Trevor Coopersmith, a Carlsbad resident and a Carlsbad High School Graduate is a local artist who uses a unique technique for his paintings, spray paint. His inspiration for doing this developed many years ago and has since flourished into a great passion of his.

“About six years ago I was on a cruise ship to Mexico and I saw someone doing spray paint art on one of the side streets,” Coopersmith said. “I picked it up and then I came home and my first attempt was horrible, but about a thousand paintings later I’ve progressed a little bit.”

Coopersmith has now started to transform his love for creating into more than just a hobby, but a career. Being able to do this is not something that all people have the drive or ability to do, which makes Coopersmith’s dedication all the more recognizable.

“I’m starting to become a high school art teacher, my dad is a professional artist and I enjoy selling art but it’s a little more rewarding for me to teach and inspire a younger generation,” Coopersmith said. “I started teaching private lessons for a little bit and did some art shows and I really got into it and just enjoyed painting. I really want to change other people’s perspectives in the art world. It’s a solid productive escape and it helped me out a lot in my life so hopefully I can pass that on to other people.”

Coopersmith’s inspirations for his pieces come from day to day objects or pictures he sees and chooses to portray in his own way. His artwork has a simplicity that draws viewers in due to its uniqueness, which is why it is so intriguing to many crowds. Due to this, he has had success with working for companies already and hopes to extend that further down the line in his career.

“My biggest inspiration is an artist named Drew Brophy, he paints skateboards, surfboards and he works with liquid force, which is a wakeboard company,” Coopersmith said. “He also works for sector nine, and this is more of something I’d be interested in, and I have been picked up by a company who prints my designs on objects. This is kind of the same concept where they come to him and ask for designs and he gets full creativity. Brophy makes good money and gets to surf and travel and even though it is not too highly conceptual art, I like aesthetically pleasing stuff and stuff that relates to me and doesn’t have such a crazy and deep meaning.”

For Coopersmith there is a greater reward behind what he does, he hopes to reach out to people and to inspire them through his artwork. Coopersmith believes that art plays a vital role in our culture and he wishes to help keep that alive and make sure people are aware of this.

“Art is important for the world because unfortunately we are getting a lot of art classes cut in schools and it’s a bummer because art is one of those things that is a nice way to express yourself and get away from everything in a positive way,” Coopersmith said. “Art is a safe and healthy escape.”