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Artist Interview: Lady Millard

Anthony Grant — Sun, 18 Jul 2010 08:37:48 +0000

“They look like fashion illustrations”, I said to my self the first time I encountered the art of Lady Millard. The pieces were rather impressive. Larger than life canvases, giant images of women being depicted as astrological symbols, and a flurry of color. I was amazed at the balance between raw and refinement in these pieces. Those characteristics possibly stemmed from the collaborative effort between Lady Millard ( Diana Smith ) and her art partner. Or it could have just been the nascent beginnings of this creator. Since that first encounter with her work I get updates via facebook ( ahh technology ) of her latest pieces. The work has gone from whimsical to a more precise polished graphic style that is reminiscent of the contemporary illustrative styles of today.

I recently caught up with Lady Millard and asked her some questions about art, life and everything between. Here is what she had to say.

Why art? I was born with a talent and my mother helped me to recognize it.

When did you first start? I started painting professionally after I was diagnosed as bipolar in 2002. It was a way not to get fired.

Do you use your art to chart your life, or in other
words, do most of your pieces have a significance to you
personally or are they just streams of consciousness? Yes.

Who inspires you? Jeremy Fish and Shepard Fairey and Damien Hirst.

You ( as am I ) of Jamaican decent. Do you know of any thriving artists or art scenes on the island? I have never met someone that was a Jamaican Artist. It is an anomaly an occurrence that is strange, unusual, or unique.

Were you born there? Yes.

Does Jamaica inspire your artwork? I am inspired by my heritage because out of nothing there can be something – and out of many there is one. I love being Jamaican.

Your work is tagged with a gentleman in a mask. Who is he? or What is the story behind the Millard name? The story behind the name is simple my dad, Millard, gave me my name, Diana, after the princess. Lady Millard is homage to him ( and her ), but it also has a secondary meaning The Sex of God or Lai di Millard.

Do you have any shows coming up? I am writing a book called Nicolette the Avenger the book of Light.

Recently Erykah Badu released a video where she strips naked. Do you fell that there is a double standard when it comes to women making an artistic statement with their bodies? No. I think people take themselves to seriously when it comes to sex and their bodies.

When you are not painting, what do you do? While in New York I play hand ball and call my surrogate mom Hyueng Kim she is Korean. I also like to work on my relationships with friends. While in California there is only work.

If you could let the world know about someone/something,
who/what would it be? I would let the world know that I could save it if given the platform. Step one, more communication. Step two, more art.

Where can someone purchase your work? my website http://millardboutique.com/

Stop Motion Graffiti by Broken Fingaz

Anthony — Thu, 22 Apr 2010 19:01:49 +0000

Came across this great piece of animation and graffiti from Israel. First animation clip from Tant and Unga of the “broken fingaz crew”. Check out brokenfingaz.com. Music by Boreta and edIT of The Glitch Mob

Dont Get It Twisted: Time Displacement

Anthony — Thu, 22 Apr 2010 19:01:49 +0000

R.I.P. Keith Elam aka Guru

Anthony — Tue, 20 Apr 2010 17:06:34 +0000

One of the great voices of hip hop is in a better place. Keith Elam better known as Guru was one half of Gangstarr along with DJ Premier. Guru leaves behind a healthy catalogue of pure hits from his days with Gangstarr and then solo with the critically acclaimed Jazzmatazz series of albums. There he collaborated with jazz greats from Donald Byrd to Roy Ayers and more contemporary artists like Erykah Badu and N’Dea Davenport. While hip hop had always sampled from jazz Guru took it a step further and worked with that genres living legends to create new tracks destined to become classics. Back in 1998 I had a chance to meet and have a lengthy conversation with Guru at a friends house. Aside from being completely shocked that he was there I was pleasantly surprised with his demeanor. He did not pull a”yo Im a rap superstar kid, I can’t talk to you” routine. Instead we stood and talked about jazz and hip hop fusion and I was asking him if he saw similarities ( to jazz ) in Drum n’ Bass and furthermore if hip hop would embrace it as it had jazz. We had differing opinions ( and for the record Guru was correct after the Goldie and KRS 1 collab I have not heard anything else by way of hip hop and DnB collabs ) but still managed to agree on other musical tastes and topics. I feel fortunate to have had that personal memory of someone I listened to on a regular basis. Gifted. Unlimited. Rhymes. Universal. Rest in peace Keith Elam.

UPDATED: Just read the letter Guru allegedly wrote to his fans. He goes out of his way to exclude DJ Premier from any future dealings with Guru’s namesake, image, music etc… interesting. Something not right about that.

In no particular order here are my top 5 Guru/Gangstarr tracks ( song titles are direct links to iTunes ):

Movies | ‘The Art of the Steal’: What happens to art when its collector dies? | Seattle Times Newspaper

Anthony — Thu, 15 Apr 2010 13:48:39 +0000

Movies | ‘The Art of the Steal’: What happens to art when its collector dies? | Seattle Times Newspaper.