ARTIST STATEMENT: I create visual/auditory experiences using line, color, music and persona to conjure a
mythic, imagined reality. The work is project-based and can take the form of immersive
environments, murals, paintings, albums, videos. Obsessive, improvised line
drawings act as a jumping-off point, covering walls and personal sacred objects, projected into rooms and onto ready-mades. Abstract shapes inspired by the forms and
patterns of nature morph with figurative elements: human faces, animals, ancient
statues. Saturated and metallic colors play a starring role. Influences from different
epochs inform the aesthetic. Psychedelia is employed, but in a mutated, updated
fashion. Mythologized versions of my own ego are alluded to and sometimes make
appearances in the work. Personae are created and then tossed aside.
The work alchemizes visual art and music to manifest a mental space for viewers to
peek into, be entertained by, identify with. For years I have maintained a prolific and
nonsensical career in the New York underground: exhibiting drawing-consumed canvases while simultaneously performing and recording a bizarre range of music. Mom
was a Philadelphia painter. I started out as a graphic designer, moved to the big city,
and subsequently dived into a seething, vibrant, underground art/club/music/dance
scene. Politics informed the work for certain phases, but later, a craving for the spiritual, the cosmic, led to a new path. Recent years have yielded some large street murals, connecting themes of interconnectedness, history, and cosmic consciousness to
a broad public audience. As we move forward into the unknown, the work will continue
to spill out in unforeseen directions, always seeking to remind its audience that
underneath the horrors of contemporary society, life is still beautifully mysterious,
unfathomable, miraculous.
601 Mural Video 2018 Video, latex, acrylic and enamel paint 10 x 10 ft. A mural/video hybrid created at 601 Artspace for the Brooklyn College MFA Thesis Exhibition (2018), entitled "If your life is burning well, poetry is just the ash."
Still from "the joshuagabriel show" 2018 Video Projections onto actor Jordan Patrice Line drawings colored in photoshop and projected onto a moving actor.
White face makeup projections (still) 2019 video projections on face 4 x 3 ft. Still from a video of moving line drawings which are colored digitally and projected onto my face covered in white makeup.
Projected Self (hat) 2018 video projections onto body 20 x 12 ft. Drawings projected onto my body. An imagined image manifested in physical reality.
Projections onto Statue bust 2019 video projections, metallic paint, enamel, plaster statue 11 x 7 ft. Documentation - video projections of animated line drawings onto a painted statue bust.
All Things Are Possible 2017 Interior paint, ink, red astroturf, readymade objects 120 sq. feet A site-specific and ephemeral piece, created from January - July 2017 in my 1st year MFA studio at Brooklyn College.
All Things Are Possible (corner) 2017 interior paint, ink, red astroturf, readymade objects 120 sq. feet A site-specific and ephemeral piece, created from January - July 2017 using latex, indoor, and enamel paint, red astroturf, chair, and acoustic guitar.
Gold Record 2018 ink, enamel paint, spray paint on vinyl records 12" circle An old record from my DJ sets turned into a visual piece of art.
Self Mythologization 2017 acrylic, enamel paint, metallic ink onto canvas and clothes Photo by Kat Ryals.
Another Timeless Moment 2018 Acrylic, Spray Paint, Enamel, Ink on Wood 70 W x 11.3 H x 2.3 in Making public murals over the past few years, I've come to love this format of a work which is super wide. The dimensions of the piece mimic some of the murals I've created on the streets of
Mural 1 2013 exterior paint, spray paint, metallic ink on concrete bricks 65 x 10 ft. ph. by Eraj Asadi of myself in front of a section of a mural commissioned by International Stone Collections at their Bedford-Stuyvesant location.
Mural 1 (heads detail) 2013 exterior paint, spray paint, metallic ink on concrete bricks 65 x 10 ft. Detail of a large outdoor mural commissioned by International Stone Collections on Myrtle Ave. in Bedstuy, Brooklyn.
Mural 1: Myrtle Ave. (Singer detail) 2012 Paint marker, exterior paint, spray paint on concrete 60 x 10 ft. Outdoor mural for International Stone Collections in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn.
Form and Force Mural 2016 liquid acrylic on wall 10 x 12 ft. Site-specific mural for Annual resident showcase at Trestle Gallery.
Lion 2013 Digital C-print (marker, photoshop) 24 x 60"
Cosmic Sneaker 2013 Digital C-print (marker, photoshop) 36 x 25"
Book of Gemini 2011 Digital C-print (marker, photoshop) 48 x 48" Cover for CD of original music.
Divided 2008 Marker, photoshop 18 x 24"
Ravi Mountain 2009 Marker, watercolor on paper 11 x 14"
They Are All Me 2012 Mixed media on un-stretched canvas 36 x 60"