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!)
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!
This wall was produced in early February, 2009. S. A. G. E. was still in its infancy as a crew…pretty much just consisting of myself and LUV1. LUV contacted me that morning asking if I was willing to come out and paint. It was an unusual day for the middle of the winter. We had a freak 70 degree day! We decided to jam out at Terracycle and do something small and non ambitious.
What started out as something with the intentions on being light heart quickly grew into a full blown mini-mural jam session. LUV had some references from newspapers and one in particular stuck out to me. It was an image of a young woman holding her son during “Hurricane Katrina”.
I choose to do a representation of it while LUV painted an image of Hip Hop icon “Lauren Hill”.
As usual, we jammed out the background with our abstract works…which at the time we were still developing. We also had very lil paint to work with due to it being the off season. This wall was literally done with scraps of paint.
Half way threw LUV had to leave to pick up his kid from school, so I decided to stay to finish up the wall. While I was finishing up, the rap song “Smile” by Tupac and Scarface kept playing in my head. Ever since I saw that pic from the hurricane, I couldn’t get it out of my mind. So i went back to the beginning of the wall and put a quote up from that record….part of Tupac’s verse which reads “Born with less but your still precious”. I figured it summed up the feeling of what the image(the mother and child) conveys.
After the quote went up, it started to rain, so i broke out and went home. It was good times none the less.
For those who havent heard the song SMILE…check out the video below.
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!
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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