Artborne Magazine April 2017 | Page 28

Kyle Eagle : Your social media posts give a good insight into your point of view and your artwork . Like the drawing you made of the then Education Secretary nominee , Betsy DeVos , in the mold of the schoolmaster from Pink Floyd ’ s The Wall . And textual posts like :
“ I don ’ t bring up Trump to pick fights — I bring up Trump to pick minds . Recognize .”
One that ties together both your social media presence and artwork — the Pulse-inspired piece : the Matisse-like birds . You said the idea came to you after watching it on the news and reading about it , and you immediately thought of all the different people it involved , and likened it to a puzzle , and that putting it back together again will also serve to put back together the community . Deep stuff there . Andrew Spear : Yeah , all those people WERE part of puzzle that was bigger , in the respect to the lives they led , were involved with , and how they rippled across the community .
That piece caught on immediately . I didn ’ t have long to do it , which is how a lot of this stuff works — you get the idea right away , and I went with it . It was an honor and , ultimately , a responsibility . She asked me . She could have picked any person , but she asked me , and there was a lot of responsibility ... to make something loud with a message , and tasteful . Everyone was giving their strong points . It ’ s gotten a lot of press : it ’ s in a John Legend video , lots of news footage . My mom tells me she sees it . I didn ’ t sign it , it ’ s about a feeling of trying to have a happier place , and bringing some solace to the community , and what I could do artistically to help when asked by the of owner of Pulse .
Your work blurs the line of highly stylized expression and commercial art . That ’ s rare for an artist , and I say artist in your case because your work certainly has that quality — an expressive voice — and one that lends itself well visually for a number of commercial and marketable reasons . In a league with the likes of Shepard Fairey , Mark Kostabi , and Romero Britto , at least in a regional sense . Wow , thank you .
Not in the case of Britto ’ s political beliefs , though . Another thank you !
Kidding aside , do you think you ’ re known mostly for your commercial work ? I ’ d say so .
3ft High Theory , colored pencil on blackboard
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