The Digest | New Jersey Magazine
Issue link: https://magazines.vuenj.com/i/1216617
NE OF THE BIGGEST record label owners and producers had me create a custom painting where the woman with the thought bubble in the "Material Girl" piece looked like his wife. So I just needed to recre- ate her skin, hair, a few things and she loved it as her birthday present. When Kim Kardashian and Brian Lee's company, Shoe Dazzle, started several years ago—they had me create a large custom "Material Girl" for her lobby and match the brand colors and change the text to read, "Darling, all I require are dazzling shoes." Recently I created a commission that was for the founder of JetBlue airlines, who now went on to create Azul Airlines, and this piece of art was commemorating their very first aircra in the lease of a brand new fleet for the line. I painted the aircra which of course read "AZUL" on the plane itself and, for the background, I created vintage images of all of the travel destina- tions where the airline flew. I get a lot of celebrities and brands who want a bit of their own custom world in the art and I can accommodate many things for them including sizes. Can you tell me about the process of making your work? Where do you draw inspiration? I draw inspiration from almost everything. Even the most mundane things like a matchbook cover, for example. I can look at that for instance and say, "at might have sparked an idea." I might see an old ad or a classic film and gain inspiration from those. I am constantly being inspired on a daily basis. e process starts aer that inspiration and idea, usually in the wee hours of the night, when I go back and review all of my notes from that week and envision what I might want to create. I do an immense amount of research for every new piece. I scour my archives of vintage magazines and papers from the 1940s and '50s which can spark something. en I execute it on canvas, wood or as a sculpture. at process can take weeks or even months. I always keep my own catalog of notes to refer back to, which list projects I may want to complete in the future or possibly redo. O V U E N J . C O M 90