA
Image Credit:
Unity Temple photos by Virgil Fry. Others by Michael Rataj.
Getting in touch: VoyageChicago is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.
