Many thanks to RAIN and the Art All Night people for bringing out the SAGEs to paint live on the AAN float. It was sooo much fun! Check the video to catch what I could capture while painting on a moving vechicle (which is admitedly harder than I thought). Something like 4k people flood Hamilton Ave and turn Trenton into a sea of green New Orleans for a few hours. RAIN and LUV1 LANK and KASSO
First blog post of the new year! Been slacking somewhat on the write ups and such…getting things in order for 2012 can be taxing, but no worries. Luv1 and myself produced our first wall of the new year earlier this week. We decided to set our sights on an abandoned building on the north side of Trenton.
We had no set plans…we just wanted to shake the dust off and take advantage of the unusually mild weather we been having recently.
Luv kicked things off with his abstract works, but this time using a limited pallet and I produced a portrait of a child with my abstract “kasso circles” following after. I also chose, like Luv, to keep my colors limited. Luv had the idea for us to keep most of the raw center block and brick unprimed..to give the production a most rugged feel.
We blazed out the entire wall in 4 hours. Other than the massive mounds of dog feces we had to maneuver threw..and I mean MASSIVE AMOUNTS, we had a great time producing this wall.
Special thanks to Shawn of CALI BOUND PRODUCTIONS for documenting this project and producing this awesome video! Check it out:
Way before there ever was a SAGE, back in 10/07, I got a call from RAIN to paint with the VS Crew at the World Trade Center in Inc. Magazine’s Headquarters. My can controll was admitedly not on point at this point, but the magazine folks loved it! I had a great time, getting my pizza and beer on with the Viciousez. This was my first time painting indoors with spray paint and I learned a valueable lesson that night…use a resperator! I think I bought one the next day lol. You can even see me stumble getting off the ladder in the video below, I was dizzy and all messed up by the time I left. Another thing I remember is security was unbelieveable in that place. It was by far the most heavily secure place I have ever been in.
*Ironic interesting fact, I got that call to paint, I believe, because a member of VS, now member of SAGE, PLAN aka DELVE, couldn’t make it.
here’s a snippet of mine… KASSO in progess… and a video RAS made, for TerraCycle (who hooked us up with the gig. Thanks Tom!)
KASSO and DELVE..along with 13 other artist from the east and west coast were apart of an aersol artists tour called CONCRETE ALCHEMY sponsored by “Albus Cavus”. For two weeks in the spring of 2008, these artists painted 4 large scale murals in 6 days…coinsiding with 3 gallery shows, which spread from NY to Maryland. All of the artwork for the gallery shows was also done on tour.
The integrated methods of S.A.G.E. Collective were seeded on this tour. All the walls were fully integrated and multi layered. SAGE collective philosophy about the intuitive creative process also was founded within “Concrete Alchemy”. For more info about the tour, follow these links and check out the video:
This past sunday, Luv-One and myself took a trek threw the woods of rural New Jersey to..drumroll…PAINT ROCKS! I know..sounds a bit weird. Luv contacted me earlier within that week to ask if I would like to join him on his nature adventure. At first I was like…paint a rock?! We should rock a wall! Then he told me that some of the rocks were as big as five feet wide! When I heard that…I was like “Yooooo, this can be great!” Lets do it!” If I cant paint a wall…then a wall size rock sounds pretty interesting!
Luv paints these quirky lil’ characters. He’s been doing them for years on canvas and other materials. I believe he said most of the inspiration for these characters comes from his son’s drawings and that the two of them do this all the time simply because it’s fun! So thats was the idea for the day; to paint a rock or two and keep it fun…like a child would. While we were out there painting, I at first thought this was a bit juvenile, but once u do your first one it becomes an instant addiction…u want to do more!
You want to find the rock with the most character…the most personality…and bring it to life! What I thought would at first be a waste of time, became a time I would never forget! What we were doing was reliving our childhood. Taking nature and turning it into art! Using what’s there to create something new! I swear, it was like being 10 years old again. We were adding “character” to nature; giving it a personality..and making it our own. It made you wanna seek out new “rocky” terrane, while at the same time taking in the beauty of the breathtaking country side. In doing what we did, it made us appreciate the beauty of nature even more so than before. We both agreed that this day was something epic..even if just for us. It literally planted the seed of new ideas and possibilities! It made me see that sometimes you have to strip layers away and revile whats inside to find something new. It showed me not to judge a situation buy what’s only on the surface, and if you want something of value, you have to seek it and dig for it. We sought and found….and who would have thought a rock in a hard place would move creative mountains! You cant spell “nature” without A….R….T!
On the weekend of Oct 8th and 9th, 2011, SAGE collective was invited back to the Highland Design Farm to produce another massive mural project as part of the Hopewell Tour Des Arts. Last year, our combined efforts resulted in the HIGHLAND SENTINEL, which was the first mural of its kind in the Hopewell, NJ area.
This year we had to spread out and work in sections. Unlike the HIGHLAND SENTINEL, where we all worked in close proximity, this project had us in different locations to start, so we had to jump around a bit. We also had more square footage to cover with this project, but at least this year, unlike last year, majority of the work was done on the ground and not on ladders, so that in itself was a blessing.
LUV1 kicked things off with a murky background primed into the first section of wall. He then rendered a few crystals and gems busting out of the far right corner. The gems then spilled into his trademark Celtic knots with earth tone loops and swirls. KASSO came in and added a few mid tone geometric shapes that balanced out the composition which then flowed into DELVE’s hollow straight letter spelling out his name. From there, LANK stenciled in an owl which help carry the far left corner, along with KASSOs abstract colorful shapes that morphed into robotic bird. Between the bird and the owl lay an image of an fetus, which represented the patron, Sean Mannex, in saying that the Design Farm is his “baby”. It was also a nod to Leonardo da Vinci; being that one of his famous images is one of a dissected fetus from his sketch journals.
Turning the corner, LANK painted an image of a welder forging a massive abstract image of twisted colorful shapes painted by KASSO, which flowed into LUV1’s energetic black, white and grey composition that framed a pre-standing wooden structure of the Chinese alphabet layered in gold. This was then book ended by LANK’s stencil images of two lions….which gave the impression that they where guarding a secret gate or passageway of some sort.
DELVE began his section with his usual abstract minimalist approach. Working with a muted color palette, his shapes start in a circular graphic manner, then stretching out into KASSO’s portrait of Leonardo da Vinci. KASSO chose the reference of da Vinci from a drawing the renaissance master did of himself at the twilight of his years. Like DELVE, KASSO decided to run with a limited palette, but incorporated a few pop colors to break things up. LANK dropped his lion statue stencil next to the portrait and also nuts and bolts stencils around DELVE’s graphic shapes. The nuts and bolts are elements from last years mural, which tied in both murals with a similar theme.
LUV ONE flowed off the portrait and was inspired to paint a hand with a glass of Absinthe…implying that da Vinci is drinking the controversial cocktail. Along the other side of the structure, AJA worked her contribution; an abstract mesh of subdued colors in a swirl of galactic splendor. LANK capped off the section with a stencil of a compass anagram which spelled out all of our names.
After two exhausting but fun days of work, the hardest part was finding a title for the mural. With the underlying theme centered around da Vinci, we decided to go along with title “Highland Sfumato”. “Sfumato” being a renaissance term meaning, in part, “areas blending into one another”. Our goal with this project, as with all of our projects, was to keep everything well integrated. No one person can claim an entire wall. Each member of SAGE has a piece of every wall…from a small corner to a huge section. It was truly a collaborative effort.
Special thanks goes out to the Highland Design Farm for having us out yet again and for the unprecedented hospitality. Also a big thanks to “Liquitex Artist Materials” for the donation of FREESTYLE brushes used during the production of this project.
S.A.G.E. Collective was in the house at The Center for Contemporary Art’s Anti Gala on 9/24/2011 doing live mural painting and bodypainting with Leon Rainbow and hula hooping by Andrea Gianchiglia. Check out the fun video below shot by Jolene and edited by me. Was a total blast being there, thanks to Ellen and everyone from the CCA http://ccabedminster.org/ for having us out!
SAGE is composed of a diverse group of visual artists, fabricators, musicians and teachers who are dedicated to initiating, planning and establishing inner city beautification projects.
With a unique focus on urban renewal, SAGE Coalition's goal is to remind those in economically depressed neighborhoods that community can thrive through creativity and civic engagement.
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