The Living Stroke » RIOT IN THE SKY

Nick Cave: Soundsuits

I went to Nick Cave’s exhibit “Meet Me at the Center of the Earth” last week in L.A. and it made me hella happy. This dude is nuts and his work is brilliant! Thank you to the internet, you can now experience a digital tour in the same museum!!

CLICK HERE FOR PHOTO TOUR OF NICK CAVE’S EXHIBIT.

“Experience the largest presentation of work by Chicago-based artist Nick Cave, featuring thirty-five of his Soundsuits—multi-layered, mixed-media sculptures named for the sounds made when the “suits” are worn. Reminiscent of African, Caribbean and other ceremonial ensembles as well as of haute couture, Cave’s work explores issues of transformation, ritual, myth and identity. His virtuosic constructions incorporate yarn, sequins, bottle caps, vintage toys, rusted iron sticks, hair, and more. Mad, humorous, visionary, glamorous and unexpected, the Soundsuits are created from scavenged ordinary materials that Cave re-contextualizes into extraordinary works of art.” –Fowler Museum

30 Poems, 30 Days. #1 & #2

Yesterday, my girl Simone asked me “Sahra, will you join us in 30 poems for 30 days?”

I won’t lie, I was more scared than I had been in a long time. I froze. Should I act like I never saw that comment? Should I act like I was too busy to respond? I was looking for a way to escape the challenge. My self doubt always gets the best of me.

Sometimes being scared is the best reason to do something. This is less a test of my writing consistency, and more a test of my humility. It’s okay to be human. Being imperfect is part of the process.

Below are poems #1 & #2:

no fool’s haiku

nomadic packrat
sticks and stones, money and bones
we all turn to dust.

+++

testify

this commitment
makes the covert perfectionist in me
vulnerable.

like relationships.

not enough time to hide
behind rough drafts and revisions

not enough time to plan
the next best thing to say

not enough time to filter
the me you were never meant to see.

scrawls testify
if what i’m writing
is worth reading
fine selections on the bloggyblog
is only part frontin’
this challenge
simple as it may seem
is bigger than my ego.
sing insecure tunes on the page
or the screen
squeeze the littlest of me
out
against my own pride and prejudice
against myself.
not ready for the world
to see the parts of me
that truly suck
call it crap
i will be the first to say it
so i can still say
i beat you.
me.
winner.
if i lose
my ego still wants to win.

if out of 365 days
i feel lucky to find a handful of poems
what if i don’t find anything
in 30?

not enough time to calm
my nerves before exposure.

i wonder when i’ll stop writing about
writing.

How to be Fly

This is a quick sketch I drew in between real duties:

Happy Tuesday!

Get with Hank

This dude’s work is crazy powerful. I admire his ability to filter a loaded social message in a style that is decodable by anybody. Clear, recognizable and race conscious without being overtly snooty in that I’m-so-intellectual-I-can’t-even-talk-to-my-people-through-my-fancy-colloquialism snoot, yadidameeeeean!!!

HANK WILLIS THOMAS! Get with the program.

(Thanks to my girl Sheeeeeeen for putting me on!!)

Phoenix > Chickenhead Project

I’ve been infused with a grip of positive energy and creative inspiration lately. I’m coming up with a lot of ideas and can’t find time to do them all—which means I might be spending less time on the bloggyblog. I’ll still try to post every day, but my focus right now is on internal development and practice of my craft versus the extroverted bloggy LOOK AT ME ME ME persona.

I’ve landed on a new painting theme for the season: PHOENIXES! Which means for the next few months, I’m going to be researching, studying, drawing, designing and freaking the phoenix in many different styles. So far I’ve been reading up on them some more and breaking down the “Anatomy of the Phoenix”. I’m dubbing this project the “PHOENIX > CHICKENHEAD PROJECT”. Like the Oberlin Project, I’ll take you through my creative process from brainstorm to conceptualizing to sketches to finished products. I’ll drop blog posts about Southeast Asian culture, Buddhism and all things good running through my mind.

I’ve been studying the art of Southeast Asia and Buddhism—colors, meanings, deities and symbols. Check two one two:

For a FULL BREAKDOWN of symbolism and colors within Buddhism, click here.

FAQ’s on the Phoenix > Chickenhead Project:

Q: Why the phoenix?
A: Because I’m tired of young girls growing up to be chickenheads, and forgetting that they’re queens and should be treated like queens—not like chicken shit. The phoenix is a beautiful symbol of strong females rising to the top. Also, it comes from Asian culture. Holla.

Q: Where is your inspiration for designing the phoenix coming from?
A: I’m looking into the styles of Southeast Asian art and Buddhism because I’m Southeast Asian and Buddhist. TRYNA PUT MY PEOPLES ON THE MAP, yadidameeeeeean!!!!

Q: What do you hope to accomplish with this project?
A: I’m trying to be more free, loose and experimental with this project. I hope to discover a new style and create something that’s both visually exciting and meaningful.

Q: Is this a self-conducted interview?
A: Yes.

Love & balance.

P.S. Oh yea, I updated the “About” Page with descriptions of my categories and the “Quotes By Me” Page with new quotes! Holla.

Oberlin Project Complete!

Yeeeeeesszzh! The mural unveiling and presentation at Oberlin College was soooo on and poppin’!! From the mural’s inception to the painting process to the unveiling, the entire journey has been over the top. Thank you to my new Midwest fam for bringing me out and making it happen. Now I can finally share photos online. Peep game:

Click for enlarged image

To read about the entire Oberlin Project blog post series, click here.

A timelapse video about the project and more coming soon.

All photo props go to the lovely DOLLFACE. She got you on all yor professional photo needs. No amateur point and shoot here. (Thanks MARY!!!)

Oberlin Project pt. 6: Mathematics

This video clip is going up hella late. By this point, I am well into the painting process (progress is steady on point). I decided that I won’t show ANY of the painting until AFTER March 6th. Since my commissioners are flying me out to Cleveland for an official unveiling event (next Friday), I want to keep it as a special premiere for them. How anti-climatic would it be if EVERY track off a new album was leaked before the official release date? Boring.

As a commissioned piece, it’s important to be meticulous in all steps of production—brainstorming, prepping and execution (NO ROOM FOR F UPS!). If you’re an artist and you’ve done this before, this video will be terribly boring. If you’re not an artist, this video will probably still be boring for you. It shows my process of precisely measuring 3 x 5 ft with a 1 inch border all around, centered within 4 x 8 feet of canvas. The commissioners will be stretching and framing the painting, so it was important that I left them a small border all around. Also, it’s important to account for variable degrees of (canvas) shrinking through the gesso and painting process. My favorite part of this was using the chalk line. It is so much fun. I definitely recommend people trying it out at least one time in their lives

(Thank you to SWAT for helping and Amy Zahlaway behind the camera).

Oberlin Project pt. 5: The Sketch

Artist’s Claim: Everything you see below is subject to change at any point without notice!!

This is the NEAR final sketch for the Oberlin Project. It mostly shows major elements and composition. Planning is necessary, but I also like to leave room for some freestyling and freewilding. New inspiration comes in the moment of painting—with the right jams and the right light and the right vibe, things can appear and come together in a new way. One major element I know I left out here is the text—Angel island poems and the conference title.

Given so much creative freedom within such a broad theme, “Asian American activism”, I didn’t know where to start. This shit was tough. I wanted it to be clear enough without being cliche. I wanted it to be unique/original without being too tongue-in-cheek. I wanted it to be personal but still relatable to others. I had 3×5 ft (not much) to convey an incredible message. Picking and choosing which elements to bring together made me feel like Kat Von D in that episode of LA Ink where she had to choose 4 out of 17 staff members to paint on the mural:

I can write an essay about the significance of each element alone (future blog series? Maybe). But I want to leave room for the viewer to interpret and find personal meaning in the piece as well. There’s no fun in breaking everything down at once.

In brief, here are some of the reasons why I incorporated each element:

Lotus flowers: Common symbol throughout East Asian and Southeast Asian cultures (Buddhism). Lotus flowers simultaneously live in all four elements at once (grow in the mud, rise in the water, breathe in the air, blooms in the sun). They also represent beauty through struggle—similar to the Tupac’s analogy of “The Rose That Grew From Concrete”.

Waves: One of the most powerful and destructive natural elements. Also represents immigration, diaspora and refugee movements (the wind that set our roots in America). Also to go along with common concepts of “swimming against the current” to highlight the spirit of resistance in activism.

Freedom fighter: The Vietnam War era influenced all social movements in America. Activists and revolutionaries such as the Black Panther Party openly expressed their solidarity with Third World fighters. Also drawing on the principles of self-determination, defiance, guerilla tactics and courage.

Tiger: This tiger is taken from propaganda art during the eviction of I-Hotel residents—marking one of the greatest injustices by corporate America and greatest protests within Asian American history. It also draws parallel characteristics to the Panter’s logo; both represent power and fierceness. If you want to go deeper, we can talk about blending in, assimilation, standing out and all that good stuff within racialized America.

Old woman holding the paper: I like this image because it made me so happy to see an older Asian woman fight for her right. I’m replacing the original text (Chinese characters) with something else.

Man with the pumping fist: I chose the image of this guy because I liked the passion in his face. It’s different from the predictable militant, mean-muggin’, pumping fist prototype. Not that there is anything wrong with that. I just wanted to show another angle.

Yuri Kochiyama: Of course, right? I thought about Ronald Takaki and Richard Aoki. I didn’t want all three of them up there because that felt too predictable for me. Plus, as I said in an earlier post, I wanted to avoid too much messiah messaging and more recognizing the unrecognized.

Angel Island poems: Not in the sketch yet—but the poems represent the voices of early pioneers in the Asian American community.

So there you have it. Weeks of brainstorming have brought me down to those main elements. I got all my supplies today so will be starting on the painting tomorrow. I would also like to mention that I gave up caffeine!! Eleven days strong!! YEA!! Thanks for reading. Stay posted.

Oberlin Project pt. 4: Priming the Canvas

I primed the raw canvas today so it could dry overnight and be ready to paint by the weekend. For those of you who may not know, priming is preparing the canvas with a type of “white paint” so it is ready to paint on. It’s like “filling in the holes” of the raw canvas to create a smooth surface for paint to stick to without fading into absorption on the canvas threads. Watching the canvas get primed really isn’t that exciting but I wanted to document this process from beginning to end. Can you count how many times I said, “As you can see??” Sorry I didn’t realize how annoying that was until I got to editing! Haha.

HOW TO PRIME YOUR OWN CANVAS:

1) Lay down the tarp unless you don’t mind the mess
2) Lay the piece of raw canvas flat on top. This is better than stapling the canvas to the wall because the canvas will shrink with the gesso then become warped
3) Add a little bit of water to the gesso and stir
4) Pour gesso on canvas and start rolling it out evenly.
5) Put your back into it.
6) Let gesso dry to touch then do a second coat
7) Check for raw spots at an angle or else the canvas will absorb your paint differently
8 ) Let dry and you’re ready to paint!

Special thanks to Swiz on the camera and Problak (dude cutting hair) for letting me borrow his fly painting pants and sandals.

Oberlin Project pt. 3: Pioneers from Angel Island

From 1910 to 1940, Angel Island in San Francisco Bay was the only portal for Chinese immigrants to enter America. Immigrants were detained for days to years before they were “admitted”. During this time, the detainees carved and ink brushed their concerns on the walls of their barracks. One hundred thirty-five poems survived—telling the stories of their voyage, attitudes toward American encounters, racism and the triumphs and disappointments of the immigration experience.

This discovery is amazing to me. The concept of scrawls on the wall goes as far back as cave people drawings to Egyptian hieroglypics and visible today through graffiti. It makes me believe that across time, cultures and civilizations, the need for personal stories to be documented and felt is not just necessary, but also universally shared.

Readership’s Hit List:

My brainstorm for the Oberlin Project is leading me to focus a lot on the values, principles and spirit of Asian American activism. I haven’t totally ditched the obvious, visible representations of this (protestors, megaphones, picket signs, Kochiyama, Takaki, etc.). I’m just trying to explore the different ways we can think about and understand activism through the Asian American experience. I’m pulling lots of different elements together, from symbols to people. A new edition to the mix is now Angel Island!! In my last post about the Oberlin Project, I explored the concepts of messiahs and leadership within Asian American community, the lack of visible role models and acknowledgment that the movement is often driven by many unknown leaders. In my attempt to visually represent Asian American activism with this project, I want to shift the way we recognize leadership by paying homage to the less obvious and under-acknowledged—such as with the Chinese immigrants of Angel Island. Essentially, these immigrants were pioneers to carve the entryway and experience for future generations in America. They endured much racism, injustice and exclusionary laws that shaped the future of interracial relations in America. Ultimately, these pioneers represent an unbeatable spirit of determination, resilience and courage in the face of American resistance. Their struggle to plant roots and build communities in this country has evidently thrived with the growing Asian American community today.

I’m thinking about how I can incorporate the voices of these pioneers in the Oberlin Project. Maybe I’ll translate their poems through a dope graffiti hand style. This could create some nice texture in the background too. I’m still working it out. Stay posted.

Oberlin Project pt.2: Asian American Activism & Messiahship

My commissioners for the Oberlin Project insisted I have complete creative freedom leaving me with only one prompt, “What comes to mind when you think about Asian American activism?” This is the question that’s been running around and around in my mind all week through my brainstorm process. The most prominent icons of Asian American activists pop up: Yuri Kochiyama and Ronald Takaki, and maybe Richard Aoki. But damn, what else? Who else? I didn’t want to just throw up the obvious. At the same time, I didn’t want to ignore these figures just because it was “obvious” to me. Many people today have yet to learn about the revolutionary work Kochiyama and Takaki accomplished in their lives. A part of me def wanted to commemorate their legacies for future generations. Project aside, all these thoughts and questions led me to a bigger reflection on the concept of messiahship within the Asian American movement.

Messiah leadership was very present throughout the Civil Rights Movement and Third World Liberation movements (Martin Luther King, Jr., Malcolm X, Huey Newton, Che Guevara and so on). This was good and bad. At that time, I believe it was necessary for the people of the oppressed to be able to see a real leader rise up in the true nature of their struggles. Seeing a figure from the community speak out about resistance was an embodied manifestation of personal struggles and self-reflection. If we grow up all our lives only seeing and learning about white figureheads, white revolutionaries and white presidents, we associate power with whiteness. For the people to SEE a member of their community be in a leadership position challenging power, well then you know what they say–”Seeing is believing”.

But the problem with messiah leadership is that if you kill the messiah, you kill the movement. The CIA knew this and the people witnessed this. There are many reasons why the Civil Rights Movement and power struggles of the 60s and on fizzled out—one of these is largely due to the fact that major leaders were all assassinated or imprisoned. That’s not to say movements have completely died out. Over the decades, communities continue to organize themselves through a more powerful style of “collective leadership”.

This leads me to my reflection on messiahs within the Asian American Movement (1960s and on)—there aren’t any. There are many reasons for why this is and I won’t try to explain all of them. One of my theories is that the Asian American community is so disperse across ethnicities, generations and issues that it’s been hard to fight on one front at the same time. 4th generation Japanese and/or Chinese Americans may not face the same language/cultural barriers of recent Southeast Asian refugees or immigrants. Asian American issues span from WWII Repatriation and Veterans’ Rights (regarding citizenship) to deportation, gang violence and labor (regarding citizenship AND non-citizenship). I guess you can say the Asian American Movement consists of many movements within one—labor movements, Ethnic Studies movement, student movements, anti-deportation and more.

Another reason why I believe messiahs never rose out of the Asian American Movement is due to cultural reasons. Asian culture and traditions are rooted in very communal and collective values of sacrifice (the idea of shipping parents off to nursing homes in America is APPALLING!). From personal experience within the Asian American organizing community, selflessness and humility have been ingrained in me by my mentors and others around me. EGO KILLS COMMUNITY. We do the work we do out of passion, not obligation—a value of self-determination common from the Black Panther Party’s Ten Point Platform. We learn to always put the community first before the self, so there was no need to claim recognition or praise for anything. All these values have been critical to developing a collective approach to leadership within the Asian American community; but over time, I feel this has created our own layer of invisibility. Members of other communities will never fully recognize the activism that thrives within the Asian American community; thus, our contributions to social change continue to be overshadowed by gross media representations such as the ever-so-notable Model Minority Myth. Invisibility also hurts us internally as well—where members and future generations of the Asian American community fail to recognize other forms of positive role models and representations of the self (Tila Tequila CAN NOT be our most notable “role model”). I believe a balance can be achieved between humility and recognition. We may not need messiahs, but we definitely need more visible, positive role models.

So what do I do? Do I paint Yuri Kochiyama and Ronald Takaki or not? My hesitation comes in the fact that I know there are countless more fighters throughout the struggle and movement whose names and faces we may never recognize, so when I think about “Asian American activism”, I want to highlight this fact; I also want to avoid the pattern of idolizing certain figures into a messiah portrait. But I don’t want to do these leaders injustice either. I recognize the value of seeing a face like yours in a position of powerful influence. Sometimes, because visible Asian American leader figures are so scarce, people are quickly drawn to Kochiyama and Takaki because they are visibly Asian American (and both Japanese American). It’s like celebrity storm shadow!! But they don’t necessarily represent all my issues as a Southeast Asian. Through all of this exploration, I’m beginning to realize that many Asian Americans don’t just see these leaders, but we see ourselves in them. Back to the drawing board.

Oberlin Project: New Blog Series

Enough playing around with Widgets and Flash—I’m heading into production mode again! YEE! As mentioned in my Upcoming Projects post, I was commissioned by Oberlin College (Hellooo OHiiiiiO!) to do a 3×5 feet mixed media painting that “pays homage to and celebrates the Asian American activist community, struggles and experiences.” Oberlin has a rich history and legacy of Asian American activism (I know what you’re thinking—whoda thought the Midwest got down like that!?) But it’s true, Oberlin was recognized as one of the top schoo ls in the nation for its commitment to activism and social change (I helped design the evaluation rubric for this project back in Aug/Sept—no bias because I didn’t vote). Anyways, Oberlin will be flying me out to Ohio on March 6th for the big unveiling; then my piece will be permanently displayed at the Third World House—”a political and cultural residence hall community which serves as an arena for critical analyses and discussion of liberation, self-determination, and combating oppression in the West.” BUUUUCK YEA!

I’m taking anyone who wants to join me on my creative process through this project—from inside the artist’s head to the canvas. Between now and March 6th I will be blogging on my planning, brainstorming, conceptualizing, sketching, painting and execution of this project and tentatively call it the “Oberlin Project”. It starts NOW:

Oberlin Project pt. 1: In My Head

I am extra extra amped about this project simply because it combines some of my greatest passions: ART, ACTIVISM & highlighting the ASIAN AMERICAN COMMUNITY. As a youth-, community-, student- & campus- organizer (each one involves different approaches to organizing) throughout my high school and college years, much of my critical development came through my involvement with community organizing and social activism. It all started with my Anti-Anti, too-cool-for-this-shit attitude and involvement as a youth leader/organizer in the Coalition for Asian Pacific American Youth (don’t sleep on CAPAY. Click here). When I was 18, I chose UCLA and the West Coast because I wanted to learn everything I could about Ethnic Studies, Asian American Studies, community organizing and the ever evolving Asian American Movement alongside growing social movements.

Readership’s Hit List:

We never learn about the Asian American Movement or the uprising of Asian American resistance fighters in history class. This book is definitely essential to every household bookshelf who wants to act like they know anything about anybody. ASK SOMEBODY!! Click the cover art above for Amazon page.

If the recession got you on a tight budget with Amazon, don’t trip. This site is one of the best online resources with critical essays for your enlightened social consciousness. Get familiar:

Click HERE or image above to be directed to the website.

This is what I’ve been doing for the past few days—getting familiar again. I read, I research and I look at images to get inspiration. Oberlin gave me a lot of creative freedom to explore within the subject matter of “Asian American activism”. This is a huge theme to work under. I don’t want my message to be over saturated or cliche. So through my initial brainstorm and research, I’m beginning to narrow my focus on some identifiable symbols within a cohesive message. So far, I’m pretty adamant about avoiding protest scenes, picket signs and pumping fists. This may or may not change. Stay posted.

Kehinde Wiley is a BEAST!

How ILL is this dude?!? Oil paint:

Kehinde Wiley’s trademark fuses the modern day African American man with traditional portraiture to deliver a strong message of class, beauty and power in his subjects.

As a visual artist, my foundation and passion is in fine arts. PAINTING!! Over the years, the rapid advancements in our world’s technology has often made me despair of the future of fine arts. It felt like fine arts was fading into the background the way news print was losing out. With the high processing internet age, it seemed like everybody wanted immediate turn around time in production and everything was becoming digitized. With graphic design and commercial art on demand, who has time to wait several weeks (or months) for a painting when a logo can take a few hours? As we’ve learned from artists like Shepard Fairey, PROLIFIC & ready to MASS PRODUCE have been key elements in his commercial success. Even artists who want to freelance to get by need to know Photoshop, Illustrator, etc. For a while, I resisted the world of digital art. I didn’t want to drop the brush for the mouse. I wanted to put fine arts on the map. Now, I’m learning to embrace it rather than reject it because I know it is an inevitable part of the evolving art world. I’m also learning how to utilize digital art as a powerful tool for the things I DO want to do. Overall, I’m glad I came across Kehinde Wiley. He is a reminder that fine arts is still very much alive and possibilities are never ruled out. He even did a collaboration with PUMA recently. So no matter what you are pursuing, and even if the world feels like it is changing in a direction against you—don’t stop. Go harder. Push forward with greater force until YOU are changing the world in the direction of your vision.

Click for Kehinde Wiley’s Website HERE.

(Thanks to Ferb for putting me on).

HTML Version is NOW HERE!

This is how I like to spend my Saturday nights. I got bored and built this baby in a few hours, literally (cheated with some Wordpress help though). My FULL website is now available in HTML!! No Flash required. Cellphone Friendly. CH-CH-CHECK IT OUT!!

Click image above to enter HTML Site.

Even though I’m pretty amped about the end product, I’m a little sad that it’s probably better than my Flash site—and it took a FRACTION of the time to build. I can’t believe I didn’t figure this out sooner. The HTML version def makes the contents easier to access and easier to navigate. That’s what I get for trying to be all “flashy” and shit with the Flash. Oh well. Now we got both! Luxury of choice. Holla.

Dope Homie Status, No Homie Bias: SOEM

Today I got a special visit from a special homie, SOEM!! Part of legendary ALA Collective and PFP crew. He’s so dope, I just had to dedicate today’s post to him. This dude is seriously one of the most gifted cats I know. He’s got a Flickr gallery full of ill shit so I’ll let the work speak for itself.

Still painting in 28 degrees cold. SOEM is SERIOUS with this shit.

We’re both the YEAR OF THE TIGER! RAWR!

Click here or the image above for SOEM’s Flickr Gallery.

I can’t help it if I got dope friends. No homie bias.

Boston’s Finest: A.L.A. Collective

“The Living Stroke” post category has been a little skimp lately. It’s been too cold to spray paint outside and the canvases have been put on hold since I’ve been on the writing grind (recent chapbook release, etc.). But enough about me. If you wana check out some HOT ASS MFN ARTWORK, check out A.L.A. Collective’s new website. Legendary graffiti crew straight outa THE BEAN (my hometown)!! I have some homies and mentors in A.L.A., who have–and continue–to inspire me, push me and challenge me to that NEXT LEVEL SHIT.

Here are a few photos I was able to dig up:

Me & Problak. This is an oldie from my Birthday Art Show 2008 (Make it Rain Fundraiser for New Orleans). Can you believe I get one of these hugs at least 5 days out of the week? I am one lucky bastard. Be very jealous y’all.

Stro + Stan + Sahra = Business

If you follow my blog, you already know who SWAT is. Here he is spray painting a portrait of me. He made me look hot as shit.

Shout out to Soem, Biz and Ferb!! (Can’t find photos, sorry!) I said it before and I’ll say it again–

I can’t help it if I got dope friends. No homie bias!!

It’s Friday night and I’m off this shit. TIME TO PARTAY. Peace!!

ALA COLLECTIVE

How to make a cardboard Dinosaur Head costume

If we ever end up doing a group Secret Santa, you better wish I pulled your name out of the hat. I only give the biggest, bestest, beastiest gifts homie!! Check out what SWAT got from me this year (we had a delayed holiday party this past Friday).

Materials:

Large pieces of cardboard

Packing tape

Gold paint for the gold teeth

Acrylic and/or spray paint

Paint brush

Steps:

1) Cut out 2 pieces of the Dinosaur head’s silouette (flat side)

2) Cut out 4 pieces of the jagged teeth

3) Cut out one long rectangular strip (to connect the 2 silouette head pieces)—roughly 8 inches wide

4) Cut out a shorter strip for the chin (still roughly 8 inches wide)

5) Tape everything together.

6) For speedy execution, spray paint the entire Dino Head

7) Use acrylic paint and brush to paint on the details (eyes, etc.)

8 ) Don’t forget the gold teeth

Bada bing! SO DOPE I STAY RECESSION FREE. My gift will MURDER anything store bought. Email me if you have questions about the construction.

I just compiled my recent paintings into one place

Alright y’all. It’s the Sunday Buzz. But sometimes some people don’t feel like reading. Kind of like the way some people don’t feel like writing (ahem). So I just spent the last 2 hours setting up a NEW PAGE tab called, “Living Stroke RECAP”. Since I try to post pretty frequently and some folks may not check in frequently enough, they miss out on some bomb ass bloggyblog posts by yours truly–especially the ones that feature recent artwork. So in celebration of the end of a decade (and the beginning of a new one), I compiled all my artwork from Summer 2009 to now into one page. I was on some serious grind this season y’all!! And the fun just don’t stop. Check the new page tab above. Enjoy.

Oh yea, here is a painting I completed this summer but never officially unveiled. Say hello to my buddy Swizzy:

Portrait of HOT SWAT | Spray paint on Canvas

P.S. I’ll be working on archiving all these paintings on my official flashy flash website with the rest of my artwork. Home base, baby. Holla.

Spanking New Painting: Figure 8's & Elephants

I’m excited to unveil a new, never before seen painting. This is also the last painting I’ll be releasing for 2009. Enjoy!

Figure 8’s & Elephants
a.k.a. Balance & Babar

Acrylic on Canvas | 36 x 36 inches | Summer 2009
(Click for enlarged image)

Synopsis: This piece was inspired by many things, but mostly the pursuit of balance and my love for elephants. In a technical sense, I wanted to challenge myself to practice the principle of patience by creating a piece that required precision and meticulous design. Patience is one of my greatest weaknesses–thus, through painting and the creative process I strive to improve my overall virtues. While the overall design is tight, I stayed loose with the brushwork.

The pursuit of balance and my love for elephants both fall under the umbrella of Buddhism. While I have many goals in life, my ultimate goal is to achieve balance. I strive for balance in my life everyday. Balance is a constant battle for me because I’m always trying to do everything at once. Trying to achieve balance between my painting and my writing, production and promotion, family and friends, work and pleasure, activism and art, scholastic research and creative explorations, everything. One of my greatest realizations in the pursuit of balance is understanding that balance can be achieved in the long term–not everything needs to be immediate. Sometimes, I get so caught up in the present moment by doing everything at the same time, that I fall completely out of balance. I’ve realized that you don’t have to prove yourself all at once. I have the rest of my life to do all the things I want to do, and with time and patience, I can do them all to ultimately live a life of balance.

Elephants are fucking awesome for many reasons. They are highly revered creatures in Southeast Asian culture and Buddhism (holla). They are communal animals who ride and die together, not like the individualistic culture capitalist America cultivates. I’ve always been intrigued by elephants because they are gargantuan as shit! They can crush your puny existence. But they don’t, because they are very peaceful animals. Even in their colossal mass, elephants can walk as light as a feather, while still moving the earth with every step. And that’s exactly what I want to do. I want to move the world. With peace, not with force. I love elephants. And that’s why I got a tattoo of one.