MARCH 2013 - AN EMERGI NG ARTI ST MAGAZI NE 2 Spring 2013 CREATIVE SUGAR COVER Photography by: Edwi n Chad Fl orez MUA/Hai r: Eve Kl ei mi nova Wardrobe St yl i st: Tar a Denman Wardrobe Assi st ant s: Chri sti an Ri l ey and Andrea J ones Model : Ol ga Kubr ak at Maj or NY J umpsui t: Son J ung Wan Hat: Gi na Schi appacasse CREATIVE SUGAR Spring 2013 3 Creative Sugar Issue NO. 4 Editor-in-Chief Sabrina Scot Copy Editor Marilyn Recht Contributng Editor Jef Grunthaner, Visual Art Photographers Laura Bler Edwin Chad Florez Joseph Gallo Joshua Scot Writers Laura Bler Jen Pit Kenneth Lundquist, Jr. Wardrobe Stylists Tara Denman Sherah Jones Wardobe Assistants Christan Riley Andrea Jones Hair & Makeup Eve Kleiminova Te$$ Money for Hey Slick! Collectve Graphic Design Sabrina Scot 2013 Creatve Sugar Magazine is published quarterly by Creatve Sugar Media, LLC. All rights to art, words, photos, design and copyrights are the property of the Artst. All work in this publicaton may not be used without the Artsts consent. New York, New York Contact: info@creatve-sugar.net ph: 1-888-669-5513 web: creatve-sugar.net facebook.com/creatvesugarmagazine FROM THE EDI TOR EDI TOR- I N- CHI EF Wel come to the fourth i ssue of our quarterl y magazi ne. Thi s spri ng ti me i ssue cel ebrates the work of extremel y tal ented arti st Pi erre Emmanuel Fi l l et. I n addi ti on to a story about hi s di gi tal art, a col l aborati on of sorts takes pl ace as Contri buti ng Edi tor Jeff Grunthaner transl ates a French excerpt from Pi erres manuscri pt. I al so want to menti on the arti sti c hi ghl i ghts wri tten about the work of arti sts Jeremy Arruda and Logan Hi cks. Both prove to be hi ghl y moti vated creati vel y and offer i nsi ght i nto what they are al l about. We are fortunate to have i ncl uded two fashi on edi tori al s i n thi s i ssue, both di fferent i n styl e and each i ncredi bl y l umi nous. Photographer Edwi n Chad Fl orez i ncorporates desi gn i nfl uences i n hi s fi nal sel ecti ons, whi ch seem to recal l the rel ati onshi p between the arti st and the muse. To sum up, hi s creati ve team i s awesome. And, the col l aborati on between photographer Joshua Scott and styl i st Sherah Jones i s perfecti on. Add to i t the edgy work of makeup and hai r by Te$$ Money and you ve got a fun, forward thi nki ng fashi on i nterpretati on strai ght out of Tokyo. Bri ngi ng i t back home, i f youre i n the nei ghborhood, check out the Bushwi ck, Brookl yn DI Y space cal l ed Bohemi an Grove. I feel i t s an art l aboratory that creates great thi ngs. Al l of i t was bui l t from the ground up i n the name of emergi ng art. Enj oy al l of the photos and stori es. I hope Creati ve Sugar conti nues to add a bi t of creati ve i nspi rati on. 4 Spring 2013 CREATIVE SUGAR
V I S U A L ARTI ST J EREMY ARRUDA 6 BY KENNETH LUNDQUI ST, J R. ARTI ST PI ERRE EMMANUEL FI L L ET 8 BY J EFF GRUNTHANER BOHEMI AN GROVE: A DI Y PARADI SE 18 BY LAURA BLER ARTI ST & MUSE 24 BY PHOTOGRAPHER EDWI N CHAD FLOREZ AND STYL I ST TARA DENMAN HAI R & MAKEUP BY EVE KL EI MI NOVA CREATIVE SUGAR Spring 2013 5
A R T TOKYO TROPI CS 30 BY PHOTOGRAPHER J OSHUA SCOTT AND STYL I ST SHERAH J ONES HAI R & MAKEUP BY TE$$ MONEY FOR HEY SL I CK! COL L ECTI VE ARTI ST LOGAN HI CKS 38 BY J EN PI TT TAKE ON FI L M 40 BY J OSEPH GAL LO 6 Spring 2013 CREATIVE SUGAR by Kenneth Lundquist, Jr. Fear. Terror. Swirling realites. Disturbing images. Artst Jeremy Arrudas canvases transport one to a Ralph Steadman Gonzo style environment. Although only 22, his art suggests a creatve mind many years his senior. Originally from Massachusets, Jeremy has traveled throughout the US, from one exhibiton to the next. He recently showed in a solo exhibiton, Inferno, in Ormond Beach, Florida, a wealthy suburb of Daytona Beach. Most of the pieces in the exhibiton were pre-sold to one collector before the opening receptonan excellent feat for such a young artst. Jeremy works primarily in Neo-Expressionism. He believes that experimentng is key not only with materials and media, but style as well: Trying new things is always fun, its about gaining as much experience as possible. Searching for what makes me comfortableabstract is my current focus. There are a lot of possibilitesI dont always know whats going to happen. Jeremy grew up watching the horror and surreal flms of Hitchcock and Lynch. He draws much inspiraton from these atmospheric experiences, which he expertly translates to his work: Im intrigued by movies that dont tell you what they are about. Its more of an experience. Im interested in not only conveying the image Im creatng but also the experience of creatng the work itself. My main focus is creatng an atmospherea living nightmare, a sense of dread. Working with calligraphy dip pens, charcoal, spray and house paint, Jeremy creates these hauntng environments with the hope that his viewers walk away with a unique sensibility of darkness. His favorite colors to work in are not colors at all, but shades providing tremendous contrast and aspect to each of his works: Jeremy Arruda - Arcane Atmospheres Im going to have to say black is my favorite colortheres a lot you can do with it. Its the absence of color, and it works great with white. One of my best memories of creatng art was when I was young. I had just watched Disneys Snow White, and the Evil Queen really drew me in. So afer the movie, I took the VHS cover and drew her. Thats what really started me on creatng art. Creatvity is Jeremys most natural form of communicaton. He is a recluse, spending the majority of his tme working on his art: I have social anxiety disorder. I dont tell people my emotons. I believe I can truly express myself through the artworkwhether Im frustrated, feeling dark, or whatever; it comes through in the canvas. Im naturally happy; I just have such an infatuaton with darker things. I would always root for the villain. As Jeremy contnues to create, he peers deep into the future. He realizes that canvas art doesnt fully satsfy his creatve spirit. Composing flm-esque music is another great love of Jeremys. He recently scored two short flms: I want to score flms simply because I love flms and I love flm music. I have since I was a kid. I am constantly recording my own, nontraditonal pieces. I will always create art, but if for some reason it doesnt work out for me, I know flm compositon is there as well. In the past, I have even said that I would much rather be a flm composer than an artst. I have passions for both my art and my music, so its a difcult decision to make. There is always the opton to do both. Im certain that whatever form of art Jeremy decides to stck with, it will be original and amazingly creatve. His youth, passion, and work ethic will lend itself to a brave and bright future. CREATIVE SUGAR Spring 2013 7 8 Spring 2013 CREATIVE SUGAR Jeremy says, I will contnue to focus on making good art, and the rest will take care of itself. Ill never change for anybody. If I create from the heart, then its real art. Learn more about Jeremy Arruda and his art: Thelaughingwindow.com
RI GHT: BROKEN PARTS BELOW: MARTI N PAGE 9: I M L ATE PAGE 7: SI L ENCE I S GOL DEN AL L WORK BY J EREMY ARRUDA CREATIVE SUGAR Spring 2013 9 10 Spring 2013 CREATIVE SUGAR ORI N - VI EW 1 WORK I N PROGRESSE PL ANK MI XED COMPUTER TECHNI QUE, DI GI TAL PRI NT, 2012 CREATIVE SUGAR Spring 2013 11 by jeff grunthaner THE ORGANI ZATI ON OF DESI RE: WRI TI NG AND ART BY PI ERRE EMMANUEL FI LLET 12 Spring 2013 CREATIVE SUGAR CREATIVE SUGAR Spring 2013 13 L A DERNI RE BATAI L L E DE NAPOL ON ( NAPOL EON S L AST BATTL E) DETAI L S, MI XED COMPUTER TECHNI QUE, DI GI TAL PRI NT, 2011 14 Spring 2013 CREATIVE SUGAR The Organization of Desire: Writing & Art by Pierre Emmanuel Fillet Pierre Emmanuel Fillet is something of a rarity in contemporary art. Both artst and writer as well as an actor and flmmakerFillets sensibility cannot be confned to an easy rubric or reduced to a single genre. His intelligence is an intricate web of transferences from one region of experience to another, culminatng in a mathematcal formalism that everywhere verges on the mythic. As he says in Lart numri- que: hybridaton, an unpublished manuscript: We could understand digital matrices as a kind of animism, an animism whose gods would be conceived as systems and structures, each god warring against the others, while forming itself out of objects and functons. In paintngs such as Neural Receptor Head and orin, Fillet manifests a hidden vitality in the minutest details of Picabian, machine-like structures. An upsurging psychical quality binds their intricate tessellatons: a momentousness portending a fully realized utopia, which at this stage of human evoluton is only visible diagrammatcally. Detailing the virtual schematcs of a world where intelligence and form are soldered tghtly together, Fillets paintngs redefne with unique expressivity our noton of system. They present a vast interrelatedness of parts and render freedom spatally eloquent. The works included here are organic, gestural responses to the ubiquity of digital mediaton, portraying an a priori reality saturated with functonal confguratons that resemble struc- tures of the visible world. Examining Fillets work closely, one notes a complex weaving of collage elements with gestural brushstrokes, as- sembled with a mathematc elegance that ques- tons digital media itself, making visual space an arena of vectors in moton. Fillet engages both his pallete and the extension of spatality on their own terms, confrontng his medium as a set of questons to be experientally answered through his practce and the producton of individual paintngs. The result is an atmosphere of nervousness not to be confused with anxiety. Its simply what happens when we realize that the mater we shape through our technologies is the concretzed extension of our human bodies. by jeff grunthaner TOP: NEURAL RECEPTOR HEAD, MI XED COMPUTER TECHNI QUE, DI GI TAL PRI NT 2011 L EFT: GENERATOR CEL L 2, MI XED COMPUTER TECHNI QUE, DI GI TAL PRI NT 2012 RI GHT: LOVE CONSPI RACY, MI XED COMPUTER TECHNI QUE, DI GI TAL PRI NT 2011 AL L WORK BY THE ARTI ST CREATIVE SUGAR Spring 2013 15
The Organization of Desire: Writing & Art by Pierre Emmanuel Fillet photo by meli ssa robi n photography 16 Spring 2013 CREATIVE SUGAR CREATIVE SUGAR Spring 2013 17
I The human fgure, viewed as part of a vast matrix, its individual destny residing within it, allows us to ana- logically approach the connecton between the digital artst and his work. In the matrix, the value of space is not the same as in traditonal pictorial space: the walls are displaced, distances are dematerialized, the computer screen takes on a new quality of depth shot though with intricate gestural trajectories. Like su- perimposed non-linear neural pathways, the artsts goals, artstc tools, and the fgures he shapes already express a measurable interval between acton and percepton. His hand does not directly touch the fgures, but mediately, through mouse clicks, keyboard and screen. IV Cybernetcs, the science of purposeful control, has proven a philosophical as well as aesthetc ideal: life as perpetual extension, which can be used to structure peoples behavior and develop new pictorial shapes. This idea was strong enough to interest the ruling hegemony who created the controlling class. VI The artst is a voyant. But what exactly does he see? This is especially what interests us when we observe him using his medium. VII With diagrammatc thought, we have the impression that the potental structure of space is comprehended like a plan, a map, with this specifc diference: the diagram dynamically defnes the map as a volume of n dimensions. XIII The global producton of screens of diferent kinds and sizesiPhones, TVs, computersbefore yielding to the dominaton of the spectacle by images, initally presents a built-in transfer of the act of seeing. Shapes, choices, the pitalls of vision, are already determined, already actvated by an unconscious transformaton, a recastng of vision by diferent types of digital devices. The raw informaton of reality antcipated by the cognitve system of the individual is already constructed by the computer out of trajectories and flters. These technical processes allow us to understand the computer as a commutator, in which the imprint of vision is doubled before being qualifed as seen. from Digital Art: The Making of the Chimera Excerpted from Fillets manuscript, Lart numrique: hybridaton. Translated by Pierre Emmanuel Fillet and Jef Grunthaner. L EFT: NEURAL RECEPTOR HEAD DETAI L, MI XED COMPUTER TECHNI QUE, DI GI TAL PRI NT 2011 WORK BY THE ARTI ST 18 Spring 2013 CREATIVE SUGAR I was frst introduced to Bohemian Grove, a Bushwick DIY show and art space, one afernoon last summer when a friend played an acoustc show on the roof. DIY, or Do-It-Yourself, show spaces are arts venues that are created, built, and managed entrely by artsts. In Bushwick there is an extensive and growing network of these spaces, which ofen operate purposefully on the fringes of, or directly in oppositon to, the insttutonalized art world. Months later I atended a show in the basement and notced some major improvements on the space. I was curious to know more about the work being done there. I revisited The Grove, as it is fondly referred to, and spoke with Mathew Maichel and several other artsts who live and work there. Stuart Losee works in the woodshop in the studio area of the basement. He built the gorgeous door and ceiling designs seen in the front room when you enter the basement. Cameron Stuart, who doesnt live at The Grove, runs a theatre company and produced two dream plays, The Emperor and the Moon and The Moss Lady, which were among the frst to take place in the basement. Jen Plaskowitz, a photographer, is building a darkroom in the basement, and would like to host classes when she is fnished constructng it. She also helps with The Groves family dinners and planted the garden on the roof. What follows are excerpts from a conversaton with Mat and Jen about how this incredibly supportve, hardworking group of artsts built a home and a space for themselves and anyone interested in art, music, and hangin out. How did you get involved with Bohemian Grove? Mat: I moved into the smallest room in the building, basically a walk-in closet in the spring of 2007. Back then, it was a totally diferent situaton in that it was just a house, none of the more recent renovatons you see had been completed yet. When and how did the shows start happening? Well, believe it or not, the partes and shows can really be traced to wantng to have a backyard that was comfortable enough to stand around and smoke a cigarete. When I got here, the yard was a wreck, there was so much garbage. One day, a neighbor shouted down and asked if I liked cofee. I told him sure, so he brought down cofee and we had a cigarete together. We both had the mutual realizaton that this pile of trash was kind of a horrible place to smoke. That led to multple sessions of hanging out and cleaning up, and eventually we put the whole backyard in order. Afer digging through the trash, dirt, and refuse, we were able to build fowerbeds and found some really beautful stones underneath, where we built fre pits. Next thing you know, neighbors were stcking their heads out the windows and climbing out on the fre escapes to see what we were doing. We started having people over on a regular basis to enjoy the space wed built. I started looking for discarded stereo equipment and found enough speakers to wire the whole backyard with surround sound. We put up lights and planted some more fowers. People who came to visit us for birthday partes and barbeques encouraged us to host more events here. How does the living situaton work? Theres an entre residental building above the show space. At frst we were Craigslistng people to fll roomsI found this place through Craigslist. One of Bohemian Grove: A DIY Paradise in Bushwick by Laura Bler CREATIVE SUGAR Spring 2013 19 RUDE GI RL S I N THE BASEMENT PHOTO PROVI DED BY BOHEMI AN GROVE CAMERON STUART S THEATRE PRODUCTI ON PHOTO BY BRETT W. THOMPSON 20 Spring 2013 CREATIVE SUGAR Good Game. Two-hour looped performance of a post baseball game hand slap, 2010. Photo provided by Artsts. the most fun processes is interviewing people to join the group and live in the space. Kind of like a speed interview with someone who will be living in your house for the next year. We started looking for people who wanted to be involved with the community aspect of The Grove, and defnitely the nurturing artstc and creatve environment we were trying to expand. Now the way its set up is that we have an open-door policy of sorts. People can drop by and hang out; its very open. The people who live here want to share whats going on in their lives and in their work. Its such a personal, intmate setng that everyone really opens up when we have visitors come by. What kind of group actvites do you do? We do family dinners about once a week, and its usually themed so everyone brings the same type of food, whether its Italian or vegetarian, etc. and sometmes well have a game night together. It brings everyone together in a nice way. Youd think living in a house with this many people would mean youd see them constantly, but sometmes its hard to catch up with someone if your schedules dont always match up. Another thing we all work on together is constructng the physical space. Afer we fnished building out the backyard, we took over the roof. In the summer, we throw partes up there a lot; we planted some gardens, and the last two seasons we grew vegetables and ate those for dinner all the tme. For a while, we had a kiddy pool and some astroturf up there. Once we fnished the roof, I wanted to take a stab at the basement, which was a massive undertaking. It was 20 years of people moving in and out and leaving their unwanted belongings behind. It was both a huge mess and a treasure trove. There were leters and pictures and tchotchkes. Digging through all that stuf we found a bunch of things we were tempted to keep, and some of them we didtheres a crazy-looking statue in the new bathroom over there that was lef from an old tenant. How is the basement divided up now? The dirt over on this side [now the show space part of the basement] was a foot high from the roof caving in, so we started work on the other side, which is now our work side. We got a 20-yard ROOFTOP PHOTO PROVI DED BY BOHEMI AN GROVE CREATIVE SUGAR Spring 2013 21 sands of ti me by meli ssa robi n photography J EN PL ASKOWI TZ CAMERON STUART MATT MAI CHEL STUART LOSEE A VI EW OF BASEMENT NEAR THE GROVE S SHOWPL ACE - PHOTOS ON PAGE BY LAURA BLER 22 Spring 2013 CREATIVE SUGAR dumpster and flled it untl it overfowed with all the crap that was in here. This space serves as a studio for anyone who lives here and is an artst. We have a woodshop with a bunch of woodworking tools and machines. I use a part of the space as a metal shop. Ive been building this motorcycle, a 1977 XS 650 Yamaha, and basically were turning it into a brat-style bobber. Originally it was a two-seater with a large pan seat. We cut of the back end and welded in this new frame, and turned it into a single-seater. Were going to change the paint and the shocks and build a custom exhaust and lightng system on it, among other things. Over on the side of the basement where we throw shows, one of the major recent projects weve completed is that we re-cemented the whole foor. There used to be a two-inch ledge that divided the space. Several trips to Home Depot and about a ton of cement later, we have an even foor, so its much easier (and probably safer) for our guests to see a show. What kinds of events do you host here? We throw a lot of shows here, were in Showpaper sometmes, and nearly every person you meet has either been here or knows someone who has been here. We didnt start out with this kind of space in mind, but it has grown into something beautful. Shane Donnelly does most of the curaton of the shows. He does an awesome job. He came from a similar space in Boston, called the White House, which is like Bohemian Grove plus four years, so hes got a great sense of how to put shows together. One of the most important things he reminded us of when he frst started out here was that shows have to be curated. Everyone knows someone whos an artst or in a band that wants to have a space to book shows, but you cant always get everyone to playotherwise the space loses its singularity. We usually book electronic or acoustc, sometmes kind of psychedelic music, but its always interestng and unique. The people involved are always humble, which is refreshing and real, and sincere. Sometmes ten or ffeen people play, and its usually impossible to decipher who was the main act. The best thing that happens is artsts and showgoers meet each other and share something special in this space, and sometmes even end up collaboratng with each other. I think if theres only one rule for the whole space, its trying to allow enough room for everyone. And thats kind of the most interestng balance to strike. Everyone has something unique to ofer and this is the space where it all comes together. What are your long-term goals for the space? Jen: We did this show called Weirdwick a couple of weeks ago and it was really cool. It was billed as a monthly, experimental art fest. Usually we do just music shows and crazy partes, but it was really fun to have lectures, art, and experimental movie screenings. I want it to become a space where people are always showing artwork and discussing, more of a learning environment. Ive got a library upstairs that I want to expand and make open to the public. Do you ever have 2-D art shows on the walls? Jen: Oh yeah! Thats another goal. I want to have art shows here. We all do. The landlord is an artst and wants to show art here, hes a photographer and painter and art teacher. Id love to put up walls and track lightng. Mat: My long-term goal is to get Bohemian Grove to a place where it is able to sustain itself. A space that is bigger than itself, something that is trans- generatonal, so even if the original crew was gone, it would stll exist for like-minded people. My short- term goal is to contnue drawing in people who love art and the community surrounding the space, those who want to share it with each other and the public. This summer is going to be the biggest summer ever. Nows the tme to really shine and use the space to its fullest potental. For more informaton, fnd Bohemian Grove on Facebook or email them at Swarm_of_suns@yahoo. com. The best way to get in touch is to just stop by the space for a showthey are located at 64-66 Grove Street, Brooklyn, NY, of the Gates Ave JZ train. CREATIVE SUGAR Spring 2013 23 POURI NG CONCRETE PHOTO PROVI DED BY BOHEMI AN GROVE ART L EFT BY PREVI OUS TENANT PHOTO BY LAURA BLER BEI NG L ED THROUGH THE STUDI O AND WORKSHOP AREA PHOTO BY LAURA BLER 24 Spring 2013 CREATIVE SUGAR DRESS: CAMELI A SKI KOS HAT: KELLY CHRI STY GLOVES: DANI EL STORTO EARRI NGS: DELI CATE RAYMOND VI NTAGE COLLECTI ON CREATIVE SUGAR Spring 2013 25 Ar t i st & Muse PHOTOGRAPHER: EDWI N CHAD FLOREZ MAKEUP & HAI R: EVE KLEI MI NOVA WARDROBE STYLI ST: TARA DENMAN WARDROBE ASSI STANTS: CHRI STI AN RI LEY AND ANDREA JONES MODEL: OLGA KUBRAK AT MAJOR NY 26 Spring 2013 CREATIVE SUGAR photo by ri chard kern SHEER BLOUSE, PANT AND JACKET: DAVI D TLALE - BRA: LA PERLA - HAT: KELLY CHRI STY SHOES: GI AMBATTI STA VALLI - EARRI NGS: DANI EL SUDAR CREATIVE SUGAR Spring 2013 27 COAT/DRESS: DAVI D TLALE - YELLOW TOP UNDERNEATH COAT: SAMANTHA PLEET SHOES: GUCCI - HAT: GI NA SCHI APPACASSE - BROACH: DELI CATE RAYMOND VI NTAGE COLLECTI ON 28 Spring 2013 CREATIVE SUGAR DRESS: CAMELI A SKI KOS - BANGLE: HEADBANGER - SHOES: BE & D CREATIVE SUGAR Spring 2013 29 JACKET: NATHALI E KRAYNI NA - BLOUSE: DANI EL SUDAR -HI GH WAI ST PANTY: WOLFORD- HOSI ERY: LEVANTE - BELT: BURAKUYAN - HAT: ERI C JAVI TS BROACH: DELI CATE RAYMOND VI NTAGE COLLECTI ON SHOES: JOHN GALLI ANO 30 Spring 2013 CREATIVE SUGAR CREATIVE SUGAR Spring 2013 31 TOKYO TROPI CS PHOTOGRAPHER: J OSHUA SCOTT RETOUCHER: MANDY STRONG STYL I ST: SHERAH J ONES MAKEUP/HAI R: TE$$ MONEY FOR HEY SL I CK! COL L ECTI VE MODEL: MI KA FURUYA AT AGENCY MODEL MANAGEMENT 32 Spring 2013 CREATIVE SUGAR CREATIVE SUGAR Spring 2013 33
TOP: SERI AL CULTURA - SKI RT: DANI EL L A KAL L MEYER - SCARF: STYL I ST S OWN - BELT: B- LOW THE BELT - BRACEL ET: VI VI ENNE KEL LY - NECKL ACE: WEAR I S REX - SNEAKERS: L I NDSAY DEGEN TOP: DANI EL L A KEL L MEYER - PANTS: PI A PAURO - J ACKET: UKE - HAT: WEAR I S REX NECKL ACE: VI VI ENNE KEL LY - BELT: MARY MARY - SHOES: J EFFERY CAMPBEL L 34 Spring 2013 CREATIVE SUGAR TOP: DANI EL L A KAL L MEYER DRESS: PI A PAURO SCARF: UNI QLO BELT: B- LOW THE BELT J EWEL RY: VI VI ENNE KEL LY CREATIVE SUGAR Spring 2013 35 TOP: DANI EL L A KAL L MEYER DRESS: PI A PAURO SCARF: UNI QLO BELT: B- LOW THE BELT J EWEL RY: VI VI ENNE KEL LY DRESS: PI A PAURO TOP: STYL I ST S OWN J EWEL RY: VI VI ENNE KEL LY 36 Spring 2013 CREATIVE SUGAR BODYSUI T: UKE DRESS: MANDARI N & GENERAL HEAD WRAP AND PI N: PI A PAURO AND WEAR I S REX RI NG: VI VI ENNE KEL LY SOCKS: H&M SANDAL S: L I NDSAY DEGEN CREATIVE SUGAR Spring 2013 37 photo by j ohn watts CARDI GAN: UKE SHI RT: PI A PAURO DRESS: SERI AL CULTURA BELT: B- LOW THE BELT BRACEL ET: WEAR I S REX SHOES: L I NDSAY DEGEN 38 Spring 2013 CREATIVE SUGAR ogan Hicks, a spray can veteran from Baltmore based in New York for the past seven years, has an upcoming show at L.A.C.E in Los Angeles enttled Thin Veils and Heavy Anchors. An artstc and metculous kid, Logan worked in a screen-printng shop in high school and then went to art school in Baltmore, specializing in graphic design. But he quickly became stfed and distressed with Academia Art. He says, In the 90s, it was all very elitst and gallery based, so he put his skills to more practcal use by opening his own screen-printng business. I actually made a lot of money selling t-shirts and totes tll I made enough money to move to L.A and start paintng full tme. In a city where so many dreams and aspiratons get crushed, Logan was a lucky thriver: Its funny, I guess I never had your regular 9-5 menial job, I went from working for myself to making a living with art. Logan made his frst stencil in 1999, and focused on mastering that medium. Any jackass with a razor and some cardboard can make a stencil, but you have to transcend the medium in order to make the image powerful. I will always want to transcend whatever medium Im working with, and thats why Ive stuck to stencils tll now. And it takes patence and tme, a whole lot of tme. He referred specifcally to a stencil of his that is 13 by 15 feet and has 7 layers: In order to complete that I worked every day for twelve hours for three and a half weeks. He stays away from free- form graft but admires artsts who can work with that spontaneous fuidity. Its mind-blowing for me to see someone just start their project on the spot like that, with no sort of map. Ive always been a methodical, linear thinker so stencils allow you to think. Afer stenciling, traveling became his second passion, which is now an essental component of his art. I take cameras on all my trips and just take pictures of everything and use them and the memories they conjure to produce my art. Most of his pieces are Logan Hicks finds his place in the world one giant mural at a time refectons on the places he has been to. When I was living out West, I was making a lot of East coast art, using the grity aesthetc urban complexes of Baltmore and New York. Being removed from those cites made them gleam in my mind as vivid pictures. I guess when you get enough distance you can see the full picture beter. Many talented artsts have shared this sentment; even Hemingway said he could only write about Michigan when he was in Paris. Logans upcoming show in L.A. will feature works based in Paris and London. Traveling, and consequently my art, is about fnding your place in the world whether it be metaphorical or geographical. Though his pieces are extremely detailed and structured, he describes them as a dream being remembered the next day [with an] efect fuzzy and surreal. The intricate cogs of everyday city life fascinate him, from subways to buildings, crowded streets and overpasses. In his art replete with bold reds, blues and black, whole cites are erected like giant hauntng machines. Every place he goes is new, cracking open another dreamy machine. When I asked him if he saw himself moving back West afer this show, he expressed what many New Yorkers feel: I think about it all the tme, but traveling must sufce for now, because once youve lived in New York you simply cannot fully move out of ityou know what Im talking about. I asked about his thoughts on street arts migraton into galleries and indoor spaces. Of course the beauty of outside murals is that they are democratc and unitng but theres always going to be a sacrifce of quality when youre working outdoors. Taking it to galleries allows me to put the utmost quality and tme into my pieces so I get a lot out of that too. Democracy and coming together is very important to Logan. He has curated several shows in the past. Collaboraton and cooperaton are essental in any art form but graft and street art are changing every day, and vastly diferent depending on where its done. Indeed, street art depends on generatng movement and keeping it fresh; street artsts work within communites, and in turn their audience is usually very community oriented. Logans work breeds into and of community in a unique way. You can check out Logans work at: htp://workhorsevisuals.com/new/ By Jen Pitt L CREATIVE SUGAR Spring 2013 39 ABOVE: CI TY CLUSTERS 2012 BY LOGAN HI CKS RI GHT: ARTI ST LOGAN HI CKS AT WORK 40 Spring 2013 CREATIVE SUGAR take on film by joseph gallo 100 I SO, 15 MI NUTE EXPOSURE WI TH A WI DE ANGL E L ENS CREATIVE SUGAR Spring 2013 41 42 Spring 2013 CREATIVE SUGAR 3200 I SO 3200 I SO CREATIVE SUGAR Spring 2013 43 A GI NGERBREAD BOY I N NAZI SPACE FLYBOY SHOOTS HI S L ADDER SI STER NANCY S 50 I SO WI TH A WI DE ANGL E L ENS 3200 I SO 3200 I SO 44 Spring 2013 CREATIVE SUGAR 100 I SO, WI TH A WI DE ANGL E L ENS CREATIVE SUGAR Spring 2013 45 46 Spring 2013 CREATIVE SUGAR