Why Dubai Loves Loveism Another street artist to grace Dubai with their creative presence is Hec One Love. An abstract painter whose signature splatters and drips, and bold use of aphorism in his ‘Loveism Campaign’ can be seen painted on walls around South Florida. Born and raised in Havana’s Vedado neighborhood, Hec One Love’s childhood was rich in old books, art, and culture — but poor in everything else. As a child, he often painted the old faded buildings of Havana with his mind, brightening the grey urban landscape of 1970s Havana with his imagination. Making a move to the United States in 1982, he became one of the first graffiti writers in South Florida. By 1986, he had established himself as a leader of the Miami graffiti movement, founding TWB (Together We Bomb) and MOB (Masters of Bombing) crews and co-founding the Alive5 crew. Tell us about your art.
Hec One: My art, as it currently stands, can best be described within in the context of classical art history as abstract expressionism, more specifically I would describe it as postgraffism or graffuturism. This is a smaller segment of street artists who eventually move away from the constricts of the graffiti subculture, and evolve to find their own visual language, incorporating some of the influence of their graffiti period. What inspires you to start a piece now? Well that depends on what sort of piece it is. If it’s a street work the excitement of having a wall secured and being able to communicate with the public is enough to give me more than enough inspiration. I’m first and foremost a street artist so working in the studio on a painting is a more intimate, if not lonely experience. I’m not a traditional studio artist spending most of my time in the studio painting, I usually let time pass between sessions and then when I do go into the studio I produce multiple pieces at once because of the break it feels new exciting and raw again.
Who inspired you the most at the beginning? I’d have to say Seen, back in the early eighties he was the most well rounded artist producing multiple pieces in many different styles. It was always executed clean and there was lots of attention to letter form (something that has been lost today), you could tell he wanted the regular subway commuters to be able to appreciate his work too and I’m sure many did. Are the any hidden meanings in your work? Yes lots of different things, almost every painting has something that has hidden meanings. Sometimes it’s numbers or other things that might appear random but they always mean something, sometimes when I begin a painting, I write a secret message to the future owner of my piece on the fresh canvas that eventually gets completely covered by the painting. No one will ever read it, but I know it’s there and it makes the work more genuine and meaningful to me. Where in the world have you tagged your name? It’s been many years since I went around tagging on other people’s walls. That’s a young man’s game. Now I prefer to expand the brand with stickers. I like stickers because it affords the opportunity to get the name out there, but in a more attractive and universally appealing way. What are you working on next? I just finished an installation on the wall inside Street Art Gallery here in Dubai and I’m also finishing some more pieces for my upcoming solo show at the same gallery.
Where in the world is the best hotspot for graffiti? Graffiti culture is becoming widely accepted so it seems like every city wants a piece of the action. But as far as I know Wynwood Arts District in Miami is the biggest mural district in the world, with many hundreds of individual pieces, but it’s much bigger than graffiti. In fact, traditional graffiti accounts for only a portion of the wide variety of murals. By: Amanda Rushforth. 30.11.2014. societeperrier.com/uae/dubai/
Hec One Love is an abstract painter whose large-scale works reinvent action painting with a street aesthetic. His signature splatters and drips render color a palpable presence, while his bold use of typography in his Loveism Campaign subverts the omnipresence of iconic, commercial branding. Hec One Love’s work can be seen on walls around South Florida, including the Wynwood Green at Armory Studios, Purvis Young Gallery, Product 81 Gallery in Wynwood Arts District and the Fat Village Arts District in Ft. Lauderdale. His iconic Hec One Love logo stickers can be seen throughout South Florida, across the United States, and Latin America. His work on canvas was shown at the NOW Contemporary Gallery in Wynwood in 2012. Hec curated a Miami Street Collective wall installation at Fountain Fair Miami for Art Basel 2012 and showed his works during NYC Art Week 2013 to celebrate the Armory Show Centennial. Born and raised in Havana Cuba, Hec One Love’s childhood was rich in old books, art, and culture — but poor in everything else. Emigrating to the United States in 1982, Hec quickly found himself deep within Miami’s still underground hip hop culture. Within a year, he was one of the first graffiti writers in South Florida. By 1986, he had established himself as a leader of the Miami graffiti movement: he founded TWB (Together We Bomb) and MOB (Masters of Bombing) crews and co-founded Alive5 crew. He initiated Miami’s original Wall of Fame and was one of three Miami teenagers selected for a graffiti exhibit at the West Dade Regional Public County Library.
His work has appeared in several art books, magazines and online blogs. Many more photos of his early street work were collected by fans, later to be disseminated through historical graffiti internet sites such as MiamiGraffiti.com where he is cited by other well known Miami graffiti as one of the most respected. Hec also has well known supporters in the street art scene such as Futura and Cope2, He has collectors in Miami, New York City and Los Angeles.
“Ode To Duchamp” 120 x 120 cm, mixed media on wood.
“Discipline” 120 x 150 cm, mixed media on canvas.
“Miami Love” 45 x 61 cm, mixed media on canvas.
“Houston & Bowery” 60 x 80 cm, mixed media on canvas.
“Grand Central Station” 27 x 43 cm, mixed media on wood.
“Massacre at Moncada Barracks” 120 x 150 cm, mixed media on canvas.
“F is for 4cast” 27 x 43 cm, mixed media on wood.
“The Moment We Fall in Love” 70 x 70 cm, mixed media on canvas.
“Adidas” 70 x 70 cm, mixed media on canvas.
“Raw Flow” 2 4 x 45 cm, mixed media on wood.
“Raw Flow 1″ 35 x 45 cm, mixed media on wood.
“Blue Neon” 50 x 50 cm, mixed media on wood.
“Empire of Pink and Blue” 50 x 53 cm, mixed media on wood.
“The Problem With Being Vulnerable” 50 x 53 cm, mixed media in wood.
“Brand Identity” 24 x 30 in, mixed media on canvas.
“Paris & Miami” OneMizer collaboration. 120 x 150 cm, mixed media on canvas.
“Everything Old Is New Again” 120 x 150 cm, mixed media on canvas.
“Meanwhile in the Artist’s Mind” 90 x 90 cm, mixed media on canvas.
“Jackson Was Colorblind” 100 x 150 cm, mixed media on canvas.
“Staring At the Moon” 120 x 150 cm, mixed media on canvas.
“Genesis” 30 x 30 in, mixed media on canvas.
“Dubai” 30 x 30 in, mixed media on canvas.
“Dreaming in Blue” 80 x 120 cm, mixed media on canvas.
“Dreaming in Red” 60 x 90 cm, mixed media on canvas.
“Central Park” 18 x 18 in, mixed media on canvas.
“Lovesick” 100 x 150 cm, mixed media on canvas.
“First Call for Prayer” 90 x 90 cm, mixed media on canvas.
“Starry Night” 21 x 21 in, mixed media on wood.
“The 3 Elements” 90 x 180 cm, mixed media on canvas.
“Sand Storm” 30 x 30 in, oil on canvas.
“1983″ 12 x 12 in, mixed media on canvas.
“NYC” 12 x 12 in, mixed media on canvas.
“Orange Yellow Blue Small” 10 x 10 in, oil on canvas.
“Blue Blue Small” 10 x 10 in, oil on canvas. “Orange Blue Small” 10 x 10 in, oil on canvas.
“Orange Yellow Small” 10 x 10 in, oil on canvas.
“Blue Yellow” 11 x 14 in, oil on canvas.
“Orange Yellow” 11 x 14 in, oil on canvas.
“A Hundred Loveisms Series” 8 x 10 in, mixed media on canvas.
“Color and Motion Series” 11 x 14 in, mixed media on canvas.
“Loveism Mural� 38 x 16.5 in, Print, signed and numbered, edition of 30.
Street Art Gallery Villa 23, 10B street, Jumeirah 1, Dubai. 2014