CATCH UP WITH FOREST FOR THE TREES
We caught up with Gage Hamilton, one of the artist for the public mural project, Forest For The Trees. He's an amazing artist who is involved in tons of projects. Read on to find out more!
Throughout 2014, was there a favorite mural you worked on?
During the week of Forest For The Trees I was mostly working on my mural at the DeSoto building on NW Couch & Broadway, and running around all over the place, so I didn't get much time to watch other artists paint. So I only worked on my own wall, making it the easy winner. That's probably a boring answer though, so I'll go with DALeast's wall on SE 6th & Yamhill. He had to push his trip back a few weeks, so it gave me time to work with him one-on-one, which was a nice shift. He's an amazing talent, and I'm a sucker for black & white / grayscale work. That said, I'm a big fan of all of the artists involved... I wish there were more hours in the day so I could watch and listen to everyone's process, but the best I can do is get the groundwork out of the way to provide everybody a canvas, equipment, and freedom to create their vision.
What does Forest for the Trees have in store for us this year?
Honestly I haven't started planning things yet... I need time to focus on my own art practice, to take on gigs that allow me to make a living, and to deal with my own personal issues that come with life...and then to balance that with this project. It's a labor of love, so I need to block it out for several months and come back with fresh ideas and the energy to make it happen again.
All I can really say for sure is that it's important to me that it continues to evolve, push boundaries, and starts opening up new doors for a variety of artists and mediums. And that it stays grassroots and focused on providing opportunity to create art in public. There will likely be a few surprises, and I hope to build avenues for the public to become more aware of the artists' work, process, inspirations and intentions.
What exciting and creative projects have you been working on personally?
We are just getting ready to install a few lenticular murals I created with Yoskay Yamamoto and Cyrcle for Guerilla Development's new Zipper building on NE 28th & Sandy. It's a crazy project lining the entire building with over 300 multi-sided 14' tall painted wooden pillars. Kevin Cavenaugh (Guerilla Development) is really supportive of public art, so it's been a great experience working with him.
I'm just starting up on my piece for Hellion Gallery's Ema show opening this March in Portland and Tokyo, which is basically the opposite of what I just described...definitely the smallest thing I've ever painted, but it should be a good one.
I finished up a couple murals at the PDX airport and did a live painting for Chef's Week & the legend of Gregory Gourdet. I also helped put together a successful Native(X) exhibit at Wieden + Kennedy.
Other than that, I've been traveling around the last couple months driving my trusty van up and down the coast and through the Southwest, picking up commissions and mural gigs along the way. It was good to get away for a bit, but feels really nice to be back in Portland where everything is delicious and convenient and pleasantly cloudy.
Follow Gage and everything he is doing!
EYES & EDGE