“Let’s talk about Kate Moss. I love Kate Moss. I always think the key thing with her is the history, you know, the informality of her early shots compared to high fashion stuff, so you always know that underneath she’s still just the same cheeky normal girl…” These aren’t my words. They are the words of Tim from a movie called About Time. I don’t know if this quote subconsciously stuck with me and therefor influenced my perception of Kate Moss and/or this photograph, but either way it’s perfectly said. And that is exactly the feeling I got when I first saw this photograph shot by Alasdair McLellan- Moss is in a leopard-print jacket over a Supreme t-shirt. The name Supreme may be very recognizable today- the distinctive red box logo- but it was once just another skate company. What a great example of high art meeting low art.
In this day and age, the two arts of high and low have never been more intermingled. Take for instance Trasher, another skateboarding company which is undeniably the king of skateboarding in the moment. You might have seen Justin Bieber, Rihanna, or any other of America’s young sweethearts sporting that burning logo. There’s an argument in the skate community that this is taboo. On the other side, you’ve got professional skaters going all Gucci on us. Frankly, I don’t care either way, the point I’m making is that before all of this, there was this cheeky girl named Kate who was a step ahead of the game, and this iconic photograph is its proof.
I was immediately taken by the image. The composition is both awesome and simple. And on top of that, she looks badass. I had to paint it. Artistically speaking, this photograph was the perfect subject for the way I like to do my work.
I’m not sure if it was the coke bottle with a flower or the ballerina, but it was in that general time that I started to develop, what you call in the art world, “my style.” I think Picasso had a lot to do with it. Out of all the prints I’ve owned over the years, his “Femme,” is the only one that I’ve managed to hold on to. On a blank canvas and in four simple black lines, Picasso depicts a woman’s naked hiney. It’s so simple, yet so beautiful. He felt there was no need to dress it up. And I felt that.
I’m a big picture kind of guy. Spare me the small details, you know. I’m also a very hectic person and I can’t remember the last time life wasn’t chaos. Especially these last 4 years. My art has always been an answer to that. Although this manifested out on to canvas by my own mind and hand, I never gave any thought as to why. That was until, not I, but someone else answered that for me. And when I heard it, it tripped me out. I can still remember the night.
Brandon and I were living at the house on Green in Bedstuy when his girlfriend’s sister came to visit. To be honest, I can’t even remember her name, but I will be forever grateful that she unlocked a secret about myself. She had maybe been at our place for three days as we sat at the kitchen table that was covered with towels and half-painted canvases. There was another handful of canvases on the floor and about 15 finished pieces hung on the walls throughout the whole apartment. I hung those things up like our house was my own little gallery. (Props to B too for being cool with that). Anyway, one night she sat across the table at a barstool next to the window and watched me paint. We didn’t talk much. It was quiet and peaceful.
Then out of nowhere she turns to me and aaks, “Do you ever think about why you do your paintings the way you do?” I asked her what she meant. “I mean your style,” she said. “Look at these-” she pointed first to the pineapple painting in front of me, then to all the pieces hung up in the dining room. “They’re perfect. There’s not a line out of place.” Please don’t misunderstand neither her nor me right here. She didn’t mean perfect as in the work of a master, but the way in which I tried to master each line of every painting. I’m totally OCD about it. I thought about her question to no avail and she continued, “Do you ever think that maybe you try to get them so perfect because it is the one aspect of your life of which you’re in control?”
My heart stopped at this. It is a crazy feeling having someone tell you a secret about you that you didn’t even know yourself. It was dead quiet for a quick second and and then from down the hall, we hear Brandon yell, “Damn. That was deep.” We were both caught off guard by all this- by what she said, that she got it just right, and on top of it all off, that Brandon heard all of it go down from the living room. Everyone laughed and I later came to the conclusion that, no, I had never thought about it, but it made perfect sense.
In my freshman year of college I took art 101, or whatever it was called. Credits for painting, that was chill with me. And although I screwed around a lot in class, I added to my knowledge of the basics. After the semester I went paint crazy. You should have seen the makeshift studio I made myself. I was the only kid left at the parents house so there were two spare bedrooms, and boy, did I ever fuck up that room by the front door. There were so many holes in the wall and so much paint stained to my mom’s nice wooden floors which would have to be taken out anyways because of a flood. In the meantime, I worked like a maniac in that studio. I went through so many phases in that time, painted a million different ways. I wish I still had all of those early paintings. It would’ve been fun to see the progression.
Come to think of it, it was actually the Coke bottle with the flower that I did in this style first. It was a little Warhol, it was a little Picasso, it was a little of me experimenting. After I did it in white, I did it in black. Then came the ballerina which I did in black and white, as well. I don’t have the original four, but I have the remakes in my room right now, and they’re still a few of my favorites. From there on out, I haven’t looked back in regards to style. However as to the medium, which simply means with what the painting was created, I found a little trick. I can remember the last painting I did with purely paint brushes. I still see it every time I go to Hermosa and visit Paul. I It hangs in his room. It’s of a girl lying on a bed with her legs lounging on the wall.
That one took a long time, and it didn’t make it any easier having to sketch the character over dry paint. And on top of that, it was a dark background, so the woman had to be outlined in white. If you’ve ever worked with acrylic, white is terribly difficult color to achieve a bold line, as apposed to black. However, regardless of color, painting straight lines gets rather tedious. It’s wait till it dries and then go back over it a million times.
Thankfully I happened to stumble upon acrylic paint pens while at the art store one day. I had never even heard of them, but what a blessing they became. Now, what used to take me hours, takes much less. I still have to go over it a few times, and I still have to wait till it dries, but whatever, who cares.
My brother once asked me, “Do you think because you use pen as apposed to brushes that it devalues your art?” Like it was cheating or something. I can see where he’s coming from, but my answer is the same today as it was then. No, I don’t. What’s the difference if the final product looks exactly the same? In fact, it probably makes it better because it’s not a waiting game, and if there’s one thing I hate in life, it’s waiting. Plus, it gives me more time to work on the next one.
The painting of Kate was the first one of its style and changed the game for me. I did the first one a couple of years ago. Initially I sketched it. Figuring out a painting is my favorite part of the process. When I got it how I wanted, I laid it down in pencil on a thick piece of paper the size of the canvas I intended to use. After that was finished, I was going to transfer the image to the canvas, using the same grid system, which would’ve taken forever. So I thought to myself, why not just cut a stencil out of the one that was already on paper and transfer it over rather painlessly- just tracing some lines. I am quite accustomed to making stencils. I used to make them all the time and spray paint them on my board, so doing Kate was kinda second nature. She took some time to get just right, but the what I spent there, I got back on the back end.
For me though, art’s not all about the subject, it’s also about how you make that subject work. That’s where color theory comes into play. I love messing around with different palates trying to find the perfect mixture and balance. So I played around with her, first with the colors, then I started to make variations of the same image. Still using her pose, but with different characters/people. The series ended up consisting of about ten or so. Two of which I kept, a few were given to friends and for the rest of them, who knows. Last year while in Germany I got hooked up with a place to do an art show, so I asked my mom to roll up the paintings and send them over. Unfortunately they never showed up. Neither did they return to sender. For all I know they’re sitting in some warehouse storage, or more likely have been long since thrown away.
Not too long ago I was a bit beat up and couldn’t get out much due to a sprained ankle I got for Christmas. I was a bit down mentally too. The transition back to Fresno was tough. Whenever I’m in the dumps, painting is the perfect outlet, so I decided to re-visit the Kate Moss painting. Originally I had done a couple Disney-themed Kate’s, namely Snow white and Alice. I liked them so much that I did them again. And then I was like, you know what, I’m gonna roll with this. It was fun. So, one by one, I started working my way through the princesses. I got all the classics, and even added in a few randoms.
And, through this series of events, came the series of Kate. Thank you Kate for being who you are and thank you McLellan for capturing it. I literally, couldn’t have done it without either of you.
And that’s the history of Kate and Me.
