Stage One

Stage One has been a graffiti writer, based in Vancouver, since 1993. He is fascinated and concerned with graffiti as a social, cultural, and artistic phenomenon as a bold and urgent form of communication and not as a method of mischief.

The clientele for his illustration and graphic work includes No Luck Club (75 Ark recording artists), Rice Paper Magazine, and Camel Clutch (clothing company), among others.

Previous Highlights
His paintings have been exhibited at DJ Soundwar (1998)
Slam City Jam (2001)
New Forms Festival (2001)
604 Hip Hop Expo (2001)

INFLUENCES
theatre, old foreign films (especially Michelangelo Antonioni, Ingmar Bergman, Jean-Luc Godard, and Yasujiro Ozu), Al Hirschfeld (illustrator), Reid Miles (graphic designer), Charles M. Schulz (you know who he is)

ABOUT THE PAINTINGS
- spraypaint on masonite/hardboard panels, 4"x 4"and smaller
- most paintings will be available for sale
- this is how I described the paintings to my friend: well, it's a bunch of people standing in a room staring at each other, looking all sad. You know, my usual style.
- I am mostly interested in story and relationships in my paintings. I like subtext. I like discomfort. I like awkwardness. I like silence. I like conflict, especially suppressed conflict. I care only about human beings. I will not paint animals (at least I try not to).
- I appear in most of my paintings. Hardly is it ever a self-portrait, though. Most of my paintings are of situations I've been in, situations I will probably be in, and situations that I imagine myself being in. Yes, personal memories are frequent subjects. I think of my paintings as sharing more than confessing. I paint myself because I need to have a personal connection with the painting, or else, why would I bother? - A LINKING THEME (or whatever) FOR THE SHOW: Relationships. Awkward relationships.