Alex Kazemi

PHOTO: MESCONDI

Mysterious, Canada-born writer and magical-muse-of-many Alex Kazemi has spellbound the world with his new book Pop Magick. Catching the eye of well known icons like Madonna, and with a write-up in Forbes, Alex explores the art of writing, magick and creativity with zero boundaries.

What is creativity to you? How has it helped you in your life?

Creativity to me is materializing any immaterial concept, theory, or vision in your head and drawing it down into this reality, in this physical plane, into this lower world. Creativity, to me has helped me in life to escape, but also attempt to make myself understood….

When you are experiencing the world, and a kaleidoscope of feelings and experiences — you can’t just stay clogged up, you have to release it somehow. 

Creativity is all about anarchist opinions, unconventional feelings and images projected back to you in words or images….   Take me there. Make me fucking feel it. Punch me in the throat. Give it to me, I want to feel it all. I want it all.

What is most important to you in your work? What motivates you to continue creating ? 

What is most important in my work is challenging mainstream opinions, mainstream thoughts, and pushing people to challenge the world around them; to have a more expansive view of what is beneath surfaces.

I’m very interested in unmasking the beautiful things around us, deconstructing our collective fantasies that have been indoctrinated into us…  I think what keeps motivating me is the idea of connection, the idea of resonance - the idea that someone can read my work and say  “I saw myself, in his work, and I don’t see myself in many people”… This excites me. 

What advice would you give your younger self?

Oh my god! I would give so much advice to my younger self… 

Little Alex was very afraid that his dreams weren’t going to happen, while also having a steel-conviction that they would, so I was driven by a lot of anxiety and I would work 24/7 (I still do!)… I think I have no words for him but trust the process, chill out and continue to have certainty, continue to believe that even when you think that things aren’t going to work out, that they will, you have to… You must listen to the calling of your soul. 

What is something you are most proud of?

I am most proud of Madonna sharing my book with the world and launching my career. This is something that I knew would always happen, since I was a child — I always knew that M would understand me as an underground artist, and understand my rebellion against the mainstream because she has helped (my now friends) MIRWAIS and Jonas Åkerlund— who are weirdo freaks like myself, but do you want to know why I am proud of this?  M’s co-sign is a demonstration of the power of kabbalah and magick, and spiritual discipline and living a life of praxis….

This is what it means….also it’s the biggest compliment - the women’s taste is historically impeccable and iconic.  Ahh!! This is fucked up dude, I can’t believe this.

When do you feel your most creative?  Where do you find inspiration?

God, you know — when I was younger, it was so uncontrollable. I basically lived a life of hypergraphia, where I would be writing thousands of words a day in fragments, and I remember reading an interview with Harmony Korine talking about how when he was around 18-25, the creative process was fragmented and explosive, and I was inside of it, at the time and I was like “sure, yeah Korine, that’ll never be me, I’ll always be this explosive”, but now that i’m 27, I’m much more chilled out, cohesive, and coherent. I find inspiration in the places you aren't supposed to be looking at, in the people you are not supposed to be empathizing with, and I align myself with cultural disruptors. 

Have you ever felt creatively discouraged as an artist? How did you get through it?

I have felt discouraged. I’ve faced a lot of rejection, a lot of my peers in the publishing industry began to treat me different, when I was accomplishing more then them and I don’t mean to say this to brag but this is a common thing of the road less travelled.

A lot of people are afraid to go after their biggest dreams, because of the social ostracization you'll face - there is something about being comfortable and relatable for people that I’ve never liked… Why should we have to be less-than-extraordinary, all to make everyone else feel comfortable? Why dim our light, when we can shine it on the world? 

“Creativity has helped me in life to escape, but also to attempt to make myself understood…. “

Is there anyone in particular that has inspired your creative side? Writing? Magick?

Taylor Swift has inspired my writing, because by listening to her, she taught me how to be a minimalist, and how to write epigrams — I studied her lyrics a lot, because there was something about how the fewest, most simple words beside each other could build such an irrevocable emotional reaction in me, and I was like “this is just it!” 

You are known for your incredible work ethic and discipline.

Do you feel your creativity is organic/fluid by nature or do you work hard to keep creative?

Do you want me to be honest? I work fucking hard to stay creative. I am not about this whole,  “the muse visits you, stay detached, be chill, it’ll come to you” — No not for me… I think you can do something creative everyday, and take care of your skill, and voice by constantly nurturing and fine-tuning your craft.

 I make sure, I am writing 6 hours a day and I treat writing like an athletic career, in which I am constantly going to be sharpening my free throws, my slam-dunks, my allyoops.

Your new book Pop Magick is exceptionally motivational and empowering to the individual.  What do you hope someone will get from it?

I just want people to leave that book, thinking:

“If this kid, from the middle of nowhere, in Canada, could create all of this stuff in his head, and bring it into reality… then what am I capable of…..?” 

  There is no chance that all of this would have happened to me without the power of magick.  I want readers to leave this book, feeling, they are ready to tap into their huge potential, rather than fear it.

  I want people to feel motivated to bypass the self-doubt, because as Steven Pressfield says the presence of resistance isn’t never going to go away - if anything, resistance becomes stronger and more malignant as more success comes. 

Who can benefit from reading Pop Magick?

Any outsider, any rebel heart, anyone who doesn’t feel like they belong and anyone who has ever felt like they aren’t good enough - and anyone who has been undermined, and been the underdog. I know what that feels like, and sometimes it feels me up with rage - thinking of all the people who tried to stop me, and I want whoever has felt blocked by a gatekeeper - to believe that there are good magickal people who can support you on your journey. 

“You must listen to the calling of your soul.” 

Do you have any routines or mantras that get you in the creative mindset?

I do prayers and magick before I write. 

I chant in Hebrew everyday….   I definitely do need a lot of order and I do have a specific morning regime that includes exercise, yoga, magick, meditation, and building up the energy before I start to write at around 7 everyday. 

If you could have dinner with anyone dead/alive who would it be? Where would  you go?

I mean, I have dinner with Bret Easton Ellis whenever I’m in Hollywood, and we have a great time, and cry-laugh about how much of a joke this world is.  I think that’s enough for me, I’m grateful to know someone who is so convicted in himself, and who is so chill and empathetic.  I would like to go back to the restaurant at the Chateau Marmont, because I miss the miso-glazed salmon I had there. I think about it all the time… 

Is there anything you would love for people to know about you or your work?

Something I would like people to know about me is try to have a sense of humour when it comes to me, rather then take me so seriously. I’m not evil, or malicious -  I think things through yes and I can see how I have been misperceived as calculated, but that doesn’t mean that I am a bad person in my personal life…  I take myself seriously a lot, and I think I need to laugh more. 

”I want people to feel motivated to bypass the self-doubt…”

How would you like your work to be remembered?

I want people to remember me as someone who never gave up, who always had a steel will, who always stayed focused, who always believed in the unlimited potential and possibilities available when you dare to dream. 

What's next for you?

Well, you know a secret to magick is to only show results, and never talk about your magick as it is manifesting… so, nothing ;) - I’m going to just chill out… ;)…. relax for a year, do nothing… ;)

You can find more of Alex here: https://alexkazemi.com

Read Alex’s new book: Pop Magick