Spotlight on Arts with Anton Levy Amoo

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What Makes Someone an Artist? Participation, Legitimisation, and the Creative Process

What does it mean to be an artist? Is it about formal training, commercial success, or simply the act of creating? In a recent episode of Spotlight on Arts, a series of programmes on Soar Sound, presented and produced by John Coster and Rob Watson, we explored these questions with Anton Levy Amoo, a multi-disciplinary artist whose work spans painting, clothing design, live public art, and community engagement.

Anton’s artistic journey is one of experimentation, adaptation, and organic growth, shaped by experience rather than conventional career paths. From his early years sketching in notebooks to launching a clothing brand, losing control of that brand, and refocusing on a more personal, independent art practice, his story reflects the complexities of creative identity and artistic legitimacy.

In this conversation, Anton shared insights into his fluid and evolving approach to art, his commitment to mental health awareness through small, hand-drawn artwork cards left around Leicester, and his experiences engaging with the public through live painting events. His perspective challenges traditional notions of what it means to be an artist, demonstrating that authentic creativity exists beyond commercial success or formal validation.

What follows is a reflection on this discussion, exploring the themes of participation, legitimisation, and the ways in which art connects people beyond conventional structures.

Becoming an Artist

What does it mean to be an artist? Is it about formal training, commercial success, or simply the act of creating? For Anton Levy Amoo, the journey into art has been anything but conventional. His work is a testament to organic creativity, personal growth, and an evolving relationship with artistic expression—one that exists beyond the constraints of labels or industry expectations.

In a recent Spotlight on Arts conversation, Anton reflected on his multidisciplinary practice, from painting on canvas to custom-designed clothing, live public art events, and his powerful, community-driven initiative of leaving small artwork cards around Leicester to support mental health awareness. His story is one of exploration, adaptation, and learning through experience, rather than a rigid career trajectory.

Experimentation and Creative Identity

Anton describes himself as an artist, but his approach is fluid. Rather than confining himself to a single medium, he experiments with materials, textures, and objects, transforming everything from clothing to street surfaces into a canvas for expression. This adaptability has been a defining feature of his practice since childhood—starting with sketching in notebooks, evolving into fashion design, and later into a broader engagement with the public through live painting events.

He recalls an early interest in customising clothing, stemming from a simple but compelling realisation: why buy a jacket when I can create something unique? This mindset carried him into launching his own clothing brand, a venture that was both successful and deeply instructive. The brand gained recognition, making its way into London’s Boxpark, international markets, and onto well-known figures, but a series of contractual missteps saw Anton losing control of his own creation. Rather than seeing this as an endpoint, he reframed the experience—learning from the process and reasserting his creative autonomy through a more personal and independent practice.

Art as a Social Act

Beyond his individual practice, Anton’s work is rooted in connection—with his surroundings, his community, and the people who encounter his art. His small artwork cards, left discreetly across Leicester in public places, emerged from a deeply personal motivation: a response to a local suicide and a reflection on the power of art to support mental wellbeing. What began as a spontaneous act of kindness has become a long-standing project, with Anton leaving hundreds of hand-drawn, one-of-a-kind cards across the city, each carrying a positive message.

This initiative isn’t about visibility, self-promotion, or branding—it’s about offering an unexpected moment of encouragement to whoever finds one. Many recipients have reached out to share how these cards arrived at precisely the right moment, reinforcing Anton’s belief that the artwork finds the person, rather than the other way around.

Live Art and Public Engagement

Anton has also embraced live painting as a way to break down the barriers between artist and audience. Initially, a nerve-wracking experience, he now thrives in the immediacy of public art-making, allowing conversation and interaction to shape the process. Whether at outdoor festivals, community events, or pop-up spaces, his live work encourages people to see art not as something remote or inaccessible but as something participatory, spontaneous, and deeply human.

His reflections on what it means to be a full-time artist challenge traditional notions of creative legitimacy. Instead of chasing commercial validation, he sees his work as an integral part of who he is—something that doesn’t need to fit into conventional 9-to-5 structures or monetisation models. The value of his practice isn’t in marketability, but in its impact on himself and those who encounter it.

The Question of Legitimacy in Art

So, what makes an artist? For Anton, it isn’t about qualifications, sales, or recognition—it’s about the act of creating. Whether through public painting, personal experimentation, or acts of creative generosity, he demonstrates that art is as much about process as it is about product. His journey highlights the importance of fluidity, resilience, and embracing the unexpected, offering an alternative model of artistic legitimacy—one that is self-defined and rooted in connection rather than commerce.

As we consider what it means to be an artist, perhaps the more pressing question is: what does it mean to participate have a creative life? And in answering that, Anton’s story reminds us that the most meaningful work often comes not from structured pathways but from the freedom to explore, evolve, and share creativity in ways that feel true to the artist themselves.