Creative Sugar Magazine - Spring Issue 2013 by Creative Sugar Magazine

CREATIVE SUGAR M A R C H 2013 - A N E M E R G I N G A R T I S T M A G A Z I N E

THE FALL ISSUE

COVER Photography by: Edwin Chad Florez MUA / Hai r: Eve K l ei min ov a War dr o b e St y li s t: Tar a D e nman War dr o b e A s si s t ant s: C hr i s tian Ri l ey an d A n dr ea J o n e s M o d e l: O l g a Kub r ak at Maj o r N Y Jump sui t: S o n Jun g Wan Hat: Gi na S c hiap p a c as s e

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Creative Sugar Issue NO. 4 Editor-in-Chief Sabrina Scott Copy Editor Marilyn Recht Contributing Editor Jeff Grunthaner, Visual Art Photographers Laura Blüer Edwin Chad Florez Joseph Gallo Joshua Scott Writers Laura Blüer Jen Pitt Kenneth Lundquist, Jr. Wardrobe Stylists Tara Denman Sherah Jones Wardobe Assistants Christian Riley Andrea Jones Hair & Makeup Eve Kleiminova Te$$ Money for Hey Slick! Collective Graphic Design Sabrina Scott Contact: info@creative-sugar.net ph: 1-888-669-5513 web: creative-sugar.net facebook.com/creativesugarmagazine

FROM THE EDITOR Welcome to the fourth issue of our quarterly magazine. This spring time issue celebrates the work of extremely talented artist Pierre Emmanuel Fillet. In addition to a story about his digital art, a collaboration of sorts takes place as Contributing Editor Jeff Grunthaner translates a French excerpt from Pierre’s manuscript. I also want to mention the artistic highlights written about the work of artists Jeremy Arruda and Logan Hicks. Both prove to be highly motivated creatively and offer insight into what they are all about. We are fortunate to have included two fashion editorials in this issue, both different in style and each incredibly luminous. Photographer Edwin Chad Florez incorporates design influences in his final selections, which seem to recall the relationship between the artist and the muse. To sum up, his creative team is awesome. And, the collaboration between photographer Joshua Scott and stylist Sherah Jones is perfection. Add to it the edgy work of makeup and hair by Te$$ Money and you’ve got a fun, forward thinking fashion interpretation straight out of Tokyo. Bringing it back home, if you’re in the neighborhood, check out the Bushwick, Brooklyn DIY space called Bohemian Grove. I feel it ’s an art laboratory that creates great things. All of it was built from the ground up in the name of emerging art. Enjoy all of the photos and stories. I hope Creative Sugar continues to add a bit of creative inspiration.

© 2013 Creative Sugar Magazine is published quarterly by Creative Sugar Media, LLC. All rights to art, words, photos, design and copyrights are the property of the Artist. All work in this publication may not be used without the Artist’s consent.

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

New York, New York

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VISUAL

A R T I S T J E R E M Y A R R U D A

B Y K E N N E T H L U N D Q U I S T, J R .

A R T I S T P I E R R E E M M A N U E L F I L L E T

B Y J E F F G R U N T H A N E R

B O H E M I A N G R O V E : A D I Y PA R A D I S E

B Y LAURA BLÜER

A R T I S T & M U S E BY PHOTOGRAPHER EDWIN CHAD FLOREZ A N D S T Y L I S T TA R A D E N M A N H A I R & M A K E U P B Y E V E K L E I M I N O VA

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T O K YO T R O P I C S

BY PHOTOGRAPHER JOSHUA SCOT T AND STYLIST SHERAH JONES H A I R & M A K E U P B Y T E $$ M O N E Y F O R HEY SLICK! COLLECTIVE

A R T I S T L O G A N H I C K S

A R T

BY JEN PIT T

TA K E O N F I L M

BY JOSEPH GALLO

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Jeremy Arruda Arcane Atmospheres by Kenneth Lundquist, Jr. Fear. Terror. Swirling realities. Disturbing images. Artist Jeremy Arruda’s canvases transport one to a Ralph Steadman “Gonzo” style environment. Although only 22, his art suggests a creative mind many years his senior. Originally from Massachusetts, Jeremy has traveled throughout the US, from one exhibition to the next. He recently showed in a solo exhibition, “Inferno,” in Ormond Beach, Florida, a wealthy suburb of Daytona Beach. Most of the pieces in the exhibition were pre-sold to one collector before the opening reception—an excellent feat for such a young artist.

“I’m going to have to say black is my favorite color…there’s a lot you can do with it. It’s the absence of color, and it works great with white…. One of my best memories of creating art was when I was young. I had just watched Disney’s Snow White, and the Evil Queen really drew me in. So after the movie, I took the VHS cover and drew her. That’s what really started me on creating art.”

Jeremy works primarily in Neo-Expressionism. He believes that experimenting is key not only with materials and media, but style as well:

“I have social anxiety disorder. I don’t tell people my emotions. I believe I can truly express myself through the artwork—whether I’m frustrated, feeling dark, or whatever; it comes through in the canvas. I’m naturally happy; I just have such an infatuation with darker things. I would always root for the villain.”

“Trying new things is always fun, it’s about gaining as much experience as possible. Searching for what makes me comfortable…abstract is my current focus. There are a lot of possibilities…I don’t always know what’s going to happen.” Jeremy grew up watching the horror and surreal films of Hitchcock and Lynch. He draws much inspiration from these atmospheric experiences, which he expertly translates to his work: “I’m intrigued by movies that don’t tell you what they are about. It’s more of an experience. I’m interested in not only conveying the image I’m creating but also the experience of creating the work itself. My main focus is creating an atmosphere—a living nightmare, a sense of dread.” Working with calligraphy dip pens, charcoal, spray and house paint, Jeremy creates these haunting 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:

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Creativity is Jeremy’s most natural form of communication. He is a recluse, spending the majority of his time working on his art:

As Jeremy continues to create, he peers deep into the future. He realizes that canvas art doesn’t fully satisfy his creative spirit. Composing film-esque music is another great love of Jeremy’s. He recently scored two short films: “I want to score films simply because I love films and I love film music. I have since I was a kid. I am constantly recording my own, nontraditional pieces. I will always create art, but if for some reason it doesn’t work out for me, I know film composition is there as well. In the past, I have even said that I would much rather be a film composer than an artist. I have passions for both my art and my music, so it’s a difficult decision to make. There is always the option to do both.” I’m certain that whatever form of art Jeremy decides to stick with, it will be original and amazingly creative. His youth, passion, and work ethic will lend itself to a brave and bright future.

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Jeremy says, “I will continue to focus on making good art, and the rest will take care of itself. I’ll never change for anybody. If I create from the heart, then it’s real art.” Learn more about Jeremy Arruda and his art: Thelaughingwindow.com

R I G H T: B R O K E N PA R T S BELOW: MARTIN PA G E 9: I ’ M L AT E PA G E 7: S I L E N C E I S G O L D E N ALL WORK BY JEREMY ARRUDA

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“O ¨ R I N ” - V I E W 1 WORK IN PROGRESSE PLANK M I X E D C O M P U T E R T E C H N I Q U E , D I G I TA L P R I N T, 2012

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THE ORGANIZATION OF DESIRE: WRITING AND ART BY PIERRE EMMANUEL FILLET by jeff grunthaner

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“ L A D E R N I È R E B ATA I L L E D E N A P O L É O N ” ( N A P O L E O N ’ S L A S T B AT T L E ) D E TA I L S , M I X E D C O M P U T E R T E C H N I Q U E , D I G I TA L P R I N T, 2011

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The Organization of Desire: Writing & Art by

Pierre Emmanuel Fillet by jeff grunthaner Pierre Emmanuel Fillet is something of a rarity in contemporary art. Both artist and writer— as well as an actor and filmmaker—Fillet’s sensibility cannot be confined 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, culminating in a mathematical formalism that everywhere verges on the mythic. As he says in L’art numérique: hybridation, 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 functions.” In paintings such as Neural Receptor Head and o¨rin, Fillet manifests a hidden vitality in the minutest details of Picabian, machine-like structures. An upsurging psychical quality binds their intricate tessellations: a momentousness portending a fully realized utopia, which at this stage of human evolution is only visible diagrammatically. Detailing the virtual schematics of a world where intelligence and form are soldered tightly together, Fillet’s paintings redefine with unique expressivity our notion of “system.” They present a vast interrelatedness of parts and render freedom spatially eloquent. The works included here are organic, gestural responses to the ubiquity of digital mediation, portraying an a priori reality saturated with functional configurations that resemble structures of the visible world. Examining Fillet’s work closely, one notes a complex weaving of collage elements with gestural brushstrokes, assembled with a mathematic elegance that questions digital media itself, making visual space an arena of vectors in motion.

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Fillet engages both his pallette and the extension of spatiality on their own terms, confronting his medium as a set of questions to be experientially answered through his practice and the production of individual paintings. The result is an atmosphere of nervousness not to be confused with anxiety. It’s simply what happens when we realize that the matter we shape through our technologies is the concretized extension of our human bodies.

T O P : N E U R A L R E C E P T O R H E A D, M I X E D C O M P U T E R T E C H N I Q U E , D I G I TA L P R I N T 2011 L E F T: G E N E R AT O R C E L L 2, M I X E D C O M P U T E R T E C H N I Q U E , D I G I TA L P R I N T 2012 R I G H T: LOVE C O N S P I R A C Y, MIXED C O M P U T E R T E C H N I Q U E , D I G I TA L P R I N T 2011 ALL WORK BY THE ARTIST

photo by melissa robin photography

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from Digital Art: The Making of the Chimera Excerpted from Fillet’s manuscript, L’art numérique: hybridation. Translated by Pierre Emmanuel Fillet and Jeff Grunthaner. I The human figure, viewed as part of a vast matrix, its individual destiny residing within it, allows us to analogically approach the connection between the digital artist and his work. In the matrix, the value of space is not the same as in traditional 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 superimposed non-linear neural pathways, the artist’s goals, artistic tools, and the figures he shapes already express a measurable interval between action and perception. His hand does not directly touch the figures, but mediately, through mouse clicks, keyboard and screen. IV Cybernetics, the science of purposeful control, has proven a philosophical as well as aesthetic ideal: life as perpetual extension, which can be used to structure people’s behavior and develop new pictorial shapes. This idea was strong enough to interest the ruling hegemony who created the controlling class. VI The artist is a voyant. But what exactly does he see? This is especially what interests us when we observe him using his medium. VII With diagrammatic thought, we have the impression that the potential structure of space is comprehended like a plan, a map, with this specific difference: the diagram dynamically defines the map as a volume of n dimensions. XIII The global production of screens of different kinds and sizes—iPhones, TVs, computers—before yielding to the domination of the spectacle by images, initially presents a «built-in» transfer of the act of seeing. Shapes, choices, the pitfalls of vision, are already determined, already activated by an unconscious transformation, a recasting of vision by different types of digital devices. The raw information of reality anticipated by the cognitive system of the individual is already constructed by the computer out of trajectories and filters. These technical processes allow us to understand the computer as a commutator, in which the imprint of vision is doubled before being qualified as “seen.”

L E F T: N E U R A L R E C E P T O R H E A D D E TA I L , M I X E D C O M P U T E R T E C H N I Q U E , D I G I TA L P R I N T 2011 WORK BY THE ARTIST

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Bohemian Grove: A DIY Paradise in Bushwick by Laura Blüer I was first introduced to Bohemian Grove, a Bushwick DIY show and art space, one afternoon last summer when a friend played an acoustic show on the roof. DIY, or “Do-It-Yourself,” show spaces are arts venues that are created, built, and managed entirely by artists. In Bushwick there is an extensive and growing network of these spaces, which often operate purposefully on the fringes of, or directly in opposition to, the institutionalized art world. Months later I attended a show in the basement and noticed 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 Matthew Maichel and several other artists 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 doesn’t 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 first 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 finished constructing it. She also helps with The Grove’s family dinners and planted the garden on the roof. What follows are excerpts from a conversation with Matt and Jen about how this incredibly supportive, hardworking group of artists 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?

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Matt: 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 different situation in that it was just a house, none of the more recent renovations you see had been completed yet. When and how did the shows start happening? Well, believe it or not, the parties and shows can really be traced to wanting to have a backyard that was comfortable enough to stand around and smoke a cigarette. 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 coffee. I told him sure, so he brought down coffee and we had a cigarette together. We both had the mutual realization that this pile of trash was kind of a horrible place to smoke. That led to multiple sessions of hanging out and cleaning up, and eventually we put the whole backyard in order. After digging through the trash, dirt, and refuse, we were able to build flowerbeds and found some really beautiful stones underneath, where we built fire pits. Next thing you know, neighbors were sticking their heads out the windows and climbing out on the fire escapes to see what we were doing. We started having people over on a regular basis to enjoy the space we’d 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 flowers. People who came to visit us for birthday parties and barbeques encouraged us to host more events here. How does the living situation work? There’s an entire residential building above the show space. At first we were Craigslisting people to fill rooms–I found this place through Craigslist. One of

RUDE GIRLS IN THE BASEMENT PHOTO PROVIDED BY BOHEMIAN GROVE

C A M E R O N S T U A R T ’ S T H E AT R E P R O D U C T I O N P H O T O B Y B R E T T W. T H O M P S O N

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ROOFTOP PHOTO PROVIDED BY BOHEMIAN GROVE

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 definitely the nurturing artistic and creative environment we were trying to expand. Now the way it’s set up is that we have an open-door policy of sorts. People can drop by and hang out; it’s very open. The people who live here want to share what’s going on in their lives and in their work. It’s such a personal, intimate setting that everyone really opens up when we have visitors come by. What kind of group activities do you do? We do family dinners about once a week, and it’s usually themed so everyone brings the same type of food, whether it’s Italian or vegetarian, etc. and sometimes we’ll have a game night together. It brings everyone together in a nice way. You’d think living in a house with this many people would mean you’d see them constantly, but sometimes it’s hard to catch up with Two-hour someone iflooped your schedules don’t always match Good Game. up. of a post baseball game performance hand slap, 2010. Photo provided by Artists.

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Another thing we all work on together is constructing the physical space. After we finished building out the backyard, we took over the roof. In the summer, we throw parties up there a lot; we planted some gardens, and the last two seasons we grew vegetables and ate those for dinner all the time. For a while, we had a kiddy pool and some astroturf up there. Once we finished 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 letters and pictures and tchotchkes. Digging through all that stuff we found a bunch of things we were tempted to keep, and some of them we did—there’s a crazy-looking statue in the new bathroom over there that was left 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

“sands of time” by melissa robin photography

CAMERON STUART

J E N P L A S KO W I T Z

M AT T M A I C H E L

STUART LOSEE

A V I E W O F B A S E M E N T N E A R T H E G R O V E ’ S S H O W P L A C E - P H O T O S O N PA G E B Y LAURA BLÜER

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dumpster and filled it until it overflowed with all the crap that was in here. This space serves as a studio for anyone who lives here and is an artist. We have a woodshop with a bunch of woodworking tools and machines.

that’s kind of the most interesting balance to strike. Everyone has something unique to offer and this is the space where it all comes together.

I use a part of the space as a metal shop. I’ve been building this motorcycle, a 1977 XS 650 Yamaha, and basically we’re turning it into a brat-style bobber. Originally it was a two-seater with a large pan seat. We cut off the back end and welded in this new frame, and turned it into a single-seater. We’re going to change the paint and the shocks and build a custom exhaust and lighting system on it, among other things.

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 parties, 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. I’ve got a library upstairs that I want to expand and make open to the public.

Over on the side of the basement where we throw shows, one of the major recent projects we’ve completed is that we re-cemented the whole floor. 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 floor, so it’s 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, we’re in Showpaper sometimes, and nearly every person you meet has either been here or knows someone who has been here. We didn’t start out with this kind of space in mind, but it has grown into something beautiful. Shane Donnelly does most of the curation 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 he’s got a great sense of how to put shows together. One of the most important things he reminded us of when he first started out here was that shows have to be curated. Everyone knows someone who’s an artist or in a band that wants to have a space to book shows, but you can’t always get everyone to play—otherwise the space loses its singularity. We usually book electronic or acoustic, sometimes kind of psychedelic music, but it’s always interesting and unique. The people involved are always humble, which is refreshing and real, and sincere. Sometimes ten or fifteen people play, and it’s usually impossible to decipher who was the “main” act. The best thing that happens is artists and showgoers meet each other and share something special in this space, and sometimes even end up collaborating with each other. I think if there’s only one rule for the whole space, it’s trying to allow enough room for everyone. And

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What are your long-term goals for the space?

Do you ever have 2-D art shows on the walls? Jen: Oh yeah! That’s another goal. I want to have art shows here. We all do. The landlord is an artist and wants to show art here, he’s a photographer and painter and art teacher. I’d love to put up walls and track lighting. Matt: 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 transgenerational, so even if the original crew was gone, it would still exist for like-minded people. My shortterm goal is to continue 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. Now’s the time to really shine and use the space to its fullest potential. For more information, find 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 show—they are located at 64-66 Grove Street, Brooklyn, NY, off the Gates Ave JZ train.

BEING LED THROUGH THE STUDIO AND WORKSHOP AREA P H O T O B Y LAURA BLÜER

ART LEFT BY PREVIOUS TENANT P H O T O B Y LAURA BLÜER

POURING CONCRETE PHOTO PROVIDED BY BOHEMIAN GROVE

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DRESS: CAMELIA SKIKOS HAT: KELLY CHRISTY GLOVES: DANIEL STORTO EARRINGS: DELICATE RAYMOND VINTAGE COLLECTION

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Ar tist & Muse PHOTOGRAPHER: EDWIN CHAD FLOREZ MAKEUP & HAIR: EVE KLEIMINOVA WARDROBE STYLIST: TARA DENMAN WARDROBE ASSISTANTS: CHRISTIAN RILEY AND ANDREA JONES MODEL: OLGA KUBRAK AT MAJOR NY

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SHEER BLOUSE, PANT AND JACKET: DAVID TLALE - BRA: LA PERLA - HAT: KELLY CHRISTY SHOES: GIAMBATTISTA VALLI - EARRINGS: DANIEL SUDAR

photo by richard kern

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COAT/DRESS: DAVID TLALE - YELLOW TOP UNDERNEATH COAT: SAMANTHA PLEET SHOES: GUCCI - HAT: GINA SCHIAPPACASSE - BROACH: DELICATE RAYMOND VINTAGE COLLECTION

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DRESS: CAMELIA SKIKOS - BANGLE: HEADBANGER - SHOES: BE & D

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JACKET: NATHALIE KRAYNINA - BLOUSE: DANIEL SUDAR -HIGH WAIST PANTY: WOLFORD- HOSIERY: LEVANTE - BELT: BURAKUYAN - HAT: ERIC JAVITS BROACH: DELICATE RAYMOND VINTAGE COLLECTION SHOES: JOHN GALLIANO

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TOKYO

TROPICS PHOTOGRAPHER: JOSHUA SCOT T RETOUCHER: MANDY STRONG S T Y L I S T: S H E R A H J O N E S M A K E U P/ H A I R : T E $$ M O N E Y F O R H E Y S L I C K ! C O L L E C T I V E M O D E L : M I K A F U R U YA AT A G E N C Y M O D E L M A N A G E M E N T

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T O P : D A N I E L L A K E L L M E Y E R - PA N T S : P I A PA U R O - J A C K E T: U K E - H AT: W E A R I S R E X N E C K L A C E : V I V I E N N E K E L LY - B E LT: M A R Y M A R Y - S H O E S : J E F F E R Y C A M P B E L L

T O P : S E R I A L C U LT U R A - S K I R T: D A N I E L L A K A L L M E Y E R - S C A R F : S T Y L I S T ’ S O W N - B E LT: B - L O W T H E B E LT B R A C E L E T: V I V I E N N E K E L LY - N E C K L A C E : W E A R I S R E X - S N E A K E R S : L ICREATIVE N D S AY DSUGAR E G E NSpring

2013

TOP: DANIELLA KALLMEYER D R E S S : P I A PA U R O SCARF: UNIQLO B E LT: B - L O W T H E B E LT J E W E L R Y: V I V I E N N E K E L LY

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D R E S S : P I A PA U R O TOP: STYLIST ’S OWN J E W E L R Y: V I V I E N N E K E L LY

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B O D Y S U I T: U K E DRESS: MANDARIN & GENERAL H E A D W R A P A N D P I N : P I A PA U R O A N D W E A R I S R E X R I N G : V I V I E N N E K E L LY SOCKS: H&M S A N36 D A L S : Spring L I N D S AY D E GCREATIVE EN 2013

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photo by john watts

CARDIGAN: UKE S H I R T: P I A PA U R O D R E S S : S E R I A L C U LT U R A B E LT: B - L O W T H E B E LT B R A C E L E T: W E A R I S R E X S H O E S : L I N D S AY D E G E N

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Logan Hicks finds his place in the world one giant mural at a time By Jen Pitt

ogan Hicks, a spray can veteran from Baltimore based in New York for the past seven years, has an upcoming show at L.A.C.E in Los Angeles entitled “Thin Veils and Heavy Anchors.” An artistic and meticulous kid, Logan worked in a screen-printing shop in high school and then went to art school in Baltimore, specializing in graphic design. But he quickly became stifled and distressed with Academia Art. He says, “In the ‘90s, it was all very elitist and gallery based,” so he put his skills to more practical use by opening his own screen-printing business. “I actually made a lot of money selling t-shirts and totes till I made enough money to move to L.A and start painting full time.” In a city where so many dreams and aspirations get crushed, Logan was a lucky thriver: “It’s 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 first 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 I’m working with, and that’s why I’ve stuck to stencils till now. And it takes patience and time, a whole lot of time.” He referred specifically 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 freeform graffiti but admires artists who can work with that spontaneous fluidity. “It’s mind-blowing for me to see someone just start their project on the spot like that, with no sort of map. I’ve always been a methodical, linear thinker so stencils allow you to think.” After stenciling, traveling became his second passion, which is now an essential 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

Spring 2013 CREATIVE SUGAR

reflections on the places he has been to. “When I was living out West, I was making a lot of East coast art, using the gritty aesthetic urban complexes of Baltimore and New York. Being removed from those cities made them gleam in my mind as vivid pictures. I guess when you get enough distance you can see the full picture better.” Many talented artists have shared this sentiment; even Hemingway said he could only write about Michigan when he was in Paris. Logan’s upcoming show in L.A. will feature works based in Paris and London. “Traveling, and consequently my art, is about finding 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] effect 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 cities are erected like giant haunting machines. Every place he goes is new, cracking open another dreamy machine. When I asked him if he saw himself moving back West after this show, he expressed what many New Yorkers feel: “I think about it all the time, but traveling must suffice for now, because once you’ve lived in New York you simply cannot fully move out of it—you know what I’m talking about.” I asked about his thoughts on street art’s migration into galleries and indoor spaces. “Of course the beauty of outside murals is that they are democratic and uniting but there’s always going to be a sacrifice of quality when you’re working outdoors. Taking it to galleries allows me to put the utmost quality and time 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. “Collaboration and cooperation are essential in any art form but graffiti and street art are changing every day, and vastly different depending on where it’s done.” Indeed, street art depends on generating movement and keeping it fresh; street artists work within communities, and in turn their audience is usually very community oriented. Logan’s work breeds into and off community in a unique way. You can check out Logan’s work at: http://workhorsevisuals.com/new/

ABOVE: CITY CLUSTERS 2012 B Y L O G A N H I C K S R I G H T:

ARTIST

LOGAN

H I C K S AT W O R K

CREATIVE SUGAR Spring 2013

take on film by joseph gallo

100 I S O, 15 M I N U T E E X P O S U R E WITH A WIDE ANGLE LENS

Spring 2013 CREATIVE SUGAR

CREATIVE SUGAR Spring 2013

3200 I S O

Spring 2013 CREATIVE SUGAR

A G I N G E R B R E A D B O Y I N N A Z I S PA C E

F LY B O Y S H O O T S H I S L A D D E R

50 I S O W I T H A WIDE ANGLE LENS

3200 I S O SISTER NANCY’S

3200 I S O

CREATIVE SUGAR Spring 2013

100 I S O, W I T H A WIDE ANGLE LENS

Spring 2013 CREATIVE SUGAR

CREATIVE SUGAR Spring 2013

Spring 2013 CREATIVE SUGAR