Fantasy Dreams: The Art of Justin Fonrose

Written by: Sophia Pallozzi

Art by: Justin Fonrose

Scattered pieces of personal artwork, collages with phrases and paintings of cartoonish characters, are displayed on Justin Fonrose’s wall above his desk, where he sits to bring artistic visions to life. “It’s getting to peter parker levels of psychotic,” says Fonrose, as he smiles at his wall full of muddled creations.
A Purchase College 2023 Graduate of graphic design, Fonrose takes creativity to another level, using vintage visuals and lo-fi beats to explore a dark genre that closely associates to his persona.

Having the support of close friends since his freshman year, Fonrose was able to create a music group that paved a path for his personal value in art, leading him to thousands of listeners on SoundCloud. “We were next door neighbors on campus,” said Nori Binladen, a close friend of Fonrose. “We would run into each other and talk about what we were working on, and how he was creating beats for another artist. I was instantly hooked and became a fan of his thought process.”

Born and raised in Brooklyn, then eventually moving to Bed-Stuy, New York, Fonrose was fascinated with the production of music. At 14 years old, he fell down a rabbit hole of tutorials on YouTube, secretly hiding his passion from his parents due to their concerns in certain songs messages and vulgarity.

Photo by: Tyler Thompson

It was rappers like Travis Scott and Kanye West that inspired young Fonrose, however Tyler the Creator stood spoke to him most. In the music video for Yonkers, a roach the size of Tyler’s palm crawls on his hand, then he eats it. “I don’t know what that video had on me,” said Fonrose, “but it definitely contributed to my rebellious phase.”

After school, Fonrose would go straight to producing. This addictive passion would take him to college where he would pursue BABYFACE, a music Group that consists of 12 Purchase College graduates. Around this time, Fonrose would also find his pseudonym, SPECTRXM.

“We started having the parties outside the apartment at the Olde,” said Fonrose as he looked out his window. “Those started popping off, so the people at the Stood reached out to me and asked if I wanted to do the jump-off party. I was like, yeah, at least I won’t get written up for this one.”

Along with being a DJ and host, Fonrose would also create the flyers that were posted on all areas of campus and social media. Putting his graphic design skills to work, he eventually started creating his own album covers using the form of appropriation, where images were cut out and made into a collage.

Photo by: Tyler Thompson

When there was a party being thrown, Fonrose would quickly create a design, print it out at the art building and throw them up around campus. “In the future, I'm going to have a billboard in Times Square,” said Fonrose. “That’s the step that I’m taking and whether somebody looks up at it or not, it doesn’t matter, you're doing it for yourself at the end of the day.”

Eventually, SPECTRXM had more listeners than just the attendees at his parties. NIMBUS, an original song by Fonrose uploaded on SoundCloud quickly gained hundreds of thousands of listeners in the span of weeks. His cousin had to convince him to upload the track, and at first, he was reluctant. “I guess I really didn’t know how to process it at the time because lo-fi beats were something I wanted to be known for,” said Fonrose.

As the number of listeners rose, he dipped his toes in different genres and uploaded them to the same space. Lo-fi was one thing, but he wanted to make sure that others knew his capabilities. “I feel like I have so much to learn when it comes to life and being an artist,” said Fonrose. “You always have to stay in the mindset of being hungry, wanting to grow more, and being ok with change.”

Fonrose’s latest release, SPECS TALE, is an instrumental-focused album with 10 songs. Each track goes along with a self-made video posted on YouTube by the artist himself. When listeners press play, they have the opportunity to immerse themselves in a grungie-vintage visual story with subtitles to follow along. “I want it to feel like your there in a world, almost world building.” Said Fonrose. “Your placed in a scene and all you can do is just take it in. There's no getting out of it, once you’re in, you’re in.”

Inspired by the fantasy world, SPEC’S TALE contains songs with slow and captivating melodies, while others quicken the pace with upbeat beats and high violin strings. Each song has fantasy world feel, an attentive decision that Fonrose spent about two years on. “Justin is very detail oriented,” said Christian Delrosario, a close friend of Fonrose. “He is like a wizard.”

Inspired by intricate melodies and vivid storytelling, Fonrose is currently in the process of creating a comic book. The story is based on a mouse that lives in an underworld who yearns for what’s above. “I want to capture that in an art style,” said Fonrose, “but I also want to capture the character you can relate to. Even though they are fricken mice” Right now, the script is in the process of being written. He plans to release it in Nov. or Dec. of 2024.

Photo by: Tyler Thompson

The ability to inspire others is the light that keeps Fonrose’s fire going. From the praise that NIMBUS gained to those unknowingly listening to SPECTRXM’s beats, the thought of contributing to another person’s day is what keeps him going. “I want to contribute to peoples well-being and give people a better experience during their free time,” said Fonrose. “You never know the effect you will have on people, and I love when it does affect people in a positive way.”

Next year, Fonrose will be attending an artist residency in Shanghai, where he will be working on his comic book and possibly finding DJ gigs. “If I were to feel like I was an expert at this state of my career and age, I would be disappointed.”

Link to Spectrxm’s Music

Spectrxm

Nickspat

Jay Indigo