Episode Transcript
[00:00:02] Speaker A: I'm Alex Stone, former military service member and law enforcement officer, now CEO of Echelon Protected Services, one of the fastest growing private security firms on the west coast. And this is ride along, where our guests and I witness firsthand the issues affecting our community.
You, I believe our proven method of enacting meaningful change through compassion and understanding is the best way to make our streets a safer place and truly achieve security through the community.
Welcome to the ride along. We have an amazing guest today. We're out again, out in Portland, Oregon. We have our co host, JJ Arevillo with us today. JJ, tell the people what's up.
[00:01:00] Speaker B: That's what's up, man. Today we have skis, one eight, one world renowned graffiti artist, aka David Flores. Yes. World renowned graffiti artist and muralist. He's going to show us around today after we go back to the office and chat a little bit, he's going to show us around today and teach us a little bit about the culture of graffiti art and kind of what he does, which I'm pumped up about because, you know, me and this guy go back to high school.
So when we were younger, if you got one flyer from this dude.
[00:01:33] Speaker A: That's right.
[00:01:34] Speaker B: You knew and you were accepted into whatever environment. If you got the flyer, if you.
[00:01:40] Speaker A: Don'T have the flyer, you can't get into the party, homie.
[00:01:43] Speaker B: You couldn't make a copy of that flyer. They would laugh at you. Yeah, you wouldn't get into. You had to have the original.
[00:01:49] Speaker A: It was like your golden ticket, bro. So we're just a block away from the train station, and we'll be picking them up, and then hopefully, I think what we're going to do is go scout some areas.
[00:01:59] Speaker C: What's up? I'm skis 181. I'm a street artist, sculptor, art teacher.
[00:02:06] Speaker D: I'm here today to do the ride.
[00:02:07] Speaker C: Along, and I'm going to check out.
[00:02:09] Speaker D: The city of Portland.
[00:02:10] Speaker B: We're going to go to the studio, do a little discussion.
[00:02:13] Speaker A: Cool. Here.
[00:02:13] Speaker B: And then after that, I think we're definitely getting on the road to some of these paint parks.
[00:02:20] Speaker A: What's up?
[00:02:21] Speaker B: Hold on 1 second.
[00:02:22] Speaker D: Let's get out.
[00:02:28] Speaker B: You go ahead and hop in the front.
[00:02:30] Speaker D: Okay. Yeah.
[00:02:31] Speaker A: Good to see you, bro.
[00:02:32] Speaker D: Yeah.
[00:02:33] Speaker A: Good trip?
[00:02:35] Speaker D: I think so, yeah.
[00:02:36] Speaker B: And then we're going to go to the studio, do a little chitchat.
[00:02:38] Speaker A: Yeah, definitely studio.
[00:02:40] Speaker D: Okay.
[00:02:41] Speaker B: Maybe grab some food.
[00:02:42] Speaker D: Yeah.
[00:02:43] Speaker A: And then go scout some areas, man. What do you think about that?
[00:02:47] Speaker D: I'm down.
That's gross.
[00:02:57] Speaker A: You like it?
[00:02:58] Speaker D: Yeah.
[00:02:59] Speaker A: So we already kind of did the intro. But again, you're a street artist. You've been around for how long have you been doing street. Street life, street art?
[00:03:08] Speaker C: I started spray painting in 1980, 1989.
[00:03:11] Speaker B: Damn.
[00:03:11] Speaker A: So was that just single, you just started going out, or did you go out with a crew? Because I know when I did it as a kid, right. We always went in crews.
[00:03:19] Speaker C: My brother was a big influence on me, considering he's an artist too.
But he was more like cholo on the lowrider side. And he would take us to the park. And I remember just bringing, like, two cans of paint with me and trying to paint, like, a skull on the side of the park.
[00:03:38] Speaker A: Yeah, cool.
[00:03:40] Speaker C: It was fun after I did that. And then he had his buddies there with him after they all were like, wow, he did that right in front of us. I just stuck with it.
[00:03:51] Speaker A: Hell, yeah. That's what's up. And so your brother was older?
[00:03:55] Speaker C: Yeah, he was going to high school.
[00:03:58] Speaker A: So he's kind of your mentor with artwork?
[00:04:02] Speaker C: Yeah, in the beginning, yes.
I credit him for starting my career off, if you will, because he was going to high school when I was in elementary school, in fifth grade. So I'm a fifth grade kid. I got my trapper keeper with all my drawings. Yeah, that was my getaway. And he actually gave me the nickname skis because I would meet a girl and ask her your name. Oh, what's your name? Oh, Maria. Okay. So I would do some graffiti letters. Maria. That's how you know mack on chicks.
[00:04:41] Speaker A: That's what's up, bro. Back in the day, remember, we used to have to go to malls and get numbers and everything?
[00:04:46] Speaker B: Pencils and pens?
[00:04:47] Speaker A: Yeah.
So you actually did the artwork, bro. You got paid with numbers.
[00:04:53] Speaker C: Yeah.
So in fifth grade, I was doing that. And imagine my older brother, who's in high school. His name is Joe, and he was more on the Lowrider side. So he comes up to me one day and thought of the idea of, this is the first time I ever got introduced to stuff like this. He comes up to me, he's like, davey, I want you to draw me a know. And I wanted to say skip party.
[00:05:21] Speaker A: And that's right.
[00:05:22] Speaker C: Put Bart Simpson doing a keg stand and stuff like that.
[00:05:28] Speaker B: Started doing flyers.
[00:05:29] Speaker A: I remember back in the day, you were actually famous for the flyers.
[00:05:32] Speaker B: Yeah, he was. That's right.
[00:05:37] Speaker C: 1011 years old, drawing flyers for high school skip parties.
[00:05:41] Speaker A: Yeah, that's what's up.
[00:05:42] Speaker C: And that's how it kind of took off. And from being. Getting fame in the neighborhood, people started referring me to different djs, musicians and all this. So I took all these networks and people that I met from drawing all these flyers and just decided to make my own party. And that's in about 1990, is when I started doing breakdance parties in Northside.
[00:06:10] Speaker A: Oh, nice.
[00:06:11] Speaker C: Yeah. And I would take my own style of flyer and put on there the breakdance competition. And sometimes they would have their breakdance crew name on.
[00:06:23] Speaker A: Yeah. Rock Skittles crew, g tribe. Old g tribe.
[00:06:25] Speaker C: And they're so old. Back in the day, they were so old school that people would get confused, especially like, the authorities, they'll get confused because during that time in Northside, Houston, Texas.
And JJ will tell you, the area that we went to high school was pretty rough. And back in those days, it was more gang related and stuff like that. We are the reason that there was a gang task force during that time. So I applauded them and everything. But the downfall was the first time that we ever had one of these breakdance parties. So you have all these breakdance crews that come together to do a breakdance party, and it consists of different breakdance crews. You have floor masters right here. You got united B boys over here. You got the chaos be boys and havoc choral. So each one of these crews would usually dress the same. They would have the Adidas jumpsuits.
[00:07:29] Speaker A: Yeah, because they're production quality.
[00:07:30] Speaker C: All of them had, like, United B boys had all black Adidas jumpsuits.
Floormasters would have all blue puma jumpsuits. So you can already tell how the gang affiliation these authorities got confused with, because they're like, oh, these kids are all in blue, these kids are all in red, these kids are all in black. But it had to take some explaining for them to understand that this wasn't gangs, this was a break dance party. Break dance crews of kids just dancing for fun.
And I'll never forget the first time we had one of these shows. And the gang task force came.
[00:08:16] Speaker A: They showed up.
[00:08:17] Speaker C: They showed up.
[00:08:18] Speaker A: Oh, wow.
[00:08:18] Speaker C: This must have been Harris County, HPD. Yeah, it was most likely a Harris county sheriff in, I want to say about 1991 92, 1st time I experienced it. And they came in, they made everybody stop the music, and one of the officers just threw up a shotgun and he cocked it and he said, everybody get out. And the kids just ran like roaches.
The place where we had the party, it was kind of like a ballroom and double doors.
There were so many people at that show when that raid was announced that they ran so fast, kids were so scared. And that's natural when it comes to our hood. They ran through those doors, broke both doors open, like, wide open.
[00:09:13] Speaker A: So this was a legal show?
[00:09:15] Speaker C: This was a completely legal show.
[00:09:16] Speaker A: The cops came with that misunderstanding.
Lack of engagement with the community leads to this type of misunderstandings, pretty much.
[00:09:25] Speaker C: But this, again, was in the beginning of the history of Northside and the way things were back then.
I was too young to understand that some of these flyers that I was doing and drawing were, like, gang related, because I was just a kid, twelve years old, drawn an eight ball on a flyer that says skip party. I don't know what an eight ball is. I just thought it was a ball to play pole billiards. But there was two different types of parties. There was the underground hood parties that usually ended up in a fight or shootout or somebody getting runned over because of a raid. And then we kind of steered it more towards the positive side of hip hop, where we kind of just brung. The formula of graffiti is the written word of hip hop, and rap and hip hop music is like spoken word of hip hop. It has elements, part of the culture.
[00:10:35] Speaker A: That'S really deep part of the culture.
[00:10:37] Speaker C: Yeah. And graffiti, and hip hop is considered the written word, and many people don't understand it because a lot of people see it as graffiti, unwanted stuff. But ultimately, all this stuff comes from oppression, comes from wanting to be heard, wanting to be seen. The objective of a graffiti writer is to be seen.
That's the name of the game when it comes to graffiti. Somebody gives you a name, and you try to take it as far and high as you can.
[00:11:12] Speaker A: So someone gives you a name. You can't claim your own name.
[00:11:15] Speaker D: You can.
[00:11:16] Speaker C: But more traditionally, you get your name from a mentor or an older sibling or somebody.
[00:11:26] Speaker A: And that's your artist's name.
[00:11:27] Speaker D: Yeah.
[00:11:28] Speaker C: Or from high school nicknames or whatever. And I took my name and I added the one eight one to it, which is a typical thing when it comes to graffiti art, because you find so many artists that kind of have the same name. But in order to distinguish which artist you are, you put the last three numbers of your address.
[00:11:52] Speaker A: Oh, really?
[00:11:53] Speaker C: So let's say, for example, if you're a graffiti writer in New York City, you write Alex and you're painting know, you get known. But on the other side of New York, there's another know, and he's doing the same thing you are. So in order to distinguish which Alex Graffiti writer you are, you have to put the first three numbers of your address.
[00:12:14] Speaker A: Yeah, I would imagine that you don't want competition between the two. So having that.
[00:12:19] Speaker C: Well, not necessarily competition, but more distinguishing who's respect. Yeah.
[00:12:25] Speaker A: So I want to go back to your brother, if that's okay. You mentioned he was more involved in the lowrider lifestyle.
[00:12:31] Speaker C: Yes.
[00:12:32] Speaker A: And so was he doing murals and ghost patterns on cars? Was he an artist in that regard?
[00:12:37] Speaker C: No, he dabbled in tatooing and lowrider bicycles.
[00:12:46] Speaker A: Okay, gotcha.
[00:12:48] Speaker C: And back then, there was a thing with chicano culture. We had something similar to a scrapbook, how some people have scrapbooks and you draw in it and you ask questions, just throw a sticker. It's kind of like the precursor to a black book session, if you will.
[00:13:08] Speaker A: Got you.
[00:13:09] Speaker C: So you would have this book, and you would either collect letters from siblings in jail, and they would come back with, like, you know, hand drawn handkerchiefs with like the Virgin Mary.
[00:13:24] Speaker A: Yeah, I remember my friend Jimmy Rodriguez actually sent me a laundry bag. Yeah, he had done up a whole laundry bag with his name.
[00:13:34] Speaker C: Yeah. So I would get one from my older brother who was in jail, and he would send me stuff like that.
[00:13:41] Speaker A: Nice.
[00:13:41] Speaker C: Along with braided crosses and plastic jewelry that they would make over there. So the culture itself, back then, in the mid to late 80s, even early 80s, we kind of spun off from the California lifestyle where there used to be a magazine called Teen Angels magazine, and this was a strictly cholo style magazine, meaning exclusively for Mexicanos, young mexican adolescents. You have the hair comb bag, the khakisu, and they would draw stuff like this. And the female always had the wing cholo wings hairstyle with the cholo bandan bands on their hands and stuff like that. So it derived from that lifestyle of having a family member incarcerated. They would send you these love letters or mail or whatever. Hey, send this to my baby doll. Or they always had funny low rider names and whatever, you know what I'm saying? So it derived from that. And the style of shading when they would receive these handkerchiefs, like handmade. It's a style all its own. It's more like a shaded ballpoint pen, like a grayscale.
[00:15:13] Speaker A: Everything's a grayscale.
[00:15:14] Speaker C: Grayscale.
[00:15:14] Speaker A: And that's where these types of tattoos.
[00:15:16] Speaker C: Exactly. And it's always derived from a shading blackwash, if you will.
[00:15:24] Speaker A: It's beautiful because you get so much more structure.
[00:15:28] Speaker C: Exactly.
[00:15:28] Speaker A: The gray.
[00:15:29] Speaker C: Yeah, they took it. They took the flowers, the shading, the clocks, the clowns with the happy face, smile, smile now, cry later, all that dramatic stuff, and turned it into our own culture. And it's not just the illustrations, it's the lifestyle. It's the creased up shirt, the clean outfit back in the day, or your swagger or your lingo.
[00:16:01] Speaker A: And this culture, it goes back all the way to the zoo suit riots in LA, Hispanics, even though California and Texas were part of Mexico, and they're taken over by the United States. Slowly but surely, segregation started to creep in from that white power structure. And so this was a way to fight back and to kind of preserve that mexican culture, the spanish culture, and.
[00:16:27] Speaker B: Also have a form of individualism in your dress and in the way you carried yourself.
[00:16:32] Speaker A: And so you're carrying this. You've carried this culture forward on your shoulders 40 years.
I would say you're one of the key people in America. Well, I was doing this.
[00:16:44] Speaker C: I don't carry it 100% entirely, because that's a lifestyle all its own.
I know of it, and I'm aware of it. And a couple of my siblings were like that. But the point is, I come from a variety of brothers that had their own story, if you will. That's my brother Joe alone. You haven't met my other brothers. And they all had their own thing going. Like, for example, he was cholo lowrider. My other brother was more Tehano.
The snakeskin boots, polo with the big gallon hat. Listening to.
[00:17:31] Speaker B: With the creased jeans.
[00:17:32] Speaker C: Yeah, listening to Vicente Fernandez going to rodeo. So each one of my brothers had their own style, you know what I'm saying? So I kind of see all three of them and how their style is, and I kind of consider myself them all rolled up in one, you know what I'm saying?
[00:17:52] Speaker A: Got you.
[00:17:53] Speaker C: Yeah, that makes sense.
[00:17:56] Speaker B: Kind of like a captain Cholo, as it were.
[00:18:00] Speaker C: But, you know, me being Captain Cholo.
[00:18:07] Speaker D: No mom is way.
[00:18:11] Speaker C: But coming from these influences and me having something I call little brother syndrome, because I'm the youngest of four brothers, so I would watch all my older brothers get into fights. Baby mama drama.
We've had drive bys at our house.
My dad even introduced us to freaking protocol as kids.
You hear a gunshot, jump to the floor, you know what I'm saying? And it's where we came from. And we were trying to make it into something else, because everyone got tired of the mindless shooting and violence, of course.
And instead of pushing the negative, we were trying to push the positive, which was freedom from all that gang violence via hip hop and dance, break dance, the parties, the culture, the graffiti and all that stuff.
[00:19:18] Speaker B: Music.
[00:19:19] Speaker A: That's what's up.
[00:19:20] Speaker D: Yeah.
[00:19:20] Speaker A: And so I brought that up because I was in car clubs growing up. I grew up in a hispanic area.
Maybe one or two other white guys in the car club, usually we're always working on. I owned three impalas in high school.
[00:19:34] Speaker B: Well respected. Well respected.
[00:19:36] Speaker A: I was respected, but I spoke Spanish.
But you were also recognized by Lowrider magazine, right. As one of the top artists in the country for this type of artwork. And I think that's important to mention. I know that you're not deep in that culture, but your artwork really transcends more than just one.
[00:20:02] Speaker B: Pink floyd.
[00:20:03] Speaker C: Yeah. I've done a lot of stuff for celebrities, and my work has been published a lot over the years, and I feel very grateful that stuff like that is happening to me. But sometimes I feel like somebody that's been out of touch and just been myself so long that I don't really keep up with what's going on. So when people tell me, oh, skis, you're on tv or skis, we saw you on a book or whatever, it's amazing to me, but JJ knows that I don't really watch that much tv or stuff like that. I'm more of the old school dying breed, and I just want to sneak around and experience, you know what I'm saying?
[00:20:44] Speaker A: Yeah, that's what's up.
[00:20:45] Speaker C: But, yeah, I like it.
[00:20:47] Speaker A: Yeah.
Cool, man.
We always tell this funny story about the Selena riots. Oh, here we know it was a big deal in Houston when that went down. When Selena died, she kind of embodied that Tejano Chicano culture in Texas, and it was even in California at that point. She really grown nationally. I have to say to this, like.
[00:21:12] Speaker B: Selena represented, like, I might get emotional. Selena represented what we could from coming from the slums, and we had the potential with hard work and with stick to itiveness, that we could make it. You know what I'm saying? Our little girls, the women and that gentle, they really looked up to this because they were like, we can make it. We can do this one day. So it was a huge deal when she died. I know some people make fun of it, and they think it's silly.
[00:21:42] Speaker A: Well, that's kind of what happened, right?
[00:21:43] Speaker B: Yeah, that's what happened.
[00:21:44] Speaker A: I mean, there was a competition going on at the high school at the time. We don't mention the high school, and there was a segment of individuals within the community at that high school that were disrespecting on the death of Selena, which you can't do that well, I.
[00:22:04] Speaker B: Mean, you can do it, but it's like custard going into the, you know what I mean? Like you're going to have a lot of very angry indies.
[00:22:14] Speaker A: Even today. You will see, especially young female latinas always wearing that shirt, the Selena shirt. All across America, everywhere you go internationally, I see that shirt all the time. And so you can't make fun of an individual's cultural icon is my point. Because you're really making fun of them. Right. Because they kind of represent us in some weird fashion. Right, in some weird way. And so unfortunately, someone got disrespectful and that turned into a very bad situation for a lot of people.
[00:22:46] Speaker B: It's funny, he said he was at a party the other day and someone brought it up.
[00:22:50] Speaker A: Yeah, I believe it because people still talk about it today. So that's the negative side of disrespecting someone's culture. But what you're doing is you're introducing the world to chicano culture in a way that is within the culture, without the culture. Again, it transcends, it's inviting, it's inviting and you're welcoming people into understanding an entire people group, which I think is really important.
[00:23:15] Speaker C: Yeah, I grew up first generation texan and being from Texas, I got exposed to, I would say half Mexico and half Texas. And I love the culture, I love the music. Rest in peace, Selena.
And just like JJ said, she is a perfect example.
Know us coming up from the nothing from just raw passion and just becoming what you naturally became. The point is I'm really grateful to contribute to everything that has happened in north Houston during my time as a contributor in the hip hop scene in Houston.
But JJ got me thinking nationwide. Know, I was already thinking nationwide, but.
[00:24:21] Speaker B: I want to go international.
[00:24:23] Speaker C: Yeah. His train of thought and I'm very excited for it because I'm a strong believer of hanging with creatives amongst myself, not just, of course, I honestly get bored when it's about me.
That's why I make different projects of females or showcasing another artist or my influence or whatever, you know what I'm saying? So after doing it for so long, yeah, I get it. People like my art, but sometimes I'll use my platform or identity to expose somebody else, you know, that inspires me.
[00:25:03] Speaker A: I like reason. One of the reasons I brought up Selena was because you are kind of becoming that cultural icon to your mean. You've been able to step outside of your community and provide a bridge of understanding to other cultures. And so in some way, I mean, I know that you don't embrace it. But you are becoming that Selena type of icon for me, grassroots level in Houston.
[00:25:30] Speaker B: Absolutely, for sure.
[00:25:31] Speaker A: Right.
[00:25:31] Speaker B: But the goal is to take it grassroots nationwide, potentially international. For know, we want for people to experience his creativity as well. Know where he's coming from culturally, but not just the. Throughout the world. I mean, people should see that and experience it, I think. But he won't ever toot his own horn.
[00:25:52] Speaker A: No, I know. He's a very humble guy. David Flores. Very humble guy. Very humble, humble man.
Your artwork, though, speaks for.
[00:26:00] Speaker C: Yes.
[00:26:01] Speaker A: And we're going to go out and we're going to do some of this artwork. We're going to watch you do what you do, which is, I mean, it's magical, right. And part of that is it is almost medicine for the soul. Right. Being able to put this on the.
[00:26:15] Speaker C: Wall and I can pretty much know JJ can get me when it comes to this. It's kind of like music. It's kind of like you hear the perfect song, it helps you cope, it helps you live happier. It puts a smile on your face.
But instead of music, it's more visual. You see these colors, you see this painting. It's kind of intriguing. It doesn't really have a written explanation, but yet it's inviting.
When you're at the light and you're waiting for this light to turn, you are naturally going to be drawn to something that is around you. And that's my objective, to just get it out there, share it with people.
And I want to at least leave behind this legacy with my students.
[00:27:04] Speaker A: I love it.
[00:27:04] Speaker C: People that have and collect my work.
[00:27:09] Speaker A: Can I shift topics? Is that okay?
[00:27:12] Speaker B: Sure.
[00:27:12] Speaker A: So I want to go back to graffiti.
That's a hard topic. Right. Because there are different levels of artistry.
Right. Graffiti can also be used by some cultures and subcultures, gangs, these types of things, to claim territories. Right.
I'm not trying to dis that in any way, but they're often using private buildings to do that. So there's a prominent gang that moved up here from California. I'm not going to mention that gang. But you drive over in north Portland, there's a neighborhood called St. John's. We can go drive that, actually. But if you drive that area, you'll see the very prominent numbers that represent that organization. Very large, six to 8ft tall. And every 1015 blocks, you'll see them. Very prominent areas. And they pretty much run that territory now. And they're using what I think is. And it doesn't even look good, I'd say it's not even attractive.
They're just claiming territory. And so on what level is it important for kids that are caught up in a lifestyle that could ruin them, that are really artistically? I mean, gifted children, right? And these are usually younger kids that they recruit. We've all been recruited by these guys, right, when we were young. So what is the way forward to get these really gifted artists out of that lifestyle and into something like what you're doing, where they can be sustained, their life can be sustained by generating real artwork?
[00:28:56] Speaker C: Yeah.
All that makes me think about one thing that I believe.
You may not be 100% a product of your environment, but you are a dominant percentage of where you come from. With that being said, if you have a child that's artistically advanced, you're going to focus on this talent and develop it, refine it and pinpoint it when you see it?
My parents knew that I was advanced in art.
In fourth grade. I was an advanced vanguard art and stuff like that. Now, if you take this child and you recognize the talent, but this child, guess what, lives in the ghetto, full of violence, full of colors, full of any reason to mess with anybody.
You're not going to allow this kid to interact and do stuff in the local area. Why? The kid's going to eventually end up getting shot, hurt or something. Misunderstood. And when I say misunderstood, I talk about a friend of mine from California. His graffiti name was dream, rest in peace. Asked me how he died. He died in the state of confusion. He was painting an area that was gang related, and all he was doing was know, fixing up the area, adding color. Here comes an old school gangster. What are you doing? You're not supposed to be here. Boom, boom.
[00:30:38] Speaker A: Damn.
[00:30:39] Speaker C: Yeah. And this is all over. Graffiti.
[00:30:41] Speaker A: Graffiti? Yeah, it's legit.
[00:30:43] Speaker C: It's not even acquired thing that you can buy or steal or whatever. You know what I mean? It's just mindless, pointless. But the point is, people like me and older artists that care about the history and are trying to steer it away from the violence and more focus on this talent, this raw talent that's there. It's waiting, it's ready. But you can't expose it to this environment. You have to take it to the proper area to nurture it. To nurture it without it being assailed. Yeah.
If you have a son or daughter that's good at opera, you're not going to put them with a bunch of people baking cakes. You're going to put them over here with the rest of the singers and the people that will develop and help you refine your talents.
[00:31:39] Speaker A: Yeah, that's a really good question.
I wish I would have had talent like that when I was a kid.
It's admirable because I had friends like this that were talented, and that talent did lead them into a better lifestyle. And it makes me happy to see that, because for a lot of us who don't have those types of talents, it's a different struggle. Right. You know what I mean?
[00:32:07] Speaker C: Yeah, I know what struggle means. Being a true artist, you have to understand, you have to be ready to give up things as well as adapt to them. And it's a rarity coming from Texas all the way over here and for me to tell my story, because, again, JG told me not many people know my stuff here, but the objective is to do it. And one of my mentors hit it right on the money when he said skis. He goes, take it like this.
You're not a prophet in your own city.
[00:32:52] Speaker A: Yeah, very true. Right? Yeah, very true.
[00:32:55] Speaker C: Like, everybody knows me in Houston. Yeah. Okay, skis. Yeah. What's up? This and that. But outside of my city, I'm somebody else.
[00:33:02] Speaker B: And that's the objective, to respect it much more. Because when you're there and you're constantly exposed to it. Right. It becomes like second nature.
[00:33:11] Speaker A: You're just like.
[00:33:12] Speaker B: It's just skis again, with his amazing artwork. You know what I'm saying? But when you bring it out here and you contrast it against what's there, you get to see some difference in culture and perspective, because it's just not here. That vibe, that style, that feeling, that culturas culture.
[00:33:32] Speaker A: So going back to this graffiti theme, so obviously you're an artist. People that are good in graffiti, that's what they do, is art.
What is the process that you use to determine where you're going to put your artwork?
[00:33:49] Speaker C: It depends whether or not if it's a commission or if it's just something that I'm doing for fun.
[00:33:56] Speaker A: Something you're doing for fun.
[00:33:58] Speaker C: Okay.
[00:33:58] Speaker A: Right. That isn't commissioned, that's going to be in public view.
[00:34:03] Speaker C: Right.
When it's something like that, formula like that, I take it, and I use a lot of improv just because it becomes a little more challenging for me as an artist.
[00:34:15] Speaker A: Yeah, exactly.
[00:34:16] Speaker C: And I try to find the muse and doing stuff that's already premeditated, drawn, and all that, but I like to start in my mind with a clean slate, so I won't have a drawing or whatever. I'll just think of something and then just go with it. And that's what I try to do when it comes to public art.
[00:34:40] Speaker A: Really?
[00:34:40] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:34:41] Speaker A: So kind of maybe a mental picture, maybe not.
[00:34:45] Speaker C: Sometimes I'll have something, sometimes I won't.
[00:34:47] Speaker A: Wow.
[00:34:48] Speaker B: It's a combination of your imagination and also your emotions in the moment.
[00:34:53] Speaker C: Yeah.
You're pushing your emotions, you're pushing ideas and kind of freestyling off the dome on the whim.
That's the beauty about spray paint, because if it doesn't come out the way I want to, I can always go over it again, and it'll dry faster than regular paint.
[00:35:15] Speaker A: Nice. So when you're out and you're looking at areas, and this is just a personal question, and you see graffiti artists that they're obviously not that good at what they do. And I'm not saying we should rag or dog on any.
[00:35:31] Speaker B: They're beginners.
[00:35:32] Speaker A: They're beginners, or they're just doing it. They're just being sloppy. But they're either sloppy and they don't have the level of talent that they really should have. Right.
How does that make you feel, as someone who. I mean, your artwork is absolutely amazing, so I don't expect everyone to be at your level.
[00:35:50] Speaker C: Right.
[00:35:50] Speaker A: But it frustrates me, because if I see good graffiti, it doesn't really bother me that much, but when I see really bad graffiti, it kind of does bother me.
[00:36:00] Speaker C: Yeah. I mean, the bad graffiti, of course, is anything that's negative or anything that's foul. But my thing is to each his own. To each his own. Everybody runs their course.
Me, myself, I can't really say anything bad about bad graffiti because I've been there. I was a kid experimenting as well.
[00:36:24] Speaker A: So even when you were younger, there was that developmental process where you.
[00:36:28] Speaker C: There was a development where I tinkered with different names. It wasn't just skis. I would have aliases and tinker with different letters and ideas and concepts. I remember for a while when I first got exposed to the Brock band tool, I made a series called Skeezer Stink Fist.
And it was black and white. It was kind of weird, and it was an alias. And everything that I created was from listening to that music. You know what I'm saying? So it was more kind of like a documented body of work that came out based on listening to this type of music. You know what I'm saying? I don't know if you guys ever seen those collection of drawings that people have done based on what drugs they're taking.
[00:37:28] Speaker A: No. That sounds hilarious.
[00:37:30] Speaker C: It's pretty funny.
[00:37:31] Speaker A: I'm sure the mushrooms is great.
[00:37:33] Speaker C: Yeah. So they give a test to each artist, and they put the drug, opiate, whatever, cigarettes, this that. You know what I mean? And they get so abstract as you go down along the line.
[00:37:49] Speaker B: With you, it's music.
[00:37:50] Speaker C: Yeah. With me, it's music. Say no to drugs.
[00:37:54] Speaker A: Yeah.
We're not inviting people to break any laws here on this show.
[00:37:59] Speaker C: No.
[00:38:00] Speaker A: But sometimes genius, in order to achieve its end, takes as many unique routes as possible.
[00:38:10] Speaker B: Or has to color outside the boundaries.
[00:38:12] Speaker A: Yeah, exactly. So, have you ever been in legal trouble because of this type of choosing to do street artwork?
[00:38:21] Speaker C: I have, yes.
[00:38:23] Speaker A: Can you talk about not only the negatives, but the pros and the cons with that?
[00:38:28] Speaker C: Yeah, this is kind of funny because I was talking to Adrian about it.
[00:38:35] Speaker A: Adrian is one of our producers and camera guys. He's with us in the studio.
[00:38:39] Speaker C: So he was filming me base coat the plywood on the side of the road, and I'm like, base coating it, and I go, well, you know, I got caught for graffiti, and one of my probation requirements was doing community service.
[00:38:57] Speaker A: Adrian said this?
[00:38:58] Speaker C: No, I was telling this to Adrian, and he's like, oh, yeah, I'm filming. You do. Okay. So, you know, I did this for four years, and one of the advantages of that is I got really good base coating walls.
[00:39:11] Speaker A: Oh, that's hilarious, because that was actually. My next question is, a lot of times they have these. What is in law enforcement, we call them golden handcuffed programs. Rather than going. Getting a prosecution and getting jail time, which, for graffiti, I don't think is necessary, they make you do community service, which almost always ends up being covering up other people's artwork.
[00:39:32] Speaker C: Well, you know what's funny? It ended up being something positive for me, and it felt like it happened by accident because I was in Houston doing my. Paying my restitution fees, know, being a good boy, probation. And then I had community service. I would have to show up six in the morning. They would give you your hard hat and your vest.
[00:39:53] Speaker A: Yeah, we've all been there.
[00:39:54] Speaker C: Yeah. Anything from big machete cutting down bunch of crazy weeds on the side of a bayou to buffing unwanted graffiti. Or should I say painting over unwanted graffiti. And of course, they put me in the graffiti stuff because, oh, skis is the artist. Great.
[00:40:15] Speaker A: And what you're doing is anti art.
[00:40:17] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:40:18] Speaker A: How did that make you feel? Like.
[00:40:20] Speaker C: Well, it hurt because I was actually painting over people that I knew.
[00:40:25] Speaker A: Exactly.
Did they blame you for that? Was there ever any person?
[00:40:29] Speaker C: No, it was more like, okay, you're doing your community service. We understand. We got a picture.
I'm really aware. And sometimes I'm like, oh, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to do this. So I acknowledge it. And they're like, oh, well, just the fact that you acknowledge it is cool with me. But one of the biggest advantages of doing that was I met people that wanted legal work. They were like, oh, really? Hey, this is what you really do. Can you instead of put. Just leave it, this unwanted gray wash buffed wall, do a mural on it and put some color in there? Let's give it a concept. Let's give it a theme. Something's going to stimulate the community. You know what I mean?
And that's how I kind of got my foot in the door with doing legal artworks.
[00:41:27] Speaker A: Oh, cool. And I'm just assuming that once you put down skis, and that's skeez one, eight one. Once you put skis down, ain't no one touching that wall. Right.
[00:41:40] Speaker C: When I was younger, maybe now in Houston, I'm glad to say people embrace what I do, but it's a shifty game, graffiti.
You'll get respect when you're putting your time in and your stripes. But if you're in it for the wrong reasons, like fame or just destruction and ruin somebody's property, then it's the wrong reason to be in it.
[00:42:11] Speaker A: Yeah, that's not really artwork. Artwork should build up the community, right. Not tear down. Exactly.
[00:42:15] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:42:16] Speaker A: And that's what I meant by bad artwork. I see bad artwork, and they're just like. I'm like, brother.
[00:42:20] Speaker B: Yeah, he does really amazing tribal masks.
[00:42:27] Speaker C: My masks are more of a signature creation that I make, and I tap into a lot of the aztec and Maya from looking at and studying the hieroglyphics and sculptures, stuff that they created in the past. Me being full blooded Mexican at the age of 30 is when I met two friends of mine that are both artists and musicians. This guy named Javier Herrera and then another guy named Mario Jose Olvera. And both of these guys, what separated them from regular artists is not only were they artists, creatives, and teachers, but there were also aztec dancers. And they would practice the lifestyle, and they would pray based on all four directions, based on the alignment of the stars and all that stuff. Coincidentally, I met them at the age of 30. Coincidentally, it was the same time I was getting my head tattooed with the aztec calendar and all. That didn't happen intentionally. It just happened by weird coincidence. So before then, I would consider myself an urban chicano artist got you graffiti, lowrider cars, stuff like that. After I met them, I kind of got lowered closer to the earth because I started understanding my culture.
I started understanding that my roots, understanding the fact that we didn't have a written language. It was a visual, illustrated language. Like, if we were back then in Mexico City, I would tell know, draw me what you want me to bring you back. So he would have to get in there, draw me a chicken, some eggs, a spear, a knife, and a bow and arrow. And that's what I would take and come back with it.
The understanding our heritage is an illustrated.
[00:44:52] Speaker A: Yeah, I love it.
[00:44:53] Speaker C: Form of heritage.
[00:44:54] Speaker A: It's a comic strip. It's always a narrative.
[00:44:56] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:44:56] Speaker A: That's a narrative there.
[00:44:57] Speaker C: That's why there's the.
[00:44:58] Speaker A: It's a pictorial narrative. I love that.
[00:45:00] Speaker C: There's always a big joke, oh, you're mexican. You must know how to draw.
[00:45:04] Speaker A: No, it's true.
[00:45:05] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:45:06] Speaker B: Or you can do landscaping or Utah, too, right?
[00:45:10] Speaker C: Yeah, definitely. But my thing is, after I met these guys and I stayed with them for five years, and I was surrounded with the culture, they would dance for.
[00:45:25] Speaker A: So full cultural immersion.
[00:45:27] Speaker C: Yeah. They would dance for the solstice, for positioning of the sun, moon, all kinds of stuff. And understanding the literature and reading all this ancient hieroglyphics and how they made books and designed the calendar and based on the stars. And it's just so intriguing to me. And I felt that I was done with the hood at 30.
[00:45:54] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:45:54] Speaker C: So I kind of wanted to refine myself and understand my culture, learn about myself.
[00:46:01] Speaker A: Were there any vision quests in that five year period that kind of led you to that decision making process?
[00:46:07] Speaker C: Yeah.
2003, I had a home with a recording studio and was living on top of the clouds working for the Coca Cola company. I would do a lot of murals for them for twelve years. So all this money that I made, I invested into my home. The problem was, every time I would have a party, everybody would end up at my house for after party.
[00:46:34] Speaker A: Yeah, you have a nice house.
[00:46:35] Speaker C: Yeah. Too many people found out, and then I got robbed, you know what I'm saying? So after that happened to me, it kind of brought me back down to earth.
I'm not as special as I thought I was, and that's okay because it obviously happened for a reason. You know what I'm saying? Because I didn't turn the page.
[00:46:57] Speaker B: Yeah.
After you've done the Coca Cola, you also did the Pink Floyd pig that comes out at every concert.
[00:47:12] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:47:12] Speaker B: He has a video of him with, you know, giving him critiques on the pig. He's also done the mural for.
There's, you know, different things that he's done.
[00:47:24] Speaker C: There's a lot of celebrities, and I'm really grateful for the work because it feels like a pinnacle moment as an artist. You're like, I never thought I would reach to the point where an actual celebrity or another creative appreciates what I'm doing.
I think that's gold.
[00:47:43] Speaker A: I can't even imagine that. If I was in your position, I'd filled, like, a million dollars, even if I only got paid 100.
[00:47:49] Speaker C: I wish I had, because.
[00:47:52] Speaker B: We'Re working on that. Yeah.
[00:47:53] Speaker A: That person choosing you, looking at your artwork, saying, even tattoo artists, I mean, obviously JJ doesn't get tattooed, but we have a lot of tattoos, and tattoo artists even feel very honored when you choose them. Yeah, but having a famous person choose you to do their artwork, especially something they're going to display, like, on stage at concerts, that's a big deal.
[00:48:15] Speaker C: Yeah, for sure.
I totally respect the idea and aesthetic behind familiar artists and top tier creators, producers, everybody in the creative field, that's just top game. That brings their 100%. And back to the question you were asking about these amateurs trying to come up overnight. But the thing for me is not necessarily the followers, but more the quality of work that I'm dishing out here. I'm not doing this for a race. I'm pouring each one of these out like a creation, like something that we cooked up in the oven. It's piece of my soul. And it's not just you're running the mail, carbon copy, whatever.
And that's the difference. Differentiation. Whatever you call. I can't say the word that separates me getting work for hire and then me getting hired to just do me. You know what I'm saying?
[00:49:26] Speaker A: Yeah, totally.
[00:49:26] Speaker C: So as an artist, you have to.
[00:49:29] Speaker A: You have to work with Coca Cola in order to get the.
[00:49:31] Speaker C: I mean, if you really want to get paid, you're going to have to be okay with taking direction. And many people have a hard time swallowing their pride and ego to take direction like that.
But if you're good, you don't even have to take direction.
More power to you. But as a striving artist and trying to reach the top, I have done works that I have to put my ego to the side, my pride to the side, sometimes even my faith.
And it's one of these things that is an unannounced test, if you will. You know what I'm saying? Because for example, JJ mentioned I do masks. And, yeah, I have a following now of people that buy the work, but I have special type of clients that ask for my work, but they want a version of something in my style. Meaning, for example, I was down in the dumps once. I needed money. I didn't know where to turn. A client comes forward, he's like, skis, I want one of your masks. Great, I'm with it. What are we doing? He's like, you're making me a mask version of your style of a mask. And I want it to be the devil. And I was like, oh, no.
[00:50:53] Speaker A: Negative, negative energy.
Yeah.
[00:50:56] Speaker C: But at the same time, I sighed.
[00:50:58] Speaker A: And I'm like, the depiction of what would be called the christian devil.
[00:51:02] Speaker C: Yeah, they wanted a satanic looking evil mask. And I'm like, well, I'm not that person. I don't believe in stuff like that. But at the same time, I'm broke.
[00:51:13] Speaker D: I need money.
[00:51:14] Speaker C: What am I going to do? This is like me having to just make something.
[00:51:18] Speaker A: You should have put the boogeyman right on there.
[00:51:22] Speaker B: I think what's important, and what I think what you're trying, like, what I'm seeing is that people watching the arts need patrons. We're fortunate enough that you came here and there was people that want to pay you for your art.
[00:51:37] Speaker A: Yeah, that's right.
[00:51:39] Speaker B: And that gives you the freedom to then say, okay, well, this other piece they're not going to pay me for, but I'm just going to go have fun, and I'm going to do some electric blues and some purples and make it real exciting. But someone who's commissioning that, they wouldn't want that, per se. They would want something like a logo or maybe something that they want specifically.
[00:52:00] Speaker C: I guess for me, it was mainly like understanding what boundaries you're willing to push when it comes to rules, aesthetic, what you're going to do, what you're not going to do. I ultimately ended up doing the job. Why? Because I was broke. I needed the money.
I would be dumb if I didn't do it my way, you know what I'm saying? I ended up doing it. I didn't publish it. I didn't show it off or nothing. I just took it as a job. You know what I'm saying?
At the end of the night, before I went to bed, yes, I asked for forgiveness because I am aware of my gifts, you know what I'm saying? It would be stupid of me not to believe there's a creator or some kind that gave me this gift, you know what I'm saying? So it's like I take everything with loyalty and honor, and I'm trying my best live life with integrity to where people come to me instead of I have to come to them. That's ultimately my goal.
[00:52:58] Speaker B: We're working on that.
[00:52:59] Speaker D: Yeah.
[00:52:59] Speaker B: And so we're working on some different things that we can have, like where people can get original paintings from him, where people can get copies of paintings from him, where people could get shirts, beanies, hoodies, all of that stuff. So we're working on trying to create a brand where more people can have access to his products, which is dope.
[00:53:20] Speaker C: I'm really excited for the products, but also my services as well. I've been teaching spray paint can control classes for about.
[00:53:28] Speaker A: Really?
[00:53:28] Speaker C: Yeah, 14 years.
[00:53:30] Speaker A: Where do you teach that at?
[00:53:31] Speaker C: I teach them wherever.
I can do them in a privacy of somebody's home or at a graffiti park or a public wall or something. But I've even gotten hired for, like, group classes, group birthdays or whatever. And it's basically learning your way around a spray can, point and shoot, and being okay with the disconnection between you and the surface. You know what I'm saying?
[00:53:56] Speaker A: It is a unique art because typically, you would have a brush, and you're applying the paint on the surface directly to the canvas or the surface, but over here, and you feel like you do lose a little bit of control.
You're throwing paint through the air with an aerosol.
[00:54:12] Speaker C: That's pretty much what you're doing. Yeah. You're pointing, shooting. So it lands in the specified area that I want.
[00:54:19] Speaker A: And we'll post some of your artwork. Because to say, when you look at some of the artwork, you're like, man, he did that with a spray painting.
[00:54:25] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:54:26] Speaker A: It does literally look painted on. It's amazing.
[00:54:30] Speaker C: Yeah. Well, I mean, also consider the fact I've been doing it for 30 plus years going on the plus, but I never forget where I came from, how I got it, who gave it to me. And my mission is just to spread it, to teach it, to share it. You know what I'm saying? I want to be able to share it with as many people as I can.
When you go back down to Houston. Yeah, people know me, but again, over here is uncharted territory for me, and I want to contribute more. You know what I'm saying?
[00:55:02] Speaker A: That's excellent.
[00:55:03] Speaker B: So, yeah, man, I think that it's going to be real fun. We got planned today. We're going to head out. He's going to show us some different art that he's seen around the city and give us some insight on just kind of the culture a little bit.
[00:55:16] Speaker A: I love it. So again, ride along. Today we're riding along with David Flores. Street name is skis one eight one. Sk e z one eight one.
[00:55:28] Speaker B: Skis.
[00:55:28] Speaker A: How can people get a hold of you?
[00:55:30] Speaker C: You can check out my work on my website, www. Dot skis one eight one. Sk one eight one.com or Instagram. Same spelling, sk one eight one. Or just Google the name skis one eight one. And check out all the stuff that pops up.
[00:55:49] Speaker A: I love that. So we're definitely going to have some photos from the work today. We're going to go out, we're going to write along with you. You're going to show us your techniques, your artwork, kind of give us a tip on kind of what you do and how you do it. Is there anything that you want to tell the audience before you leave?
[00:56:06] Speaker C: Shout out community action PDX.
[00:56:09] Speaker A: That's JJ's company.
[00:56:12] Speaker C: JJ and everybody here at loving one another. And thanks, bro.
[00:56:17] Speaker A: Appreciate it, brother.
[00:56:17] Speaker C: Big shout out to all the people in the background, Jesse, Adrian, and the people that have been putting up with me.
[00:56:26] Speaker A: That's awesome. I love it. Well, I appreciate you coming out, guys. Let's just hit the road. Sounds good.
[00:56:31] Speaker D: All right.
[00:56:45] Speaker A: Okay. We're back in the van. Just finished up our studio time.
Trying not to break any major traffic rules. Laws. Right. Sometimes that happens. And we're going to go hit up, I think, a couple of areas. A skate park, for sure.
[00:57:01] Speaker B: Yeah. We're going to check out some different graffiti in the different areas, and we're going to figure out kind of what some of the techniques are.
[00:57:09] Speaker A: That's right.
[00:57:10] Speaker B: People's hearts are on when they're doing it. You know what I mean? Like what they're thinking about. Kind of get a better understanding of the culture.
[00:57:19] Speaker D: So the reason we're going over here is because this is the first skate park I painted in 2019.
[00:57:26] Speaker A: For real?
[00:57:27] Speaker D: Yeah. When I first came over here. Wow.
[00:57:30] Speaker A: I remember that.
[00:57:31] Speaker B: That was a good trip. He did the George Floyd thing.
[00:57:33] Speaker A: That's right.
[00:57:34] Speaker D: Oh, the George Floyd was 2021 21.
[00:57:37] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:57:38] Speaker A: So I think what he's going to.
[00:57:39] Speaker B: Try to have him do next is we're going to start getting some Cortez, some Nike Cortez, which hispanic community call them gangsters. I'm going to have him do, like, little miniature pieces of work on them, sell them.
[00:57:52] Speaker A: That would be huge, bro.
[00:57:54] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:57:55] Speaker A: Shoe art is a big thing right now. It is a huge market for that. I love that.
We got to get someone famous to wear them.
Put in the comments. If you know anyone that wants to wear these shoes, that is a social media person, I will pay for those shoes to be decorated, and we'll ship them to you. So put that in the comments.
[00:58:17] Speaker D: There you go.
[00:58:17] Speaker B: Really awesome.
[00:58:19] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:58:21] Speaker A: I'll introduce you to a friend of mine. His name's Gus, and he does dresses. He's a dress maker, pattern maker, but he used to own the first Adidas shop in America. It was in Oakland, and this is back in the 80s. Run DMC. Just came out with a song. They went there and signed shoes.
[00:58:36] Speaker B: Gus.
[00:58:36] Speaker A: He's legit, bro.
[00:58:37] Speaker D: Yeah.
[00:58:38] Speaker A: So we have a nonprofit called loving one another, and we're trying to purchase 440 acres to turn into a working farm that we can produce products at. And part of the program is he's.
[00:58:49] Speaker B: Going to teach how to do steam.
[00:58:51] Speaker A: Strip work and tailoring to women. The people that are going to live there are going to be women that were formerly houseless, that had been trafficked.
Yeah. And their children. So we're going to call it lavender farms and restoration. Lavender and farms and restoration project.
[00:59:21] Speaker B: Oh, that dragon, dude, it's two dragons. It's two dragons with, like, a dude in the middle that looks like a warrior.
[00:59:29] Speaker D: They always end up changing it up over here. And the first time I came into Portland, this is the first place that they told me to come check out about painting. And then when I came, there was an older guy, older skater. I forgot his name, but I asked him, hey, how can I paint? He saw my work real quick, and he said, oh, paint right here on the side.
Cool. It was pretty much word of mouth. I'll show you where those.
[00:59:56] Speaker A: So we're down here at Burnside Skate park underneath the Burnside bridge on the east side.
[01:00:01] Speaker D: Yeah.
[01:00:01] Speaker A: You've been here multiple times over the past, what, five, six years?
[01:00:04] Speaker D: Yeah, on and off.
[01:00:06] Speaker B: Dude, I love it.
[01:00:07] Speaker A: Last time you were here, a guy said, hey, man, that looks like great artwork. Paint this right here.
[01:00:13] Speaker C: Yeah.
[01:00:15] Speaker D: I used to stick with the formula back then of just kind of being visual and showing people pictures of, hey, imagine this on the side of your wall instead of gang graffiti. You know what I'm saying?
[01:00:28] Speaker A: Yeah, for sure, bro.
[01:00:29] Speaker B: Yeah.
[01:00:29] Speaker D: I ended up over here. This place changed so much from when I came over here. Like, this wall.
This ramp wasn't here. All these ramps right there. Yeah. And anytime I paint somewhere, I try to paint, like, something that sticks out that I really like. So I really was liking this little weird door.
I was like, I wanted to do something with that.
[01:01:01] Speaker A: Oh, this is what you did here?
[01:01:02] Speaker D: Yeah.
[01:01:03] Speaker A: Can we get a close down on that? Look at that. That's awesome.
[01:01:10] Speaker D: Because you see how this pole used to be right here?
[01:01:13] Speaker A: Oh, yeah.
[01:01:14] Speaker D: And they came in with concrete and made it go up, because it wasn't like that at first.
[01:01:21] Speaker B: We got to come back. Maybe we get you some paints, and you come back and do it again.
[01:01:24] Speaker D: That would be fun.
[01:01:25] Speaker B: Let's do it.
[01:01:26] Speaker D: I'm sure we could get away with it now.
[01:01:28] Speaker A: Yeah, that'd be great. Right time. And get gut murals done. And there's no graffiti.
[01:01:37] Speaker D: Look how awesome that is. Just the fact that it's not graffiti, it's not lettering, but it's art done in spray paint. You know what I'm saying?
[01:01:45] Speaker B: Yeah, I know, man.
[01:01:47] Speaker D: Look, they even put stickers on.
[01:01:49] Speaker A: I love that.
[01:01:50] Speaker B: That's cool.
[01:01:51] Speaker D: And the spray cat for the chain.
[01:01:57] Speaker B: Dang. That's cool, man.
[01:01:59] Speaker D: But you see how all these techniques are done with spray can?
[01:02:03] Speaker B: Yeah. How do they do that?
[01:02:05] Speaker D: This is one color, and then they come back with another.
Sometimes they'll clean it up.
See how it got the shade going down?
Little tips and tricks to make it look three d.
[01:02:26] Speaker B: Oh, this one was done in 2021.
[01:02:28] Speaker D: Yeah. You can tell even by the way he writes. He's a more complex artist with fills. And then the outline is real crucial. Always has to be nice and clean. You see these points?
All these points is the skill that you acquire from just being able to cut. Each line with that spray can.
Comes back with a nice solid violet purple. Looks like a big sticker. You know what I'm saying?
[01:02:58] Speaker B: Yeah, it does. I love these colors, man.
It could just be, you know what I'm saying? Yeah, the magic smoke time.
[01:03:07] Speaker D: But this guy looked like he was playing more with airbrush.
You see some of these lines right here?
[01:03:14] Speaker A: It does look airbrush.
[01:03:15] Speaker D: You're right.
[01:03:16] Speaker B: Some of the stuff.
[01:03:17] Speaker D: I guess he took a spray can and maybe came back with an airbrush, because unless he used an effective cap.
[01:03:31] Speaker A: And so I imagine all this was commissioned, right?
[01:03:35] Speaker D: Yeah, I'm sure. I mean, it says burnside.
I love this rat. This is so cool.
[01:03:41] Speaker B: Raton. This is so cool. He's chilling, and it's letting you know the burnsides that way.
[01:03:49] Speaker D: And you remember this guy from.
[01:03:51] Speaker A: That's crazy.
[01:03:51] Speaker D: From Christmas, old school Christmas movie or whatever.
But you see how they attempted to do the can control?
When you do it right, you position your can sideways so the mist comes out from dark to light, like a fade. So you go, that's some of the technique. All right, this one, too. Same thing.
Instead of direct on, do it sideways.
[01:04:24] Speaker B: This is the whole thing. It's a whole big wall.
I see.
[01:04:29] Speaker D: Now, look at that one over there. Flash. Look how colorful that is.
Calm, divine.
But the trick to these is the larger you are, the more detailed you can get in your painting. You know what I'm saying?
[01:04:48] Speaker B: Really?
[01:04:48] Speaker D: Yeah.
[01:04:49] Speaker B: So I'm curious, so to get an entire street wall like this, is that a wet dream for a muralist?
[01:04:59] Speaker D: Yes. Because imagine this. Imagine me acquiring this wall.
Then try to get sponsored or funded or donations for big five gallon buckets.
Completely clean this off. Get online, put a call to artists. Just see all these artists show up to paint one specific day. Get a tent out here with a DJ, you got yourself a block party.
[01:05:27] Speaker A: And so that's why there's one main artist, but there's other artists names, right?
[01:05:32] Speaker B: Because they do parts of the mural.
[01:05:33] Speaker D: It's more like they're curating, they're directing it. And I've done this with King's point and more art spaces where you're pretty much just texting everybody at the same time. Hey, come paint. You know what I'm saying? And they'll show up, we'll bring out a dj, we'll order some pizza.
[01:05:54] Speaker B: That sounds fun, man.
[01:05:55] Speaker D: And it gets fun because people start, they want to stop, take pictures, all that.
[01:06:01] Speaker B: Dude, I want to see this real. Look at this.
The second to the.
[01:06:05] Speaker D: This is awesome.
[01:06:06] Speaker A: This is really impressive.
[01:06:08] Speaker D: I think this.
[01:06:09] Speaker B: Have you not seen any of these before, cousin?
[01:06:11] Speaker A: No. Which is weird, because my clients across the street, I'm not going to name them, but a lot of these are my clients.
[01:06:17] Speaker D: Yeah, I think one of these is from LA.
[01:06:20] Speaker B: No, I'm looking at this right here.
[01:06:22] Speaker A: Dude, this is awesome.
[01:06:26] Speaker B: Now, what would you call this style, though? Is this, like, abstract?
[01:06:30] Speaker D: I would say, yeah, contemporary abstract, I like. But the secret to this is the colors, right? Because the colors make you feel a certain type of way.
[01:06:41] Speaker B: The yellow, it makes me want to eat it. Like cotton candy.
[01:06:43] Speaker D: Yeah.
[01:06:44] Speaker B: You know what I mean?
[01:06:45] Speaker D: Flashing with the teals and the reds. And if you see this right here, he put his crew name, TNR.
[01:06:55] Speaker A: Oh, yeah, look at that.
[01:06:57] Speaker B: Oh, wow.
[01:06:57] Speaker D: Well, you have to really pay attention to, because sometimes you.
[01:07:02] Speaker B: Oh, there's another one over there.
[01:07:03] Speaker D: Yeah, you'll see, like, subtle and down at the bottom. Yeah.
[01:07:09] Speaker B: Now I feel like I'm doing playing World's Waldo, man.
[01:07:11] Speaker D: That's so cool. You see how it says you can make it out? Say ask.
[01:07:15] Speaker B: Yeah.
[01:07:17] Speaker D: And all these are, like, different graffiti crews.
Let's check out this. I wonder if there's anything on this side.
[01:07:27] Speaker A: I feel like I'm getting a whole new education, so I'm not that much of an artist, obviously. I'm more of a businessman. So I'm thinking in my mind, if I'm going to find you places to commission your artwork, what is it that makes this building chosen?
How do you go about getting artwork and getting an entire wall like this?
[01:07:46] Speaker D: Yeah, most of the time, it's usually artists that are just wanting to donate their work because it's basically free space for them to be seen.
[01:07:56] Speaker A: Okay. All right.
[01:07:57] Speaker D: The people that usually agree to stuff like this is people that have property that's already for lease, up for sale, just bought out, maybe, is getting torn down to build a new complex. So when that happens, that's when some are okay with having artists campaign it.
I'll mention five points in New York City. It's an old building complex, and they thought it would be best to spruce it up with a bunch of graph to keep the negative out. Lasted for so long, but it got torn down. So it's usually that formula. It's usually a building that is either super cool with having paintings or about to be torn down or for sale.
[01:08:45] Speaker B: So sometimes people are like, hey, I want you to do a big, huge mural, because there's less likelihood that people are going to do chicken scratch graffiti on my stuff because it's such a beautiful thing going on here.
[01:08:55] Speaker D: That's usually the formula when we do end up painting. But there's always got to be that one person that's either drunk or just being dumb. That messes something up.
[01:09:05] Speaker B: Of course.
[01:09:05] Speaker A: Always.
[01:09:06] Speaker D: Yeah.
[01:09:07] Speaker A: You want to check out the wall over here?
[01:09:09] Speaker B: Yeah, I think we should check out this other.
[01:09:10] Speaker D: Yeah, I like this little guy. Look at.
[01:09:13] Speaker A: He looks like Groot.
[01:09:14] Speaker D: What's his movie? Right. You notice how they always incorporate a spray can with them?
[01:09:20] Speaker B: Yeah. Lost.
[01:09:21] Speaker D: Lost.
[01:09:22] Speaker B: Lost.
[01:09:23] Speaker D: Yeah.
[01:09:27] Speaker B: They even added that as part of the deal.
[01:09:30] Speaker D: This one right here is called a wild style. Yeah, wild style. Only because the style is so wild, you have to stand here for a little bit to interpret or read it.
And wild style originated in the York City.
[01:09:47] Speaker A: Really?
[01:09:47] Speaker D: That's the lingo they use for complex lettering.
[01:09:51] Speaker A: Wild style.
[01:09:52] Speaker D: Yeah. So I can probably figure out an a right here.
Maybe that's A-T-U-S-T. Adjust.
[01:10:05] Speaker A: Adjust.
[01:10:06] Speaker B: Yeah.
[01:10:06] Speaker D: You see it?
[01:10:07] Speaker A: Yes.
[01:10:10] Speaker D: Adjust.
[01:10:19] Speaker A: Yeah. Man, you're so good. At picking that out.
[01:10:22] Speaker D: Yeah, you got to know how to decipher the graffiti.
[01:10:24] Speaker A: And it's been there for almost three years, probably. Yeah.
[01:10:27] Speaker B: What it says 2020. Yeah. Dude, this one's dope, too. Yeah, with the green and with the pink and the purple.
[01:10:35] Speaker D: Yeah, the colors make it.
[01:10:36] Speaker B: Oh, man, look at that one.
That one's cool looking. I know I sound like a kid, but this looks so cool.
[01:10:45] Speaker D: This almost looks like an old English, maybe Bach choy. That right there, it's like embossed old english style.
[01:10:53] Speaker B: Dude, I got to go check out back over there again because there was some crazy stuff going on.
[01:10:57] Speaker D: I know there is.
[01:10:58] Speaker B: Yeah.
[01:11:01] Speaker A: Wake self.
[01:11:02] Speaker D: Wake self. Oh, like a little wake.
[01:11:05] Speaker B: Yeah, like the wake of water. Yeah.
[01:11:07] Speaker D: I just got a text.
[01:11:09] Speaker A: All right.
[01:11:10] Speaker D: I'm going to go meet up with my ride. I'm going to go do some painting real quick.
[01:11:14] Speaker A: All right, cool.
[01:11:15] Speaker B: I'll let you later, brother.
[01:11:16] Speaker A: Hey, we'll walk you to the skate park.
[01:11:18] Speaker D: Words.
[01:11:19] Speaker B: Yeah, let's go.
[01:11:20] Speaker D: Is he alive? I guess so.
[01:11:22] Speaker B: He's just chilling. He's sleeping.
[01:11:24] Speaker A: Hey, man, you good?
[01:11:26] Speaker D: Yeah, he's alive.
[01:11:27] Speaker A: All right, we're going to bring you some water just in case.
All right.
[01:11:31] Speaker B: That's what's up, bro.
[01:11:37] Speaker D: Look, how with just the phase alone and the detail, he looks more, like, realistic. You know what I'm saying? I love shit like this.
[01:11:45] Speaker B: Yeah, this is really cool art, man. Flash.
[01:11:49] Speaker A: Yeah, this is somebody showing off for sure, right?
[01:11:52] Speaker B: See, we need to get a whole bunch of stuff like this for you, bro.
[01:11:55] Speaker D: Yeah, straight up, man.
[01:11:57] Speaker A: This is incredible.
Wow.
[01:12:06] Speaker D: And then it just an active building, which they probably had an agreement to allow these people to paint, but pretty cool.
It would be awesome if somebody like the EMS people would allow a legal wall over here. That would be awesome. And then maybe keep it EMS related.
[01:12:26] Speaker C: You know what I'm saying?
[01:12:26] Speaker A: Yeah, exactly.
[01:12:28] Speaker B: All right, doc, so you're going to head out?
[01:12:30] Speaker A: Yeah, bro. Yeah, hit it up when you're ready for us to come see your work.
[01:12:33] Speaker D: Word, man. I'll see you soon.
[01:12:35] Speaker A: All brother man.
[01:12:36] Speaker B: Peace.
[01:12:37] Speaker A: Cool.
So he's going to go do his thing.
He's good over there?
[01:12:44] Speaker B: Yeah, man.
He says somebody hit him up and they got a wall for him.
Oh, there they.
[01:13:02] Speaker A: Yeah, I told him I'm bringing some water.
You got a cinna team voucher on you?
[01:13:13] Speaker B: I don't. It's in the other vehicle.
Hey, brother. Yo, man, some water, man.
[01:13:20] Speaker A: Say, my man, you good?
Just in case, bro. Don't dehydrate.
[01:13:24] Speaker B: Don't dehydrate. Out here, dawg. There's a couple waters for you. Drink them down.
[01:13:30] Speaker A: There's a shelter right down the street called city team.
Go there and tell them you know Alex, and they'll take you in.
[01:13:39] Speaker D: All right.
[01:13:48] Speaker B: He's crashed out, man. Having him some good little nap.
[01:13:57] Speaker A: His pupils were not that small.
[01:14:00] Speaker B: You know what I'm talking about?
[01:14:02] Speaker A: So that means, like, when you're on opiates, your pupils constrict really tiny. So I don't think he's on fentanyl or heroin. He could have smoked something else earlier.
[01:14:49] Speaker B: So we just had a great meal.
[01:14:51] Speaker A: Lunch was good.
[01:14:52] Speaker D: Thank you for paying.
[01:14:53] Speaker A: I appreciate that.
[01:14:53] Speaker B: Really good stuff. Now we're about to go see what skis got cooking up right here up the road.
[01:15:00] Speaker A: We were eating. He hit us up. He texted JJ and said, hey, I just finished up, so it had been a while, and we're going to go see what he got done.
[01:15:15] Speaker B: Rolls were eating while filming this podcast.
[01:15:19] Speaker A: It's right here. Right up here on the right.
[01:15:25] Speaker B: Watch out for these things. A big old thing in the middle.
[01:15:27] Speaker A: There'S.
[01:15:41] Speaker B: Show me what went down.
[01:15:43] Speaker D: Yeah, man. I wanted to sub.
[01:15:46] Speaker A: Bro, you finished up?
[01:15:47] Speaker D: Yeah, I wanted to show you.
[01:15:50] Speaker B: Let's check it out.
[01:16:02] Speaker A: Oh, wow.
[01:16:05] Speaker D: They can see a big spot.
[01:16:08] Speaker A: I love that.
[01:16:10] Speaker D: Yeah.
[01:16:12] Speaker B: Is this building abandoned or. Wow.
[01:16:15] Speaker D: I'm not too sure, but I know that the Portland Street Art alliance runs it.
[01:16:21] Speaker B: Oh, nice.
[01:16:23] Speaker D: I messaged them about finding me a wall. They got me one.
[01:16:28] Speaker B: I see you did a community action PDX logo.
[01:16:30] Speaker A: I appreciate that, bro. I love that I threw it in there.
[01:16:33] Speaker D: A little subtle. Just get people where's Waldo?
[01:16:37] Speaker B: Yeah, man, I love it.
[01:16:38] Speaker A: So break it down. Explain what's going on.
[01:16:41] Speaker D: I wanted to do kind of like a quicksilver style face with a tribal, kind of like, bird on his face like face.
[01:16:52] Speaker A: I see it. I see it now. Yeah.
[01:16:53] Speaker D: But I wanted to make him look modern, so I added the gold teeth and I wanted to make him look like as he was getting lost with the graffiti style arrows, I call him the crab arrows. So he was getting kind of lost with that. And he was in the middle of some rural area.
[01:17:14] Speaker A: I love it.
[01:17:15] Speaker D: Long grass, trees.
[01:17:17] Speaker B: He's lost in the sauce.
[01:17:18] Speaker D: Yeah.
[01:17:19] Speaker B: So is that his third eye right there that's making the bird?
[01:17:23] Speaker D: It could be, but I wanted to just emphasize more on the face paint, and I wanted it to look like something trippy that you can even just look at the sky alone and just get lost in it. You know what I'm saying? Yeah, but this color palette was on the whim, so it was based off of stuff that I had right now. And it worked out beautifully. Worked out really good.
[01:17:50] Speaker A: It looks great, man.
[01:17:51] Speaker D: Yeah. I wanted to continue painting this whole thing black, but I was like, maybe I need my black. So I'm going to conserve it. And I left it kind of scenic looking with the little silhouette of the action stencil.
[01:18:08] Speaker B: Yeah. That's Portland's skyline right there.
[01:18:11] Speaker D: Yeah, I love it.
[01:18:13] Speaker A: So explain to some of the techniques you used.
[01:18:17] Speaker D: A lot of them are like the shading that I talked about. Angle shading, then a direct hit sideways. I got a little glare going.
Many of this stuff has the clean cuts that you find when it's a nice crisp line. You know what I'm saying?
I try to make it clean, given the space, but this is a big one that they gave me, so I kind of just tried to stay big just so people on the last lane can see it. You know what I'm saying?
[01:18:53] Speaker A: Yeah, I love it. It definitely stands out on the building.
[01:18:56] Speaker B: You know what really, pops? Yeah.
[01:18:59] Speaker A: Wow.
[01:19:01] Speaker D: But, yeah, it took about 3 hours, I think. Adrian said it was about three.
[01:19:07] Speaker A: Yeah, it seemed like a while. Sure.
[01:19:10] Speaker D: But we didn't have this fancy shade here the first time. We had direct sunlight when we were working on it.
[01:19:17] Speaker A: Amazing. That looks really good.
[01:19:19] Speaker D: Thank you. Thank you.
[01:19:20] Speaker B: Yeah. So what happened? I mean, are you ever allowed, like, if they're like, okay, we're going to settle the building. Could you come back and unscrew these and take these and keep that a piece of art?
[01:19:28] Speaker D: I haven't talked to them about that, but maybe if anybody claimed it, possibly, but sometimes they usually donate pieces to different charities or places.
[01:19:41] Speaker B: You know what I'm saying? That's what's up.
[01:19:44] Speaker A: Love it.
Yeah. And this entire building is dedicated to street graffiti artists?
[01:19:50] Speaker D: Pretty much, yeah. And they said that my painting was the first of a complete renovation. Awesome. They're going to have a whole new slew of artists. I'm the first one.
[01:20:02] Speaker A: I love it.
[01:20:03] Speaker B: Yeah, that's nice.
[01:20:04] Speaker A: That's awesome. I love it.
[01:20:05] Speaker B: How long do they keep it there?
[01:20:07] Speaker D: I'm not too sure. We'll see how long it lasts.
Well, I'm just happy I got a chance to paint.
[01:20:14] Speaker B: I got great, man. Next time you need more black, just let me know, bro. Don't even worry about the colors, man. If you're going to be doing stuff like this, let's do it.
[01:20:25] Speaker D: No, yeah. I appreciate you. I just wanted to make a statement and make it. Make it something that pops?
[01:20:32] Speaker B: Yeah, man. I love it, dude.
[01:20:35] Speaker A: So what does the bird represent?
[01:20:37] Speaker D: The bird I usually started putting kind of like. It represents like face paint whether you're going to a war or ceremony or something tribal.
[01:20:50] Speaker A: This one, he's on a trip. He's flying.
[01:20:52] Speaker D: Yeah, pretty much.
[01:20:54] Speaker A: He's like lost. He's out there trying to.
[01:20:56] Speaker B: Those are his wings. So that's like a war. Tribal face paint goes on. Before you go to war or before you do a ceremony. They would paint this type of stuff on your face, right?
[01:21:07] Speaker D: Yeah. And that's how they usually put the tribal face paint goes across the face. It doesn't have to look like a bird, but I incorporated that just because I like the primitive look to it. It looks modern, yet primitive.
[01:21:24] Speaker A: I love it, man.
[01:21:27] Speaker B: Shit's fire, man.
[01:21:28] Speaker A: That is awesome, man. 3 hours?
[01:21:30] Speaker D: Yeah, about 3 hours quick.
[01:21:31] Speaker A: I guess in this type of art, you have to learn how to be quick.
[01:21:36] Speaker D: Yeah.
[01:21:36] Speaker A: Other artists will sit there for hours, days, weeks.
[01:21:40] Speaker D: Yeah. In the beginning, of course, when we were kids, the objective was to do something real big as fast as possible without anybody watching you. You know what I'm saying?
[01:21:50] Speaker A: Crazy.
[01:21:51] Speaker D: But as I get older, I just.
[01:21:55] Speaker A: Am amazed at this. I would have thought seven or eight. When we got the call, I was like, there's no way. I was thinking there's going to be something tiny, but this is huge for 3 hours, man.
[01:22:05] Speaker D: Yeah.
[01:22:05] Speaker A: And that's like eight foot panels.
[01:22:07] Speaker D: Yeah.
[01:22:08] Speaker A: That's crazy, right? Wow.
[01:22:11] Speaker B: Yeah, man.
[01:22:12] Speaker A: Good job.
[01:22:13] Speaker B: So what did you name it?
[01:22:15] Speaker D: It didn't really have a name. I just painted it lost in the sauce.
[01:22:22] Speaker B: Lost in the sauce. I like that. You should do it. And then this should be lost in the sauce number. Whatever.
[01:22:28] Speaker D: One or two.
[01:22:28] Speaker B: One or two. You have one more. And then, dude, we should get this and make it to where we can make it a shirt.
[01:22:36] Speaker D: T shirt.
[01:22:36] Speaker B: Or put it on shoes or make it like a hoodie with. On the back.
[01:22:41] Speaker D: Yeah. I always like the women's spandex. They can put that on the side of their pants and all that shit, like printed stuff.
[01:22:50] Speaker B: I see what it is.
[01:22:51] Speaker D: The colors alone, man. I like them because they pop and it's great, man.
[01:22:57] Speaker A: Seriously, I kind of want to just see it from further back, but I.
[01:23:00] Speaker B: Don'T want to get hit, man. Thanks for freaking coming along. This has been a special edition of the ride along. You know what I'm saying? A little street culture thing going down here. You know what I mean? Alex, take it away, brother.
[01:23:11] Speaker A: Thanks, Jay.
David. Skis one eight. One right here.
Thanks for letting us ride along with you. Usually a lot of people, they come, they want to ride with us. But we really feel that you're just such a special guest. It's been an honor seeing what you do, seeing this entire street culture.
I hope that you'll come back, co host with us, teach us more about graffiti. Maybe we can get you some classes in town. If you're teaching a class, we'd love to film that again. This is David Flores. Skis one, eight one. Why don't you give a shout out, tell us what you're doing in the future. Yeah.
[01:23:47] Speaker D: Thank you so much. Echelon, Pacific Northwest, Firewatch. Also the action PDX, everybody that supports. And I'm really grateful for getting this wall. Thank you to Portland Street Arts alliance and everybody that helped out to make this happen.
[01:24:10] Speaker A: Are you going to be going anywhere in the future? What other cities do you have planned?
[01:24:15] Speaker D: I was thinking New Orleans, but I might end up back over here.
[01:24:19] Speaker A: Okay, great. Yeah, this is a good art city.
[01:24:22] Speaker D: Yeah. I really like being here in the summer.
[01:24:23] Speaker A: And it's not 100 degrees exactly. Yeah. Well, hey, thanks for joining us. Come check us out. Ride along. David Flores. Skis one, eight one. If you haven't checked him out on Facebook, you can. If you want to check him out on Instagram, skis one, eight one.
[01:24:38] Speaker D: Sk one eight one.
[01:24:40] Speaker A: And you can do private commissioned artwork. He's going to be doing some private commissioned artwork for JJ and I. Check him out. His artwork is amazing.
Peace.
