This many pieces going up together in Miami would normally be a delightful opportunity for the paddywagon to just drive around and hoist the paint splattered artists off to the hoo-hah with great efficiency…. like me plowing through the Poughkeepsie Thanksgiving spread three times last week. Burp.
But this is officially the largest site-specific streetside installation of street art at one time, and Miami is welcoming it with open arms. Here’s Day 3
The Primary Flight Opening Party Wednesday night blast featuring Dr. Dre and Peanut Butter Wolf lasted late into the morning hours and Logan Hicks was on his hotel ledge contemplating a couple of manatees late Thursday afternoon with his head in his hands, quietly, while street artist Bask was working with some birdies of his own on a wall.
Take a look at some of the progress!
Thanks to Jeremiah Garcia for capturing some of the action!
Bask rendered a splashy orinthine trio with flair.
Tes One sends a mixed message in stark tone.
Lee Quinones considers hopping the fence just for old times sake.
Adam 5100 at work on an elongated form in the foreground of a foreboding scene. This can come to no good.
Ron English is knocking outlines for his giant animated wall.
No slouch in the magnificence - Ron English has bitten a big piece offa that street art cake.
A roster of 80 artists are participating in this years Primary Flight exhibition in Miami – which officially starts tonight. Last night preparations and discussions about the walls and the logistics began before the fans and otherwise curious folks show up.
In attendance in the empty lots and barren walls were Shepard Fairey, Kaws, and Ron English, each scoping out the size of their assignments.
A big pile of clamp lights in the empty lot augur some action for the cameras to come from Ron English
Shep will be smacking up a 200′ by 20′ tall wall, which seems pretty large. But what will he put there, that’s what I wanna know. Maybe it will be related to the pro-gay marriage “Love Unites” posters he did for a fundraiser last month.
Shepard Fairey makes a point with Kaws and an identified person.
Thanks to Logan Hicks for the pics!
And if you are there they have a totally fun and off the hooker opening with a couple people you may have heard of. Thanks but I just washed my hair…
“The Workhorse” gallops through Brooklyn and Sets Another Record
Stencil artist Logan Hicks completed his largest stencil to date today on the streets of Brooklyn. Then he posed for a few photos and ran off to his next art gig.
Logan Hicks (photo Jaime Rojo)
As he goes he leaves in his wake a 30′ x 8′ mural dedicated to somebody that keeps Logan’s horse power pumping at full speed, titled simply “Sailor”.
Fresh from his trip to Toronto for a show with another modern stencil master C215 and just before heading to Miami for Primary Flight to do the world’s largest site-specific street level mural with artists like D*Face, Shepard Fairey, Chris Stain, and the London Police, Logan Hicks gave his biggest present to his current hometown of Brooklyn and to his family.
Logan Hicks (photo Jaime Rojo)
Moving away from subject matter involving city canyons, tunnels and teaming crowds that he has been closely identified with over the last couple of years, Hicks has been feeling lately like it is time for him to concentrate on the stuff that really matters to him. Family, art, sanity.
Logan Hicks (photo Jaime Rojo)
The 5-layered piece required about 150 stencil plates to execute, and we watched what a logistical bad dream can ensue just laying out all the pieces on the sidewalk and following the plan. Not to mention how wind can whip those well placed plates down the sidewalk toward the East River.
Logan Hicks (photo Jaime Rojo)
Curated by Brooklyn Street Art for Espeis Outside, this mural is a hot blast of Logan Red to take us through the impending winter holidays and into the new year. Not that the burly plain-talking-force-of-nature stencil master has any plans for 2010.
Unless you count the shows he’s scheduled to do in Hong Kong, Paris, Gambia, London, Rome, Vienna, Miami and of course The People’s Republic of Brooklyn (at the Opera Gallery).
“Next year is going to be a little nuts. So basically I am not going to sleep until 2011. I keep telling myself that this is the life that I asked for. The stress gets to be a little much, but I think I secretly like it.”
Logan is pretty psyched to be working in what he calls “vector-based” stenciling, and his process is quite complex, even when planning a portrait of a boy with a toy train (photo Jaime Roj0)
Adding a layer, Logan Hicks (photo Jaime Rojo)
Brooklyn Street Art was really happy to hang out with hard-charging but surprisingly somewhat normal Hicks for a couple days this weekend, even helping out with a paint brush once in a while. The sun was pretty bright although it’s duration brief, and the wind did keep everybody humble – but the continuous racket of skateboarders in this industrial neighborhood kept the pace of work lively. Below is an interview where Logan let’s us know what the story is behind the piece he debuted here.
Yep, Brooklyn is part of the Empire State. (photo Jaime Rojo)
Brooklyn Street Art: Your earlier subject matter tended toward architecture and large anonymous crowds on the street. More recently you have become more personal in your work. Where did you get the inspiration for this piece?
Logan Hicks: My son – Sailor Hicks, and watching him grow. The funny thing about time is that you don’t realize how fast it is passing until you have a kid to remind you. Each day my son grows, and although I love watching him sprout up, it reminds me of how quickly time is passing. Because I communicate with so many friends through email, I don’t normally realize that so many months have gone by when I see them in the flesh. Now though, when I see someone, I can take note “I haven’t seen you since Sailor started walking” or “I haven’t seen you since he started talking”. It really punctuates how quickly things go by.
Logan Hicks putting the black frame on to finish the piece (photo Jaime Rojo)
So watching him, it has made me reflect on my life. Made me thing about how much I am changing. Not so much in the physical aspect, but mentally. Striving to refine my craft. Striving to sustain stability. Striving to be a good parent. All this makes me want to be a better person. I look at myself 6 years ago, and I don’t even recognize that guy any more. So with this mural, I just think of it as a quick snapshot of my life. It give me a chance to pause and appreciate my life as it exists now.
Father and son. (photo Jaime Rojo)
Brooklyn Street Art:Does Sailor know he’s going to be immortalized?
Logan Hicks: No, but I don’t think he’s too pressed to take note of anything other than trains, letters, toys, and cars. I wouldn’t have it any other way. One of my reasons for doing this piece is because of an early conversation I had with C215. When I first met C215 I noticed that he kept doing a stencil of this one girl. I asked him who it was and why he kept doing stencils of her. His response floored me. He said that it was his daughter. He didn’t have full custody of his daughter and didn’t get to see her as often as he would like. He said he did at least one stencil a week of her because he didn’t want her to ever think that he forgets about her. That punched a hole in my heart. It was the most brutally honest comment that he could have said. I was amazed that he opened his life up so quickly and said something that was so personal. I guess for me I have always been a bit guarded. The older I get though, the more I realize that I’d be better if i shared more, instead of trying to protect it.
Logan Hicks with the original illustration he did taped to the mural (photo Jaime Rojo)
Brooklyn Street Art:How can an artist put something so personal out in the public?
Logan Hicks: How can an artist NOT put something that is personal? For so long I feel like I have been striving to hone the craft of using stencils. I have worked on the technical side of things and I feel like in the past year or two I have, for the most part, conquered that. So now the question becomes, not how you make it, but what you make with it. For me. I feel like I have started back at square one. I have started to speak about what is most personal to me. I am tired of trying to be witty or technical or vague.
I am trying to filter out all the background noise in my life and make my art. All the haters, all the fans, all the blogs or magazines, or other artists. I think it’s gotten to a point where the best thing that I can do is just retreat into myself and speak honestly about what I am going through. For so long I have worked to gather information. Information about galleries, artists, processes, blogs, magazines, curators, etc. Lately I realized though that none of it matters. The only thing that matters is the here and now. The only thing that matters is what I am going through.
Brooklyn Street Art:How many layers are involved in this stencil?
Logan Hicks: There are 7 colors, but only 5 layers of stencils.
Brooklyn Street Art:What are some of your goals as an artist who works on the street sometimes? Logan Hicks: Just to do a good job
Logan Hicks (photo Jaime Rojo)
Brooklyn Street Art:Does Sailor know he’s going to be immortalized? Logan Hicks: No, but I don’t think he’s too pressed to take note of anything other than trains, letters, toys, and cars. I wouldn’t have it any other way. One of my reasons for doing this piece is because of an early conversation I had with C215. When I first met C215 I noticed that he kept doing a stencil of this one girl. I asked him who it was and why he kept doing stencils of her. His response floored me. He said that it was his daughter. He didn’t have full custody of his daughter and didn’t get to see her as often as he would like. He said he did at least one stencil a week of her because he didn’t want her to ever think that he forgets about her. That punched a hole in my heart. It was the most brutally honest comment that he could have said. I was amazed that he opened his life up so quickly and said something that was so personal. I guess for me I have always been a bit guarded. The older I get though, the more I realize that I’d be better if I shared more, instead of trying to protect it.
It’s an artist’s tradition to use their own life for inspiration. (photo Logan Hicks)
Brooklyn Street Art:How can an artist put something so personal out in the public? Logan Hicks: How can an artist NOT put something that is personal? For so long I feel like I have been striving to hone the craft of using stencils. I have worked on the technical side of things and I feel like in the past year or two I have, for the most part, conquered that. So now the question becomes, not how you make it, but what you make with it. For me. I feel like I have started back at square one. I have started to speak about what is most personal to me. I am tired of trying to be witty or technical or vague.
I am trying to filter out all the background noise in my life and make my art. All the haters, all the fans, all the blogs or magazines, or other artists. I think it’s gotten to a point where the best thing that I can do is just retreat into myself and speak honestly about what I am going through. For so long I have worked to gather information. Information about galleries, artists, processes, blogs, magazines, curators, etc. Lately i realized though that none of it matters. The only thing that matters is the here and now. The only thing that matters is what I am going through.
Writing the dedication (photo Jaime Rojo)
Brooklyn Street Art:How many layers are involved in this stencil? Logan Hicks: There are 7 colors, but only 5 layers of stencils.
Brooklyn Street Art:What are some of your goals as an artist who works on the street sometimes? Logan Hicks: Just to do a good job
“Sailor”, by Logan Hicks (photo Jaime Rojo)
Brooklyn Street Art:How important is risk-taking in art?
Logan Hicks: Guess it depends on how you define risk. For me I just want to feel like i have accomplished something. I want to feel that i have done a service to my craft. to my trade. I want to feel that I have spoken honestly about my work, and done the best that i can. One of my favorite quotes is by Paul Rand, who designed the logos for companies like IBM, ABC, UPS, Westinghouse even Enron. He said “Don’t try to be original. Just try to be good.” That’s a motto that I have sort of lived by. I just try to do a good job. If that means that there is risk involved, so be it, but I don’t search out risk. It’s the sort of thing that you drive by on your way to the final destination.
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Check out the time-lapse we did with Mr. Hicks – and at the end you’ll see the Sailor himself in action with his train.
The leaves are blowing wildly around in the wind and the rain – and on dry crisp sunny days you can rake them into a pile in the park and crash into them with other kids, pretending you are a subway rat climbing through a mountain of trash.
Oops, sorry if I killed that bucolic scene.
So, Chris Stain is getting ready, as are a number of street artists from New York, to go down south after Thanksgiving for the big Primary Flightevents at Art Basel in Miami Beach. Primary Flight will be the world’s largest site-specific street level mural installation. Aside from that it will be in MIAMI. In DECEMBER. Questions?
BSA will have special reports from the street from on-the-scene action reporters! If they’re not drunk! Or chasing bikini-clad models in Jimmy Choo stilletos down Washington Ave.
Kesh and the Gang by Chris Stain
Here is an inspired new print that Chris just finished for the show that incorporates his son and a couple of his school buddies, and a swirling bunch of leaves, adding a bit of light to a otherwise subdued-hued milieu.
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BROOKLYN STREET ART LOVES YOU MORE EVERY DAY
