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!

ROC 5 detail

Research On Control #5 (detail)

Research On Control #5 (20x30in aerosol, acrylic and Krink, 2011)

Whattup? Here's a detail shot of ROC 5 and then the whole work for reference. This is the newest installment of the ROC series and I was happy to get the chance to show it at the TU gallery last month. One thing thats been inspiring me lately is a quote from Gary Busey, I saw it on that show Entourage one time. He says "Art is only research, it is not the final form." Brilliant.

Back off self-imposed hiatus, busier than ever! Life is good.

R.O.C. #5 - More details after the show!

Oni's Day Off (acrylic on Paper)

Shoutout to NesOne and DJ AA of the Bassheadz!

Let's get it!

A marker portrait of my friend JohnDog's

dashing gentleman of a son Rowan.

YO!! Glad to be back after such a long hiatus. Life is GOOD! As usual, I've been super busy with art, school, and work, and especially so in the last couple months. Here's a quick update of the major happenings in my art life: In December, I was the Art Coordinator for a group mural around the International Day for Elimination of Racial Discrimination created by myself and some great people from Edmonton's Centre for Race and Culture and Canada World Youth - I will post the photos as soon as I get them. At that event I met Darren Jordan, who invited me to submit my portfolio for an upcoming gallery show. Fortunately for me, they were interested in seeing more, so I was invited to be featured in a gallery show, (5 Artists, 1 Love) coming up on Feb. 5th-19th at the TU gallery (10718 124st Edmonton AB)!! Big ups to Ricky who introduced me to Darren and to Steph Molina for linking me up with the CFRAC event. Last night was the beginning of Hip Hop on the Wall at the Latitude 53 gallery (10248 106st Edmonton AB), which was a fundraiser for this year's Hip Hop in the Park and runs until Feb 11th. I have two paintings in the show, one of which sold last night. Also, starting on Feb 1st, Leah Erickson and I will be sharing a small cafe show at the Mandolin Cafe (6419 112 Avenue NW) for the month of February. I've been lucky enough to get some media coverage for all my events coming up too! This past thursday I was interviewed by See magazine (seemagazine.com - the article should run in print in about a week and a half), a photo of my work was printed in the Edmonton Journal today, then at 11:30 (in a couple hours) I'm being interviewed by CBCradio!! Big tings poppin'! I won't be posting many photos until after the gallery show, but here's a couple things you haven't seen yet - a couple old and a couple new!

The ROC is back!

Research on Control 3 (18x24" mixed media, 2010)

Research on Control 3 (detail)

Research on Control 4 (20x16", mixed media, 2010)

Research on Control 4 (detail)

Research on Control 3 (detail)

The ROC is back!! Here are two more additions to the Research on Control series as well as some detail shots, a couple process photos, and a pair of quick sketches that got things started. Back to school for me in September! J. Cole knows what I'm talkin about, hit the link and check him out...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lbyB7sut1pY&feature=related

The figures throughout this series were done entirely without models or photo references, which proved to be a challenge in some cases more than others, and although I'm happy with the results, I think my work will benefit from the classes I'm taking in the fall - especially the model studies in my upcoming drawing class. Knowledge is the key and we gotta be the locksmiths!