One With The Game
During this pandemic we’ve had to find ways to cope with our mental health. We spoke with our loved ones more often, played virtual games with our friends, we cooked, we danced to live virtual DJ parties. We even had Corona Baes’, don’t ask.
One way I coped was through art therapy. I found this long-lost talent a few years back but really dove into it in 2020. I’m no Takashi Murakami, nevertheless my little stick figures have helped me deal with life.
I recently had the pleasure of meeting another stick figure artist. But Vakseen (The Cure) Otha Davis III, didn’t stop at stick figures. Vakseen, as he is known, was born in Athens, Georgia in 1979. Born to a military father, his family moved
around in his early years, before his dad retired in Jacksonville, Florida.
In his senior year of high school, his AP Art class teacher wanted him to censor one of his pieces. He refused, which ultimately led to a failing grade for the semester. Thus deterred from drawing, he turned to music and after excelling in the local music scene, he made the move to Los Angeles in 2011. Yeah, he’s also a multi-platinum music executive, producer and songwriter, but that’s for another story.
It was in LA that friends started noticing his old artwork saying “you should be doing something with this”. Taking that as a sign, he dove in and centered his focus and passion in a different realm. Known for his “Vanity Pop” style of collage-influenced paintings, his work has been exhibited in numerous museums and galleries such as the Ontario Museum of History & Art, Brownsville Museum of Fine Art, Zhou B Art Center, and even Spectrum Miami/Art Basel. He has also enjoyed notoriety on the walls at SOHO House London, and been featured on television and in magazine ads for client’s such as, Adidas, Vans, BBC World News, HBO’s Insecure, FX’s Snowfall, in American Art Collector, Buzzfeed, Complex Magazine, VIBE Magazine, Professional Artist Magazine ... just to name a few, but the list goes on and on.
I met Vakseen at his new art gallery in Studio City, California. When I tell you that I was drawn into a room, it’s an understatement! The energy I felt coming off the walls was euphoric! It automatically warmed every inch of my body. The colors, the lines, the stories behind the pieces ... it was everything!
When it came to the Vanity Pop pieces, seeing my expression, he urged me to get closer and really look. THEY ARE HAND PAINTED! This whole time I thought they were cut out magazine pics. He explained that his signature painting style “fuses elements of photorealism, cubism and fashion design into vibrant, abstract portraits. It's a celebration of beauty, fashion, personal identity, luxury, excess, insecurities and vulnerabilities. Art is my lifeline. If I'm not creating, I'm not living. It allows me to release. If I can't put things into words I create. Art is everything to me, everything.”
All this, while I am wearing my “Just here to Judge'' tank top, smh. He reassured me that I am not the only one that thought that way about this collection at first.