R.I.P. Moebius

Moebius/Jean Giraud, one of the greatest artists of our time just passed away this weekend. He was an artistic legend, who had incredible talent, style and originality. He was Hendrix with a pen. He was a huge inspiration for me ever since I was introduced to his work as a kid in the '80s by my mom. There have been a few times over the years when I've had my work compared to his, and I would always take it as a huge compliment. Though he was more contemporary, I placed him in my pantheon of great classic artists right up there with Vermeer, Mucha, Caravaggio, Camarena, Holbein, Klimt, Gerome, Rivera, etc. He helped create the futuristic look of films like Alien, Blade Runner, The Abyss and Tron, while his drawing ability and style was consistently amazing and influenced generations of artists. I'm thankful for the inspiration.

Dash2000 Memorial

It seems like more and more people have been passing away too soon these days- I guess this is just part of life, part of getting older. This is the second memorial mural I've painted so far this year, and unfortunately there are still a few more I need to do.

I painted this portrait recently with Kofie and Plek for my friend Dominic "DASH 2000" Smith. He was known for being one of the early members of legendary LA graffiti crew UTI (Under The Influence) back in the '80s. He constantly experimented with different mediums, sketched, and painted, pushing his creativity for the rest of his life.

This portrait was based on a photo taken by Eriberto Oriol, the background was painted by Augustine Kofie, and Plek did the letters. Kofie's cloud designs are a tribute to Dash's deep respect and admiration for Asian culture, which often influenced his own artwork. This was painted on a wall in central LA that Dash painted regularly. Dash passed away last year from cancer, and today is his birthday.

You can also see some nice process shots by Carlos Gonzalez here.

Verse LTS memorial

Here are shots of a recent memorial mural I painted for Marcos "Verse" Vasquez in Mid-City, Los Angeles. His life was tragically cut short in 2006, but his spirit still lives strongly today among his friends and family. This is the second memorial I've painted for him, the first was a couple years back with Retna at Mid-City Arts.

Recent publications: VNA + Art Press

So I haven't had time to update lately since I've been busy painting and generally just distracted by life -I'll try and post up some more updates soon..for now, here's two recent publications I had artwork featured in worth mentioning.

The first one is a nice little interview in VNA Magazine (Very Nearly Almost) out of the UK, one of the classiest public art/street art magazines out there.

The second one looks like a porno based on the cover but is, in fact, one of the most respected art publications in Europe: Art Press. They featured "The Conductor", a mural I painted with Retna on the side of the Margulies Collection building in the the Wynwood district of Miami for Primary Flight during Art Basel in 2009.

I'm a little late posting about these, but they're both worth checking out. More good stuff on the way..