Gaia

“I’ll Ride With You Until the Wheels Fall Off”
Portrait of alternatives means to cars: wheel chairs, pedal bikes, scooters and e bikes. The three main models are ( one of our earliest supporters in the street art scene) (frequent collaborator and consultant on the project) and .dae20

Only had about seven hours focus on my piece so I kept the concept simple. I see all sorts of people using bike lanes with all sorts of access to mobility. I put bikes right in the lane of cars on I-83. 💥

Special thanks to and
And of course and shout out Obed

Second year producing a mural project for the city of Baltimore. I am often hired as a consultant to deliver a turn key experience for my client. On the front end I help with legal documents, insurance compliance and logistics planning. Afterwards I order lifts and develop a schedule for the participating artists. Finally we receive the machinery, operate, and repair them for the participating artists. In addition I coordinate highly attentive labor to serve the artist’s needs on site and help paint. We fill in where DPW and DOT fall short and often end up cleaning, priming and preparing the surfaces in order to maintain strict timelines. My team can do the work of 20 city workers and there are only a few of us. This translates into 16 hour days regularly for days or weeks with little break in between. I do this essentially at cost in an effort to get my team as much money as possible for their hard work, and I charge a small consulting fee or end up taking a loss ( last years Art After Dark I lost money because of lift rental costs).

Here’s what I don’t do for the city: I am not a curator and I do not select the artists. I arrive after the city has made their decision and I have to work with whomever they choose. That means that I am serving people who may never have painted on this grand of a scale.

Often in this context because I don’t choose the artists and I don’t black ball people contrary to popular belief, I have to work with muralists who have cast aspersions behind my back, smile to my face, and talk down on my hard work. We still have to serve them.

Admittedly painting murals is a foolish and ephemeral endeavor as the moment it is finished inevitably someone will come and deface the work. Envy and jealousy are remarkably motivating forces. To all my haters, I’m sorry I haven’t moved: it must be annoying being from here seeing me paint so effortlessly and constantly putting people on.

Through all of this I am grateful to those who have my back through thick and thin. If anything I pride myself on acquiring contracts to keep my team fed and paid well.

I’ll probably delete this post but I am grateful to my wife, and

New mural by I produced for on the outside of Harlem Park Rec Center. For this piece aluminum composite panels were installed over the brick with spray paint on top to get a smooth even finish. This is an ongoing project I have been curating for the that’s funded by

Unveiling event documentation for the most recent wall . Kid Balloon completed their second collaboration with the and supported the effort to paint this three story piece on the Harlem Park Rec Center.

Event documentation by

Interior painting for Adlai
Hybrid figure holding an pattern made by a Kuba artisan flanked by the interior of the Cohen sisters apartment at the Marlborough in Bolton Hill. Additional influential sculpture have been added to the space. Portrait of the aristocrat Charles Wilson Peale revealing the interior of his collection in a painting entitled “the Artist and His Museum.” Finally the Gertrude Sisters are painted as a pair to the left of the composition with a tiny Gertrude Stein nestled at the bottom. At a collectors house, painted in the studio and installed on site.

Tomorrow from 2-4pm I will participate in a dialogue with my frequent collaborator Ernest Shaw hosted by at their gallery. The discussion is from 2-4pm. I think it will be an important discussion on the current state of mural painting and public art in our city. The address is 2519 N Charles

Image from a collaborative piece I painted for Ernest Shaw in Atlanta in 2018

Great summary of the most recent work on greenmount and preston

Site of beloved Baltimore soul food spot to reopen as a park >> See the full article below ⬇️

Portrait of Mayor Sheila Dixon
Oil on Canvas 60” x 40”
Official Commission for the former Baltimore Mayor for the collection at City Hall.

The mayor stands outside in front of a lurid scene of a sunset over Druid Hill Park reservoir, highlighting Mayor Dixon’s commitment to a greener Baltimore city.
“Portraits of Power” is an exhibition of the official portraits and a selection of the participating artist’s independent work. Last night was the opening featuring artists Megan Lewis , Kennedy Ringgold , Karen Warshal , Ernest Shaw and myself.

The Sun Rises in East Baltimore
Commission for for their office exterior wall. One of my more minimal works, the broad swaths of lavender and light orange shift as the surrounding light and clouds change.

My piece entitled “Africa” from 2022 is available as a print to help raise funds for the . The show is organized by and the piece is available to buy as an edition through . Link is in the Bio to make purchasing as easy as possible