Gettin it up & prepping in rep CMB( whatchaknoboutdat?!!)

First, I gotta give propers to Joe Jay for treating me in a most grand manner! Joe's band Concrete Jumpsuit along a few other bands jammed Friday night to the early morning as I painted a 8x8 surface of OSB with mostly spray paint of course, Rustoleum to be exact! Mighty Gesture was in the house documenting all the art that was poppin off. Please let me drop some science on you about Mighty Gesture. It's composed of some highly innovated young black artists, who are diverse in their influences and creations. Mighty Gesture Captain's chair is headed by Miles Rainey -Whitby, who you should keep an eye out for! The future is bright for this young dude!
I digress, anyways I got busy on that large surface and knocked out a piece. The folks there were intrigued with it, but I know in the Graff/Street art world I'm not doing nothing new at all. I'm just bringing people closer to the process that it takes to create this genre of art, call me the Ambassador of GoodILL!
   On Saturday Izms of art was invited to Charlotte's UNCC for its community day. My Izms brethren Mustafa and I went there to rep and support our friend , who works with the Arts community in Charlotte, Ms. Donell Stines. She works at the college as the Community coordinator. It was a beautiful day! It was warm and a little breezy. We brought out our T shirts, music and stickers. We also set up a spot for kids to paint a bit. We also got a chance to chop it up our friend John Hairston,Jr. , who is currently doing a mural at the college. We  sold some Izms of art products and met some people like Julio the Mexican aka Gonza,who created 3 stencil pieces along with Scott Parrish, to add to our networking circle. I'd say all in all we had a pretty dope time!
     Now, the first Thursday of October offers me the opportunity to do some more live painting reppin the CMB and in support of our Artisan sister Carlleena Person's solo show in the Soda city. The Friday and Saturday will be filled by Colacon, which will feature PHIFE dawg of ATCQ and Ghostface Killah of Wu Tang clan. Izms of art will be there with art and merch. I have also been given the privilege of dropping some art to these hip hop icons, not bad huh?!!
   I'll be back in few...Deuces!
"dreamers Never sleep!"...EL- Evate & EL- Luminate!

Painting, Prints & Akil The MC

My homie Trublklef, who's a mcee and C.M.B. member, invited me to paint live at a show he put together. This show featured Trublklef, Crocker,Quanstar, Ever ready raw and Akil The MC. If, you know hip hop you have heard of the Jurassic 5. Akil is a member of this group, which is based out of L.A.
So, I found myself gearing up as I always do to paint live. In the past, I would complete or attempt to complete a painting. This I found entertaining for myself and on lookers, but the completed work I found wasn't very useful. It lacked the ability to be part of a series, which that's what I usually create when I'm in exhibition mode. Lol, exhibition mode is what I've been in for some years now! So, producing work for this purpose takes precedence. Now, when I paint live it's typically a piece ,which will be featured in one of my shows. I found this to be hella more productive.
When I'm at an event painting live I get asked a ton of questions. The most asked question is" Do you have any prints?!!" I use to answer with No! I've felt for the longest time prints somehow lessen my work in the sense there would be more than one version of my work existing. It's something I've debated about with other artists, but after long consideration( I mean hella long!) I finally caved in. I realized the people who couldn't afford my paintings wished they could. It also came to my attention I missed opportunities to make money by not have affordable replicas of my work. So, I just recently had prints made, thanks to fellow C.M.B. member Michael Kayode Dantzler. The first series were geared toward the show Trublklef invited me to. Plan on more prints coming out very soon!
  I arrived at the venue with my painting and prints. I also had a painting for Akil as well. The Mcees damaged to the mic ,while The cut fresh crew, Dj Peoples and Dj Lex were holding down the 1's and 2's. Akil did his set rhyming in a circle and later he encouraged a freestyle session which Fat rat Da czar was a part of!
All in all it was a great night. We even had chance to chop it up after the show a bit. I was glad to have been a part of it! Now, on to UNCC for their community event I go!!!

"dreamers NEVER sleep!"- C.P.
EL-Evate & EL- Luminate!!!

My CRAZEE September

   I recently completed a custom commissioned piece for HD Dreams Visuals. It didn't take as long as I thought it would. I guess I was inspired. I have really been painting as much as I've been sketching and planning. I've been trying to align my mind and actions in preparation for what I have on my plate. Dayum! My plate looks pretty piled up! It's a good thing I stay hungry!  Well, September begins with me sprinting like I'm going for gold! On the 3rd through the 6th I'll have piece featured in an exhibition for the Democratic National Convention. This came about through a collective I'm part of, which is known as Culture Initiative. Culture Initiative is based out of Charlotte, NC but it consists of artists residing in the Southeast. The exhibition will be held at the Packard Place, which will be home to all alternative forms of media for the duration of the convention. Unfortunately, I heard Charlotte will be locked down like a fortress. I won't be going there at all. However, I'm very thankful for Culture Initiative allowing me the opportunity to be a part of history!
  On the 15th, I'll be painting live at One Unit Artspace. I'm part of a show which will be featuring Akil the MC, Ghani Gautama, Quanstar, Crockery and Trublklef. I plan to break out a piece that'll be part of my solo show  for next year. I gotta expose the people to the NEWNESS when I can, ya feel me! I am amped too! I met Akil around 4yrs ago. He's a real stand up dude! The other Emcees are mad talented and rep the Southeast in a major way, this is gonna be hella sick!
I'll be sure to post some pictures of this event, no doubt!
  I'm also painting live on the 21st at a rock event, and on the 22nd I'll be part of UNCC's community day event. Stay tuned for updates and pictures fo sho. Thank you for riding with me on this journey. I can promise you all its only gonna get better!
Culture up!..EL-Evate &EL-Luminate!

The ro@d 2 BEYONDER¡¡¡¡

I'm back, fresh from gallery Twenty two located in Charlotte, N.C.. Thanks to my homie and fellow artist Switch, who got into a Skate deck exhibition which had its opening last night. I've painted decks and shown them before so I'm not a toy at it. This just happened to be the first Skate deck exhibition I've been a part of in Charlotte. Gallery Twenty two is a dope space with a built on bar. My man John Hairston, Jr. had some decks in the exhibition as well. All in all I enjoyed the night and the atomsphere!
    So, here's what I'm crazy hyped about though, I have a SOLO next spring at SCSU( South Carolina State University). This came about through an artist who I look up to by the name of Michaela Pillar Brown. She's a true artist, who's always traveling doing residencies. Anyway, she gave a few artist ,which I was included in that ,the contact information of the Fame gallery's coordinator/ curator. I contacted him. He paid me a visit and viewed my work. The rest is history. He told me I would have full reign over the gallery for my exhibition! I was bugged out by that. I asked him was he sure about that and us replied" yes". I started spazzing right in front of him. He even said he build some pieces if I needed it. WOWZERS! Yes, I felt like I was in Artist heaven!
    I began my normal process of rough sketches for the paintings that will be a part of the exhibition. I decided o wanted it to be a process people could follow, so I got in contact with Miles Rainey-Whitby of Mighty Gesture. Miles is an artist who works in design, photography and videography as his chosen medium. He's been making some very DOPE videos for the emcees in the Soda City. We linked up to discuss a mini documentary for my solo exhibition, which is in the process. We also enlisted my friends and fellow artists MIDIMarc and Sunday Morning to score it. I forgot to mention these gentlemen are producers, so you know the music will be orginal and customize just for the mini documentary. Damn! I'm excited to see this all come together!
Oh yeah, my solo exhibition is titled"BEYONDER". I will explain more about it  and the process at a later date....EL Luminate!

    

K.I.S.S (keep it motivating stimpy!)

Well it seems sort of like a whirlwind! A friend of mine, Sunday Morning, used one of my paintings as the cover for his New project entitled "Mondays", which drops today! He also posted on his Facebook page a piece of mine he digitally reworked after acquiring it from me. This caught many eyes from this fb post. I was contacted by Collective Resonance, which is UK based site dedicated to Beat music. Collective Resonance really dug my work and gave me the opportunity to be interviewed about it!
It was a great feeling having someone not dwelling in the States digging what I do, plus one can never get enough exposure! Propers to Sunday Morning and Collective Resonance for spreading the love!
So on the July 11th, Izms of art, the collective I'm part of had its first group show in 2yrs! I know right, but hey we're crazy busy these days! The show as entitled" Life equals art" which was something our sister, friend and fellow artisan Carlleena Person used to say. We dedicated the show in her honor. The turnout for the opening as great especially being that in monsooned! We sold some work and had some enquiries. The show is being held at 701 Whaley St. Columbia, S.C. , it will run to the August 5th.
  Some of you may know but for those who don't Izms of art received a grant for The Arts commission of S.C.. Governor Nikki Haley thought it needed to be no longer supported by the state so she vetoed its funding! This sort of left the Arts commission employees and grant recipients in limbo until representatives could return from their vacation to overturn her veto. Supporters of the arts and artists themselves rally together in protest of the governor's decision, which did get overturned thankfully! It's always a great thing to see artists working together in support of each other!
  I've been busy huh, well I have a huge commission to do and two more shows coming up! Things are just getting started for the KID! So stay tuned for more of the life and antics of a big KID!..."dreamers NEVER sleep!" ...gettin UP ain't eaZY!

The Wowzer factor¡

It's crazy world how the world had been made mad smaller by communicative technology. I had to say that because it's true!    
My Creation Massive Bureau famo SUNDAY MORNING posted a painting he got from me on Facebook. It was my from my solo exhibition titled"weighs HEAVY!",which featured 40 mixed medium pieces focused on several different concepts stemming from perceived POWER. The concepts of MAN vs MAN, Patriarchy vs TRUE feminism, Corporate Imperialism vs Indigenous culture and MAN vs himself. The pieces that came from this show struck people directly in their hearts and minds! I feel, I'm an ARTIST for this reason if nothing else!
So, SUNDAY MORNING posted this painting which hella people really dug, some weeks later it catch the attention of COLLECTIVE RESONANCE. We made contact and discussed ART then I was sent some questions for an interview. What's amazing to me is COLLECTIVE RESONANCE is based out of the UK. In the days before the internet no one could share and or communicate like we do now, thus the world is a smaller place!

Do everyone involved a favor and check out SUNDAY MORNING, COLLECTIVE RESONANCE! Respect to Real ARTISTRY!.."dreamers NEVER sleep!".. Deuces!!

The FRESHNIZ vol.2 and Detachment!

For those who may not know I'm part of an artist collective known as Izms of art. We attempt to be forward thinking progressive ARTISTS. The FRESHNIZ is one of the those attempts. In volume 1. we featured some phenomenal artists and so volume 2. continues to be the same. So what's the FRESHNIZ?!! A live magazine meaning just that. A magazine you don't read but instead you sit down, listen and allow the features to be interviewed explaining themselves to you! All you need is a seat and maybe a beverage to wet your whistle! Dope right?!!

  Since the ascension of my friend, sister and artist, Carlleena Person ,I have been working mostly in collage. She was working in this medium before she moved on. My friend Sunday Morning who works in collage among other forms of art encouraged me as well. So I guess this is my way of paying homage to Carlleena and  detaching from painting all at once. A lot of folks know me as a painter but actually I'm just an ARTIST! I paint, sculpt, illustrate, collage, write and even use to make beats. I mostly focus on the visual art side of things though. It's my hope the break will cause my painting to change and grow.I'm also referring back to skills which assist in building the foundation of my work. You can never get enough basics underneath your belt! Once you have them you have to constantly work and rework them! So, I'm in transition working towards a new vision for my ART!

"dreamers NEVER sleep!"..Peace/Power!!!

FUNNY how LIFE operates¡

I have been allowed the opportunity to have befriended many good people. My friend,sister and brilliant artist Carlleena Person ascended to the next plane. She was ultra dedicated to her craft. She was and still is one of the few individuals who actually inspire me! She left behind a legacy which will most definitely transcend beyond the Queen city! Carlleena, you will be sorely missed!
On Friday I had the privilege of attending Carlleena's solo show. The show as great and the turnout was also! I was able to give Marcy, Carlleena's wife,two pieces of art I created as a gift. I had a great time even though it was bitter sweet though.
I was also part of a show in the Soda city that focuses on Feminism and consumerism. I overstand it had a good turnout, which is always a desired response for artists who attempt to live off their art.On Saturday, I woke up at 5am to get prepared for some billboard painting. Yeppers, my Izms of art collective members and I painted a billboard live in 5hrs. Well, I painted my side in 5hrs and Unzo painted his in 5hrs as well. The day was spring like. It was hot yet somewhat breezy.  Our famo came through to holla at us and give some support also. I know if Carlleena was still here she would've came through to show us some love. We completed what we could in10hrs. We were working under serious time constraints!!!

weighs HEAVY!

So, it's been a minute since I spoke on my solo exhibition. It ended up being a 42 piece exhibition. I was shooting for it to be 50,but fell short. I get really disappointed in myself when I set a goal and can't complete it! The artwork for my last solo exhibition took  9months to create with a total of 45 pieces. With the "weighs HEAVY!" exhibition I had less time (6months) to create the artwork. I got really ill and almost had to be hospitalized! All of that,yet I was still able to push out 42 pieces! All in all though, I hold myself to a higher standard with no excuses allowed! I feel if one wants to be at the top of what she or he does this is the only way to be!
It was suppose to thunderstorm the day of the exhibition but it didn't. It has never rained on any of my solo exhibtions! It has either rained before or after but never during. I believe it never will either. The crowds of people that were expected didn't show up, but I still had more artwork sold than anyone expected except for myself. I actually thought more of my art would've been sold during the opening reception. I have a goal of 80% being sold and I have priced it in accordance to that. I'm going to post pictures  of the artwork in my Facebook photos. If anyone is interested in any of the artwork contacted via fb message or umoja.artofficial@gmail.com .
Major propers to my broshotta Sunday Morning for coming through and setting the vibe with the sounds! The people were in awe of his skills and the music that was being played! My Izms famo was in the house as well along with my sister Carleena Person, who is a dope artist from the queen city! Even Homemade Genius came to the Soda City to support the movement!

Stay tuned for more FRESH and DOPE things to come!!! Yes, there will be more !!!

DEUCES!!!!!

Passing Strange/ The FRESHNIZ/weighs HEAVY!

Ok, The KID has on a serious Art marathon right now! I just finished two 4x4 pieces for a play by the title of "Passing Strange". The exhibition involved ten visual artists all painting on two 4x4 pieces of un primed canvas. I also had the opportunity of being interviewed on T.V. due to my involvement with this exhibition. It was sponsored by Jasper magazine and Trustus theatre. Whenever you're invited to be a part of an event such as this one you should feel honored! Propers to Cindi Boiter,Jasper magazine and Trustus theatre!

Now,If you don't know,I'm a member of an artist collective named Izms of Art. We are based out of  the Soda city also known as Columbia,S.C. . In the past we've done out of the box events so why would it ever change?! On the 31st of March we'll be bringing our version of a live magazine event to the Soda city we've titled "The Freshniz",which I'll be the host of. It'll feature 5 artists of different mediums,who are from the Southeast doing fresh things with their art. I'll ask questions of course and they'll get an opportunity to answer them also elaborate too. We have made a promo video for this event, which is DOPE! if you get a chance peep it! It can see via youtube-izms of art or WWW.IZMSOFART.COM



So, the time is coming near for my solo show by the name of "weighs HEAVY!". It's gonna be a turn in a slighty different direction for me. Its subject matter will be alot darker than what I usually paint! It"s gonna be in the Soda city at S&S art suply on April 5th during Urban tour. The reception time will be 5pm to 9pm. I will have my homie the Soundscientist Sunday morning serving up the Mental dopeness along with his newly printed collage book! Oh yeah, plus some surprise CREATION will be taking place fo sho! This is a don't miss! Come out and mob with us! WWW.IZMSOFART.COM  WWW.SUNDAYMORNINGLOVESYOU.COM

The outcome/ What's next up?!!

Well, I went to Abbeville sick and gave a lecture about my process as a visual artist. It was a great turnout too! Some great artists from the  Soda city made an appearance like the Dubber and Shem one to name a few! I gotta thank Ian morris and Homemade Genius for always supporting and respecting artists and the genres they represent!

I have the pleasure of being in a select group of artists who are being given the opportunity to do some genre bending and rule breaking! Phase one of what's to come starts tonight at the Nickelodeon! I will be sure to reveal more in the next coming weeks! If you wanna see what's poppin you're gonna have to stay up with the KID!... for all things FRESH stay tuned!!!!!

Speaking on my style and process

Tomorrow I will be traveling to Abbeville courtesy of my 2Lft bro, Left, so I can gave a short yet informative lecture on my style and process. I find really cool anytime I'm  asked to explain what it is I exactly do! Alot of people find it kind of hard to pin down. I do that intentionally as I can some what be an enigma myself.I also think this modern age has taken alot of magic and mystery from life. This is my attempt to return some of that back to the Universe.
This will taking place at Homemade Genius gallery. I have to give a shoutout to Ian Morris for making this possible. He is a truly progressive thinking individual. Abbeville is really lucky to have such a person in the mist! He has also made this event into a showcase featuring several musicians and connect working possibilities with some upstate organizations and artists as well. If that isn't enough,he's make this event FREE with FOOD and BEVERAGES too! He is one gracious guy! Support it!..
Homemade Genius gallery in Abbeville, SC from 7pm to 11pm...I hope you folks can make it out!

Being an artist!

As an artist who prides himself on bettering his craft I sometimes neglect the tools I have available to communicate my struggles. This is truly my first post. I wasn't able post due to a lack of funds to pay for my internet service at the homebase,so I  have been operating off of my cell phone. I know, right baller status! What can I say that's the life of this artist. You can look forward for more post from the KID since I'm back  in the Matrix!...Deuces!!