It never ceases to amaze me how many interesting and unique people I get to meet while working in real estate in LA. A couple of years ago I was introduced by a dear friend and client to Terry Guy. He and his lovely family were looking to purchase their first home. I was immediately impressed by Terry’s story and company Secret Walls. I am excited to share it with you all today!
Terry Guy is originally from the magical Isle of Wight, an island off the south coast of England, though he currently lives in Riverside, California. He studied Digital Design and Animation in London, but after graduating, quickly realized that finding a proper job was tough. So, in 2006 he created Secret Walls — a live illustration battle platform where artists take a stage to show off their talent and compete to win. The vision is to disrupt the dusty art gallery scene, entertain fans, support local artists and showcase the best creativity on the planet. Secret Walls is a LIVE Arts and Entertainment company that is known for the Paint and NFT Battles hosted in 50+ countries around the world. They have a huge creative studio in the heart of Los Angeles on Venice + Western and I encourage you to go check it out as they serve awesome coffee with an art mural backdrop.
Thank you so much for doing this with us! Before we dig in, could you tell us a little more about Secret Walls and how you got started?
It all started with me founding the original Monorex collective back in London 18+ years ago. I had just got my animation degree and was struggling to find a full time paying job in the creative industry. I met some amazing graffiti artists at a B-boy battle event and felt that we could do similar high-energy shows for artists. Fast forward a year or so and I had created this new paint battle competition called Secret Walls, where artists would go brush to brush over 90 minutes, using just black paint on a huge 20ft white wall. It is a freestyle battle where artists cannot use pencils, sketches or their phones and it is judged by two guest judges and a fun crowd screaming.
Over the last 18 years, I have traveled the globe year after year, battled in 50+ countries and collaborated with 3000+ artists. I count myself lucky being able to work in an industry I am so passionate about.
To be honest, this whole journey has been a blast and I still pinch myself that I am able to do this for a living. Without the talented artists I collaborate with, none of this would be possible - so a huge thank you goes out to them. Without artists and their creative output, the world would be a very boring place.
The pandemic and shut down must have been an incredibly challenging time for your business, as it was for all of us. How did you have to pivot to make it through that time? How have things changed for your business and the Secret Walls events since? Do you feel a different energy at events since they’ve come back?
Yes the lockdown was a massive problem and shock for us, as we are a live arts entertainment company that relies on having lots of people gathered closely together in creative spaces. The team and I had to get very creative with our time and resources to make money, save our studios and entertain our fans. Our business is very flexible in the creative services we offer and we were able to pivot and produce a lot of behind closed doors content for brands like Bentley, MLS and Nike using our studios as a place to paint, film and live stream, while selling our limited edition artwork and merch via the online store. Obviously none of the above has the energy of a huge live art event but we had to hustle hard and we actually learned a lot in this period about ourselves and the strength of our community.
We waited patiently for the doors to open back up and planned new bigger ways to battle around the country. The result was us executing an epic 15,000 mile RV bus tour to 30 cities over 3 months - Check the SYLA (Support Your Local Artist) tour here.
The energy is even bigger now as the world has evolved with new technology and opportunities for creatives, and I feel like people really appreciate their time out of the home after being locked inside for so long. We have plans to go even bigger in 2023 and feel that the audience will only keep doubling in size.
Were brand partnerships part of the original vision for Secret Walls? How did that come to be?
Yes we had always hoped and dreamed that the right brands that respect the arts and culture would find us and back our SYLA mission - It happened quicker than we expected with early sponsorship deals from Reebok and Casio. But now we collaborate and engage with brands in so many different ways that it feels like a very streamlined part of our core business. Brands need creative communities like Secret Walls to curate, create and produce certain parts of their business activities. We have been lucky enough to collab with some of the world's coolest brands, including Apple, MLS, MLB, NBA, Nike, Adidas, Puma, Microsoft, Bentley, GM, Chevy, Umbro, Heineken, LAFC and more!
I have found that part of my daily role is to connect the right artists to a brand and then help translate between those two worlds to produce the best creative results possible. We run all of our brand partnerships through SW X now and this is powered by a team of former creative agency folks that I know and trust - https://secretwalls.world/pages/sw-x
What are some of the most exciting partnerships you have going on now or have done in the past?
We are currently in talks with many exciting new and old brands that want to support our artist community and build big in the creative space. Exploring a new tour (US + Europe), building out a busy programming of events at our LA HQ, locking in special appearances at various festivals and events that want us to show up and entertain.
Favorite highlights from the past include the Bentley, Umbro and Nike Air Max projects, and curating the art in multiple titles of the “Tom Clancy’s The Division”.
2023 and 2024 are big years for us and we have ambitious plans to level up as a brand and community.
You and your business started in London, are now based in LA, and operate globally. It seems like community and support of local artists are a big part of your mission. How do you think about the juxtaposition of a global enterprise with local focus / in person events?
Supporting your local artist (SYLA) is our DNA and mission all day, everyday in real life (IRL) and online (URL)! We did that successfully from London for a long time and then started finding ourselves on monthly planes to the USA for various projects and battles. So we eventually identified LA as the new basecamp and started building locally here via the HQ. For us to be successful locally and globally, we need a physical studio in a very creative city like LA or London that allows us to support the local community but also gives us easy access to the global community as people pass through on their travels. With technology now evolving, we are exploring ways of supporting creatives globally through a much bigger SW platform… Watch this space. For example check out our first metaverse gallery.
We have dreams of opening future spaces in other key creative cities around the world, strengthening the mission and empowering more artists locally and globally.
It’s inspiring to see how you grew something that started as an artist collective and fun thing to do with friends, into such a successful enterprise. Any advice you would give to young folks thinking about how to balance passion and practicality when it comes to their career paths?
Dream BIG, work hard, think smart, have fun and take risks - You will need to do all of this to make a passion project a full time job or business. I feel very blessed. And now that I am entering my 40’s, I really want to focus on giving back and building platforms that can help thousands of artists, not hundreds. I also hope through my company's success to establish a SYLA (supporting your local artist) fund (possibly a DAO, decentralized autonomous organization) that is governed by the community. This would be a huge legacy project and hopefully allow Secret Walls to live on autonomously when I am long gone.
What’s next for you and your business? Anything new or exciting on the horizon?
Establishing Secret Walls into a true global brand that helps artists in all corners of the world through a new digital platform / portal that connects, inspires, educates and entertains the masses. We also dream of making content for TV, possibly a global tour docuseries. I also have a few personal dreams me and the family are keen to build towards - one being buying a farm house back in my country of the UK and slowly evolving it into some kind of creative retreat for friends and family.
You recently moved your beautiful family from Harvard Heights, LA out to Riverside, into a gorgeous 1910 craftsman home. How has life changed for you guys as a result?
Yes and thanks for helping facilitate that move :) We love our craftsman house and have been spending a lot of time here, slowly figuring out what areas we want to fix and evolve. It was already in stunning condition for its age but so far we have added some smart practical touches to it, allowing us to work from home and accommodating larger groups of guests. Next on the list is to re-design and landscape the garden (my talented wife Lorena is leading that project) and turning the carriage house into a modern ADU.
We were in LA for 8 years but outgrew our little apartment and then became first time parents, so the timing was perfect to move a little further out of the mega city and own a piece of history closer to nature. Our quality of living has gone up 10x and we now find time to go enjoy desert day trips to Joshua Tree, beach days down in the OC and the odd cheeky snowboard trip to Big Bear.
Riverside is awesome but it does need a few new food establishments. Maybe I will invest in something fun as a new side project. If anyone is reading this and wants to explore an arts x food concept - hit me up.
Have you read any books, listened to any podcasts, or watched any shows / movies / documentaries that you’ve enjoyed lately? Tell us about them!
Sooo many :) Binge-ing on shows over Christmas was my jam. Severance, Slow Horses, The Rings of Power, The Boys, His Dark Materials, High Score to name a few.
What are 3 of your favorite places/ things to do in Los Angeles?
- Go watch a soccer game at LAFC (current MLS champions) and a stadium where we have 3 huge murals and a OG Slick sculpture installed.
- Eat food in DTLA, there are always new places to discover.
- Escape to the beach every now and then for some sea breeze and ice cream.
Share with our audience where we can find and follow you. (Instagram, Website, FB, upcoming events, etc.)
Follow us on the following platforms
Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/secretwalls/
Twitter - https://twitter.com/thesecretwalls/
Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/TheSecretWalls
LinkedIN - https://www.linkedin.com/company/34682009/
Website - https://secretwalls.world/
