Trenton St. Patty's Parade

Many thanks to RAIN and the Art All Night people for bringing out the SAGEs to paint live on the AAN float.  It was sooo much fun! Check the video to catch what I could capture while painting on a moving vechicle (which is admitedly harder than I thought).  Something like 4k people flood Hamilton Ave and turn Trenton into a sea of green New Orleans for a few hours. 

RAIN and LUV1

LANK and KASSO

Rocking Out

This past sunday, Luv-One and myself took a trek threw the woods of rural New Jersey to..drumroll...PAINT ROCKS! I know..sounds a bit weird. Luv contacted me earlier within that week to ask if I would like to join him on his nature adventure. At first I was like...paint a rock?! We should rock a wall! Then he told me that some of the rocks were as big as five feet wide! When I heard that...I was like "Yooooo, this can be great!" Lets do it!" If I cant paint a wall...then a wall size rock sounds pretty interesting!

Luv paints these quirky lil' characters. He's been doing them for years on canvas and other materials. I believe he said most of the inspiration for these characters comes from his son's drawings and that the two of them do this all the time simply because it's fun! So thats was the idea for the day; to paint a rock or two and keep it fun...like a child would. While we were out there painting, I at first thought this was a bit juvenile, but once u do your first one it becomes an instant addiction...u want to do more!

You want to find the rock with the most character...the most personality...and bring it to life! What I thought would at first be a waste of time, became a time I would never forget! What we were doing was reliving our childhood. Taking nature and turning it into art! Using what's there to create something new! I swear, it was like being 10 years old again. We were adding "character" to nature; giving it a personality..and making it our own. It made you wanna seek out new "rocky" terrane, while at the same time taking in the beauty of the breathtaking country side. In doing what we did, it made us appreciate the beauty of nature even more so than before. We both agreed that this day was something epic..even if just for us. It literally planted the seed of new ideas and possibilities! It made me see that sometimes you have to strip layers away and revile whats inside to find something new. It showed me not to judge a situation buy what's only on the surface, and if you want something of value, you have to seek it and dig for it. We sought and found....and who would have thought a rock in a hard place would move creative mountains! You cant spell "nature" without A....R....T!

Checkout the pics below to what we "rocked out".

Peace.

-Will Kasso


KASSO


LUV1


KASSO


LUV1


KASSO


LUV1

Throwback

Delve, Lank, and Paper Monster

Highland Outtakes

Garden Variety Show : Industry Shakedown RECAP

Here are some flicks of Earl Grey and Rap/Music from Khal over at http://rockthedub.com/, check some video below. Thanks to all of the who came out to help make it a great show!. NJ HIP HOP is the Movement!!

Murals in the Key of Life

LUV1 and KASSO inside the Trenton Atelier last week on a rainy day.  Thanks to Pete and crew

Highland Design Farm Oct. 8th and 9th

S.A.G.E. will be participating once again on behalf of and at the Highland Design Farm in the Hopewell Tour Des Arts Oct. 8th and 9th.  You might remember the massive mural we did last year "Highland Sentinel" , this year we will be building on that theme as we paint some of the other buildings around the farm.  FREE EVENT! ARTists and their studios! LIVE MURALS! GOOD PEOPLE! GOOD TIMES! You should totally come check it out!

The Center for Contemporary Art's Anti Gala

S.A.G.E. Collective w/ Leon Rainbow will be rockin' the walls and bodies in the blacklight dance party!  Circus acts too?! This should be interesting...more info visit the CCA

Jersey Fresh Jam 2011

Adam and Eve

adam and eve stitch, a photo by eL hue V on Flickr.
Kasso and myself had a great time painting at the lovely home of Andrea Yitkin.  We painted an old barn surounded by Andrea's sculptures, statues, flowers, newly refurbished by her husband Tom.  Right next to a goat, rooster and some chicken we were a long way from the usual urban elements.  The theme of the wall was a Garden of Eden scene, it all came together seamlessly.  Here's a video featuring the many sights of the weekend.

Urban Arts Festival in New Brunswick, NJ

KASSO, LUV, LANK, AJA at the Urban Arts Festival in New Brunswick, NJ.  Big ups the State Theater for having us out.  Big ups Albus Cavus who we were out there reppin'.  Check the video...

Garden Variety Show Lank and Luv Live Painting

garden variety lank n luv live , originally uploaded by eL hue V.

Shout out to all the dope Jerz eMCees in the building, too many to start naming.  Serious fire brought out last night tho, 'specially in those early round freestyle chyphers.  Shout out to all the people who kept standing in front of the flood light making it impossible to see.   Lastly shout to Kasso for hosting the show! Rest in Power Mr. Gil Scott Heron and thank you for all you did!

Howling Wolf and Medicine Man

Howling Wolf and Medicine Man, originally uploaded by eL hue V.

Painted when it wasn't raining over the past couple of days with Aja at my spot in Flemington in the parking lot off main street.  The passerbyers were 100% on board luving it.  People flexing thier Native American History knowledge, a lady who collects wolf figurines, who originally told me "I collect wolves!"  I said "That sounds dangerous." Men working on refurbishing old buildings out there in and out of rain with us, having their lunch break watching us.  It was one of those walls where the process is as enjoyable as the outcome.  Aja's Crow Medicine Man is her first stencil and is now protecting the wall.  My howling wolf, which I orginally had a referance for and was going to try and go all photoreal on, turned out to be a bit on the free because during one of the downpoars I ran for cover, grabbing my camera only, and the referance got ruined.  The whole wall is a mixture of brushes, rollers, and spray.

check the video...njoy - LUV1

Throwback Video Arthur Ashe mural

SAGE Collective's Arthur Ashe Mural from luv1 on Vimeo.

Since we just spent a great evening at the Westin in Princeton for the NJTL of Trenton Fundraiser, and saw this mural up close in person again after a year n a half, here's the original video.  The image is used on everything NJTL does it seems.  At the gala last week alone I must have seen it reproduced a couple hundred times on different materials.  It was published in Mercer Business News magazine and in a couple tennis magazines.  Never would have thought I'd be seeing it so much after painting it, glad I like it!  Thanks again Rob!

Soul of the Message

Photo courtesy of Ricardo Barros of the SAGEs.

On April 8, 2011 at 219 Gallery in Trenton, NJ, S.A.G.E. Collective's first exhibit as a collective successfully opened.  Over one hundred people from all over Trenton and surrounding areas made the trip thru the rain to see the artwork and meet the artists responsible for over a dozen murals in Trenton itself. The music performers, who were going to be on the street like a siren calling visitors from the capitol, had to move the show inside because of the rain, which made for a very cozy scene.  Windows fogged, house packed, the art show became part concert!  The first video is a virtual walkthru of the exhibit for all those far away who can not make it to see the works in person. All the artists really worked hard and pulled off some amazing pieces.





Many thanks to all those involved and everyone that came out! The artwork will be on display by appointment for the next month, if you're intersted in stopping by email Kasso Below are a few snippets of the incredible talent Trenton has on the mic who came out to support...Hustle MC, Polo, and Black Collar Biz...BIG ups!

Back in Business!

Luv-one and myself collabed on our first wall of the season. Felt good to get out and rock a wall again after a long and bitterly cold winter! We decide to go abstract full tilt with this one. Good times and more to come!

-Will Kasso

"Soul of the Message" Press Release

Who: S.A.G.E. Collective, a New Jersey-based group of artists responsible for murals all over the state. Notable murals of regional and international acclaim include a 90ft. blue whale on Newark Ave. in Jersey City, a tribute to poet Saul Williams in Trenton (featured on the poet's web sites), and a brightly colored mechanical face on the side of the Highland Design Farm in Hopewell (featured in the Utrecht Art Supply Catalog). Members include Will Kasso, Luv One, Lank Williams Jr., Aja Washington, and Delve. http://sagecollective.blogspot.com/


What: Appropriately, S.A.G.E. is holding its first showing as a collective in its birthplace, Trenton. The show exhibits the members' individual styles and establishes the collective as a group of fine artists as well as muralists. Each member contributed approx. five pieces of art, and each artist collaborated on an instillation in the gallery. S.A.G.E. members incorporate the broad landscape of techniques in "Urban Art" including stencils, brush painting, deconstructed letter-based and non-letter-based aerosol art, "graffiti" characters, and wheat paste. Performing at the opening will be Trenton-based hip hop group Black Collar Biz, Hustle MC, and the S.A.G.E. poet laureate Raul "Polo" Cortez. Also, Leon Rainbow will do live body painting. Wine and light refreshments will be provided.


Where: 219 Gallery, 219 East Hanover St., Trenton, NJ


When: April 8, 2011 at 6pm


The gallery space is being provided by the Trenton Downtown Association (TDA), a non-profit organization dedicated to making New Jersey’s capital city a more competitive location for business owners and a more engaging center for workers, residents and visitors. Since 1986, TDA has strived to meet this mission by nurturing and promoting arts, culture and tourism programs, downtown business development and public space initiatives.

RIP Raritan River Art Walk

I recently heard the news that the Raritan River Art Walk caught the buff because the city of New Brunswick is no longer supporting Albus Cavus's project there. Very sad indeed. It got me looking thru my flickr set reminicing.  Here's a slideshow of some of my favorite flicks I took there over the years. If you like the work, remember all this is now buffed out thanks to the city New Brunswick, let them know how you feel about it, SUPPORT LOCAL ARTISTS

Below is an example of the SAGE works done there...  Many of these walls below were still running, until the buff I'm assuming.  Still haven't made my way over to see for myself.  When I do...:) it won't be sad, just a new begining!