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:
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!
I figured I’d take it back a few years and showcase one of our first sanctioned murals. I remember this one very well. The day before this one was produced, myself, Leon Rainbow, and Demer of “Vicious Styles Crew” were featured on the TV show “AMERICAS GOT TALENT”. To make a long story short, that entire process was not what I expected and I left in a not so great mood.
The following day, LUV ONE and myself planned on doing this wall. This time we were joined by my friend and fellow artist “Frances N. Bradley”. Frances had been in contact with me for some time prior to this wall. She wanted to learn the art of spray painting and I welcomed her to join us on this wall. LUV and myself were accustomed to working very intuitively and spontaneous, and with Frances being a solid fine artist and illustrator, I told her the best way to learn spray paint is on the spot. I told her not to worry about mistakes(she was a bit nervous being her first time working with the medium)…because working with us, u wont make any. For beginners, it is always best for them to get some professional help or read this great article at Surepaint website
The only drawback was the weather. It was raining pretty much the entire day, but the store front had an oning that gave us protection from the elements.
Luv-One brought a image of Hip Hop pioneer Afrika Bambaataa to produce. I brought an photograph of a West African Princess and Frances brought references of different patters and photographs relating to Africa.
We started off painting in the same way we continue to paint today…very loose and free-form with the portraits to balance out the abstraction. After about 4 hours, LUV had to leave to pick up his son and Frances had to leave not much after. This left the wall half way finished. I decided to finish up the wall myself and to use the anger and frustration from the previous night on “Americas Got Talent” to energize me.
Around 9pm that night I finished off the wall. 10-12 hours of non stop painting. Needless to say, I was pretty beat, but felt great to have wrapped up this project and to get over my “AGT” meltdown.
LUV also produced one of his first videos off of this mural…check it out below.
LUV1 and KASSO are apart of a group art show centered around illustrations; showing at Guerilla Galleries in Newark, NJ. The show opens November 11th! For more info, check out guerilla galleries site: www.gugaart.com
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!
LUV1 and KASSO inside the Trenton Atelier last week on a rainy day. Thanks to Pete and crew
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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