A couple months ago I was commissioned to create a portrait of all five members of the cast of Queer Eye on Netflix to welcome them to Philly. This is the final portrait of all the guys together in which I subliminally incorporated the pride flag within the order of their outfits.
Clones of Illadelph: Series 2
When I first decided to start the street series, ‘Clones of Illadelph’ I didn’t realize how much fun I would have recreating some of my favorite people from the City of Philadelphia.
I present to you Series 2; a continuing collection of portraits of those who have motivated, inspired and showed me love. Enjoy hunting them down, I’m already excited to start working on the next 9 for 2020.
To view the whole series click here.
Back of House
Last month I had the honor to be commissioned by Rodney Mcleod to create a painting for his clothing line, Back Of House. This piece was on view during the brands pop-up in Philadelphia and now has a permanent home with the BOH collection.
#AEA7YEAR
Tomorrow is the opening exhibition of the 7 Year Anniversary of Arch Enemy Arts in Philly. I’ll have this painting based off of my Clones of Illadelph series on view alongside a great selection of artists.
Be sure to come out to the opening from 6-10pm or stop by the gallery while the show is up for the rest of the month.
UCAL
The University City Arts League Gala will be featuring work by 10 local street artists, including myself, with art up for auction to raise money for UCAL. All proceeds from the night benefit UCAL, helping them to get scholarships to students in need, continue providing art programs in public schools, and improve their facilities and program offerings to better serve the community. Also this year my brother Streets Dept will be the honoree!!! It’s a great cause and they do great work in the city by providing creative outlets to kids. It will be held today, Saturday March 16th at the University of Pennsylvania’s Houston Hall.
TRACK TAKEOVER
I am pleased to announce this amazing project, Track Takeover, organized by Rory Creative and City Fitness Philly, which is replacing ads throughout Philadelphia’s SEPTA subway stations with art by 30 local artists. From now until March 10th all 110 ad spaces at the Walnut-Locust Station will strictly have art instead of ads and be periodically installed at SEPTA subway stations throughout the city during the rest of the year. More details about the project can be found here.
Image based off of an epic photo by Nolan Price.
The Most Illegal Art Show
This Thursday, 01/31, is the opening of The Most Illegal Art Show {Wheatpaste Edition} featuring artists like me whose medium in the streets is wheatpaste. Interior walls will be pasted up and paintings available, including the newbie above entitled ‘This is America.’ This 4 day pop-up show will be located at 198 Allen Street New York, NY. Big thanks to Sacsix for including me.
The Gigantic Miniature Show
Tomorrow is the closing of The Gigantic Miniature Show which has been on view for the past month at Deep Space Gallery in Jersey City, NJ. I have 6 small works, as a part of this 40+ artist group show.
Be sure to check out the closing reception, tomorrow, January 5th from 7-11pm.
Springtime
I'm excited to share my latest painting which will be on view at Thinkspace Gallery's 7th annual group show as part of Scope Miami Beach during Art Basel. This piece is an interpretation of another one of my favorite Norman Rockwell paintings, "Springtime" from the cover of the April 27, 1935 Saturday Evening Post.
SCOPE - 801 Ocean Drive Miami Beach, FL
Opening Reception: Tuesday, December 4th 12-8PM
On view through December 9th
For inquiry about the piece please contact: contact@thinkspacegallery.com
Bye Bye Tri-State
I have been on the wait list for about 2 years to paint this wall outside the 2nd Ave Subway Station (F Train) on Houston St and 2nd in New York City. My time finally came a few weeks back where I decided to recreate a self portrait Norman Rockwell mashup. It seemed like the best way for me to say bye to the city and area that I grew up in, riding off to a new adventure in life.
Huge thanks to Steve for letting me rock this wall, and a special shout out to Luna Park for showing me the endless gems on the streets since the early days of Flickr.
Creature Feature
This Thursday August 16th I will be showing three pieces as a part of the group exhibition 'Creature Feature' at Deep Space Gallery in Jersey City, NJ. For more info check here.
Excelsior
Comic books taught me a great deal about line work and ways to use lines to create dimension and shadows. As a child I always dreamt of being a comic book illustrator and to this day I still hope a spider bites me in my sleep so I would wake up with spider senses. When I was younger, and still to this day, my dad would get Playboy magazine in the mail. The illustrations in these magazines were always incredible. I took inspiration from artists like Erich Sokol, Alberto Vargas, Olivia De Berardinis and Tomer Hanuka while also appreciating the female body and enjoying the great “articles.” With this series of illustrations on blank comic book variant covers I combined these two things that pushed me towards an illustrative approach in my art.
To view the whole series click here.
Cluttered
Opening tomorrow is the Cluttered group show presented by Chris RWK at Clutter Gallery in Beacon, NY. I will have three new paintings on view, including the above watercolor, based on a photo by The DustyRebel.
Clones of Illadelph
First of all let's talk about these ill capers
And fly ass frontin' bitches that now caught vapors
Niggaz run up on you with guns, snatchin' papers
Outlined body chalk, is how they would scrape ya………
M.A.R.S. Co-Op
Clone by The Roots 1996
It was the fall of 1996 and I was starting my sophomore year of high school. One day after school I went to my homie Rene Figueroa’s house where he told me I had to listen to this track, “Clones,” and after the first 4 bars I was hooked – a Roots fan for life. As the years passed my love for hip hop and art grew stronger. The moment I started putting up art in the city of Philadelphia I was shocked by how welcomed I was. I come from Hudson County New Jersey where there are way more haters than supporters so I didn’t expect to get so much love from a city that I wasn’t from. William Penn knew what was up by calling it the City of Brotherly Love. That being said, Philly has a special place in my heart and I wanted to give back to those who have motivated, inspired and showed me love.
I present to you Clones of Illadelph, Series One. To view the whole series click here.
P.S Black Thought is Top 5 Dead or Alive 😉