An engineer and computer scientist by training, he works across a variety of media including sound, video, installation, photography, sculpture and graphic design. His current work typically poses questions about problematic social habits: the tendency to view the public through sensationalised, reductive mechanisms, to taint beautiful, innocent activities with prurient suspicion, or for universities to indiscriminately apply business models to education.
For these, he proposes and executes imaginary solutions that are ridiculous but oddly plausible — the works function both as forms of pure, independent research and critiques of the environments in which they were created.
On a mild autumn evening of warm, enthusiatic conversation, the opportunity was taken to brief the group on developments since the pre-funding meetings in mid, and for everyone to share their visions for the programme. So, I guess that would be two of the major differences there.
Some need more help, some need less help. Do you have a process that you apply to each person? And just taking all those elements and drafting a strategy off of that. Just really just meeting the artists and paying attention.
But your work at Entertainment, which, you know, as I mentioned earlier, involves some of the founders of Def Jam. I worked with Russell back in the late nineties. So, it was kind of, like, right next to each other. So, from the very beginning, the meetings were held at Def Jam.
You sort of had to invent a style at that point, right? So, what were your inspirations when you started working on those looks? I was a huge fan of Phat Farm already. And a lot of clothing would be left over there. So, I was inspired by a lot of the hand-me-downs that I would get. Like, the Karl Kani and the Cross Colours, cause people would, uh, you know, submit their clothes for laundry and, for whatever reason, not come back to get it.
Whether they got locked up, or shot, or something. So, I ended up wearing all this clothing that was left there, and being heavily inspired by it. And just loving hip-hop too. I loved hip-hop at a very young age. And was that just an extension of what you already do in hip-hop? Were you skating? You were doing graffiti —.
Oh, I was doing graffiti. The fashion became the medium that expressed my thoughts and my ideas. You had to wear the clothing fitted. And I would come in with my shirt untucked, baggy pants with sneakers, and instead of sending me home, they would send me into the back, uh, [laughter] stock room to fold the clothes, unpack the boxed, take out the trash. Which I loved. Because taking out the trash gave me an excursion through the back of the mall, you know.
Like, disappear. And that was fun. In doing that, I became an expert folder. And also, growing up in a laundromat, I knew how to fold clothes, like, very well, as well. By doing that, some of the managers came into The GAP and saw — my working that and doing the displays. Like, dressing the mannequins in the back. And they hired me to go to the corporate offices to help present the new collections to buyers.
So, it looks like a stack of shirts. So, it was like, they called them chicklet folds. Also, I had this technique that I would steam the mannequins so quickly. Whether it was woven versus knit. So, I would take the clothes, all wrinkled, make the outfits, throw it on the mannequin all wrinkled.
Then I would rip, like, the cardboard corner of a box, to make it kind of like a straight platform, and stick it under the shirt and start steaming the clothes on the mannequins. So, I was able to do them very quickly. People took note of that. It happened simultaneously. So, I went from fashion to technology.
And people used to steal the records from there, so I went to get the records at Def Jam in person and I met Russell in the elevator. Dripped in head-to-toe Phat Farm. What is the difference between, like being a designer and being a creative director?
You know, when you have to do so many other things. A creative director would hire designers to help them build decks, uh, illustrations, graphics for a bigger plan.
So, I guess, as a designer, you would work on something — and still contribute obviously — but a creative director, I guess, is the one that is communicating all the ideas and executing them in a timeline. Making sure that everything is happening in the right timeline. That you have… what? Just to start —. Do you use them, as well? Yeah, I use them as well. So, when I was, um, trend forecasting for Phat Farm and Baby Phat back then, in like the late nineties, early millennium, I was getting paid to travel all over Europe and Asia.
Sometimes on private jets. So, I was able to buy clothing as references. I had budgets. Like, twenty grand, forty grand. You know, buy samples of outerwear, jackets, sweater knits, denim, anything. So, all the money that I was making, since I was buying all these references, because a lot of them, I put it on like a chopping block.
Cut it up, send a sleeve to China, you know? Cut a pocket and staple it to another jacket. You know, just mix-and-matching things. So, I get to keep it. So, I spent all my money on sneakers. Every last penny. So, everywhere I went in Europe. This was before Euro. I think, since I was a kid, I was always obsessed with hooking up my outfits. I loved Air Force 1s and Air Maxes.
So, this was when you had brands that were releasing colors only in certain parts of Europe, or Japan, or Asia, you know. I just wanted to have this color. But, not only just have them, having like a full-on outfit where the whole thing is hooked up. I was really into that. Well, what else you got? I have like three or four storage units full of stuff. Like, magazines, comic books, collectible toys, cashmere sweaters, old polo sweaters, Japanese denim.
Uh, hats. I have [laughs] so many hats. You know? I would buy hats too. Brunello Cucinelli hats, Loro Piana hats, um… Zegna sport hats. Like, just expensive hats. La Coppola Storta. Like, all these brands. Sherlock Holmes hats, bucket hats. I bought like a hundred of them. I think it was called, uh, Boomie Soroka?
Boomie Sa — Satoka? Some brand. It was just, that was like my style. Between having the sneakers, and the hats, the accessories, like, the karat gold. That was my thing when I was younger. I mean, yeah. I mean, youth culture always dictates that.
And hip-hop, it was one of the biggest movements in that time frame for the youth, so. But not only that, but the artists themselves were so much into it, that they became the style kings and they were willing to wear the clothes that nobody else would. You know, like when hip-hop first came out, they would dress in like rockstars with the shiny suits and shit. But then around that Run DMC era, they started dressing like the street kids. Like, with Adidas, you know what I mean?
And the… the gold chains, the dookie links, all of that. You know what I mean? I would always have to try and create something myself, or go to the market and do some research and get some materials, and some fabrics, and just always out and about.
So, of the current artists today that has, who do you feel you work most closely, in terms of their image and branding? We get so many projects for all artists every day. But we just have like, you know, Megan Thee Stallion, for example, is that somebody that you worked with at all? Or is she more self-contained? We work with her. But she has her own management, and she has a stylist. But we do. We work on her artwork internally for her albums. You know, we just did her merch, rebuilding her website with, you know, with her management company and herself.
You like that aspect of the gig more than others? Or which parts do you feel most connected with? Because, I mean, we all want to have the best results at the end of the day.
What was some of the work that you helped with? What were the issues that you were trying to deal with? Well, basically, the album just came out just at midnight this morning, basically. So, there were a lot of s. Still dealing with some right now. You know, we got some vinyl made, some picture discs, last minute. You know, a lot of different people have their websites. Gunna has his own creative team, as well, who handle most of the majority of the merch. But we built a website.
The concept is based on horoscopes. So, we had built this custom page on the website, where fans can, uh, type in their birthday and the year they were born and it gives you, an astrological chart and gives you a reading. And then apart from the merch, we were helping him with his vinyl and his music merch that was made by a different company.
To make sure that everything is getting up on the site in time and that the streams are getting reported properly. So, you know, digital streams are attached to the merch products and bundles. In the industry. Arts Fuse. The collective confidence of the chorus members shone through in this performance.
Sanders Theatre, Harvard University. Cambridge, Massachusetts. Hancock United Church of Christ. Lexington, Massachusetts. Concord, Massachusetts. Messiah Sing. Grace Chapel Lexington. July Music Director. Jameson Singers. June
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