Legend. I have to concur. You hear things about people that have paved the road for you while you are growing up. Sometimes you wonder how much of it is true and if you'll ever get a chance to meet them and tell for your self. Well Slang lives beyond the hype. Way beyond it.
Let me highlight some of my time with him, because it was too overwhelming to record or even speak at some points.
First of all, Slang has a strong work ethic. He is not content with the accolades and where he is currently. (Although I don't know many artists that don't envy him.) The picture of Slang painted by some of the young guys is he is on top and chill'n. He left the Chi and he is milking up his rep in NY and at ease. Far from it. Slang is a hustler. He is hungry and he wants the world. The Art world that is...He is constantly working! He stopped to talk a couple minutes in the interview, but mostly he is reworking two or three peices at a time. In his head he must be refining at least seven or eight.
The work in his studio is ground breaking and thought provoking. Full of political and sexual content. But his work is detailed and full of perfection. It's not over the top and abstracted out of recognition. It's subtle and strong like him. He has his own style dress, talk, and walk. He is a true individual. Legends don't try to emulate anyone else and his persona shows in his painting as well.
He puts in time to support his friends art and he finds time to go to shows. He is very aware of all the art coming out and he takes it all in. He is even more focused on his family. His children are his biggest motivation and sense of being. They take priority over other phone calls, interviews, the countless people that stop him in the street; all have to get put on hold for a phone call from his daughter. He talks about his paintings like they are people too. Each piece has a special meaning, story and personality and life of it's own for him. I think he might actually talk to the work when no is around. (I do.)
He reminds me of Common Sense and Phil Jackson mixed with Quincy Jones and Picasso. He is part of the earliest sign of the Hip-Hop culture/movement in Chicago. He is not just a graph artist though. He is an artist that changed and contributed to graph since it came to the Chi. He is very Zen and meditates on life while creating it in his own imagery. He is in tune with music, musicians and can work a crowd into a frenzy with a brush. This dude has so much style and flair...
A walk with Slang is food for your brain too. Knowledge gets dropped on you in every sentence and he listens intentively. I truly see how his work can reach so many people, because he listens to so many people. I could not show you a lot of his work due to copy rights and because I don't want to. Biters- You have to see it for yourself.
Many big names have contracted Slang for work and related projects, it is almost insulting to just list some, but I 'll throw the monsters out: Disney, Marvel, Ecko and what else do you need to hear? I saw a painting of Beyonce (it used to hang in the walls of Mtv) that Jay-Z would never let out of his sight if he ever saw it in person. I saw a sketch for a gym shoe design that would have Jordan paying top dollar for.
His mastery of lines is so seductive your eyes seem to reveal in his sketches. He enjoys it I think. He is too busy to notice anyhow. To him, that's just his soul manifesting. He is working on his own animation project after collaborating with Disney. He is designing a Hulk* with a twist for some clothing label. He has posters out and he wants to get his suitcase full of sketch books out of his head and on to canvas/wood what-ever asap! He is in a group show here, there, everywhere. Slang is taking Chicago by storm, now that he's back.
The most surprising thing about Slang's genius to me is how humble he is. I think he is really shy or just really comfortable being modest. He lets his work speak for him. It screams out "I Am Legend!"
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