Tha Format Episode 1

The final work.

Episode 1 of Tha Format

Here it is! The pilot episode of Tha Format, the Hiphop show for youth that I've been lucky enough to be a part of - I created the backdrop for the studio (pics above) that I posted shots of earlier, and also host a segment on graffiti (peep the end of part 3 for ya boy!) called Blackbook Sessions. The first instalment, which is shown here, was my concept, which was filmed, edited, and taken to the next level by Grant Smith. Shoutout to Taro, Erin, Angela, Conway, Musa, Daniel, and the rest of the squad too!

Be Relentless

Me and Tyler kickin' it.

Relentless (aerosol in collaboration with Tyler Huskins, 2012)

"Buffalo Marley"

Ayo! This is a piece I created in collaboration with a young cat, Tyler Huskins, in the Youcan office at Westmount Jr. High here in Edmonton. The fine people at Youcan got at me and asked to come in and show Tyler some things with spraypaint in a legal setting that he could potentially hope to earn money with eventually. The word 'Relentless' was chosen in reference to the office's style of youth work - they never give up on the youth. In that spirit, Tyler and I painted this piece in one 12 hour session. I'll be updating this post with better photos when I get a chance.

R.O.C. - The Documentary

R.O.C: The Documentary

Whattup! Long wait, but its finally here! The R.O.C. Documentary was created by David N.O. as a school project about an artist, myself, getting ready for their first gallery showings at the TU and Latitude 53 galleries in Edmonton. The subtitle of Dave's project 'From the Streets to the Gallery' is a reference to the changing venue of one artist's work - graffiti artists create public art in the streets, and this documentary shows work born of that world ending up in the art galleries of the same city that used to arrest for it. I had a lot on my plate while this was being shot, between going to school full time, working, getting ready for two important shows, and trying to work on the documentary, and I think I seem a bit distracted throughout as a result, but hopefully for the most part I got my point across, if not always as articulately as I'd like. David N.O. from Dojo studios did a tight job of putting everything together - this project was his baby and luckily for me he is a talented and passionate individual. Dave did everything in house, from the original concept of the documentary to the filming to all the editing in post - the man has a well rounded game and a ton of vision. Check out his youtube channel if you'd like to see more more of his work. Also, major shoutout to DJ AA, also of Dojo, for the all original homegrown hiphop soundtrack. His beats knock. Ok, enough of this, enjoy the show!

FPG 2

FPG2 (4x4 feet, aerosol & acrylic, 2011)

(Rough Original Sketch)

Ayo!! What's good?! Back again with another project that was helping keep me mega busy over the past few weeks - this is a painting that will be used as a mixtape cover for Edmonton rapper Doobyis. The concept we ended up deciding on was to have Doobyis' name and the name of the mixtape, Feelin' Pretty Good 2, at the epicentre of an explosion in the middle of the canvas, blasting classic golden era beats and stoned cold lyrics to your dome quick. In between the black rays of the explosion are illustrations of some of the things Doobyis raps about on the album - girls, drinkin', smokin', writing rhymes and spittin' em, reading comics, etc. I was on a fairly tight timeline with this piece as the mixtape was pretty much finished and waiting to drop when he approached me about doing the cover art, so I didn't get as much time to work out the background composition as I would have liked, but I'm happy with the results and am looking forward to workin' with my man Doobs in the future. Get free copies of the FPG series right here, and check for him on Facebook under Doobyis. Feelin' Pretty Good!

Raheem's Revenge (but wait...there's more!)

Raheem's Revenge (12x16inch, acrylic & aerosol, 2011)

Greetings! Life is good lately, I've been blessed with lots of fun work so far this summer, and I feel like every time I turn around a dope new project comes up or I find some new inspiration. Currently I'm prepping for a mural in an office, another one in a bar, and have a few more projects set up for August. The piece above, Raheem's Revenge, was a quick piece I created because after watching Do The Right Thing I kept wanting Radio Raheem to get some kind of revenge on the cops that killed him. If you've seen the movie, which is a Spike Lee classic, you'll remember Radio Raheem - he was the character that walked around playing Public Enemy on full blast from a mega boombox, dominating the soundscape wherever he went with hard Chuck D anthems. In the end (*spoiler*) he goes into the pizza joint as part of an impromptu protest and ends up getting his fly boombox smashed by Sal, the owner, for playing it too loud. He flips out and starts choking Sal out, which ends up in a brawl in the streets, promptly attended by the cops. It takes about four cops to pull Raheem off Sal, and they start choking him with a police baton. One particularly enthusiastic cop keeps choking him, lifting his feet off the ground, and when his dead body drops to the ground a little later, the cops freak out, drag his body into a cop car, and flee the scene. The situation rapidly escalates into a full scale riot, and Sal's pizza joint is burned beyond recognition. I figured that the best way for Raheem to get his revenge was to walk around the city, invincible, blasting his boombox and laughing at the cops as their batons bounced off of his iron armour.

Photo Credit: A.P. Louden

This was a quick piece I did on some found wood in my hometown of Calgary. I was chillin' with my brother, and my game must be slippin' because he took all these photos without me noticing a thing...Whattup Anton! We had a couple hours to kill, so we grabbed some cheap hardware store spraypaint and I dropped a lil freestyle piece.

Here's a quick shot of another piece I started on that day using some leftover dried up craft acrylics and some more found wood - I'll tell you more about it when it's finished! The title is Usher of Apocalypse. I used some automotive paint for the background which ended up staining the raw wood in a really interesting way...