Big Sleeps

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Big Sleeps，本名David Cavazos，在洛杉矶皮科联盟区的墙壁上学会了字母艺术。据他自己说，他从小就迷恋每天经过的一面墙上的字母，于是找来剩下的喷漆，临摹那些字母，直到自己也能写。他的抱负很简单。他想成为街区里最棒的写字手，坚信带着爱和尊重做出的作品会成长为更伟大的东西。他的手艺是在洛杉矶的涂鸦文化中成长起来的。他加入了K2S涂鸦团伙，意思是Kill 2 Succeed，这个团伙由涂鸦者Jose "Prime" Reza共同创立，他称Prime为他的影响者之一。他形成的风格是地区性的奇卡诺字母艺术，也叫cholo或洛杉矶手写体字母艺术，这是一种追溯到20世纪20年代到40年代的传统。他的作品将名字和短语变成密集、华丽的构图，外人几乎无法辨认，而圈内人则能完全读懂。从墙壁到纹身行业，再到美术，他将一套字母艺术词汇应用到纹身、壁画和画布绘画以及设计中。他将母亲因癌症去世视为一个转折点，开始有目标、有纪律、有尊重地工作。他自己的访谈和画廊记录显示，他的作品是从洛杉矶涂鸦文化和美术中发展而来的，这里也是这样记录的。让他的名字超越洛杉矶的是一本书。《生活字母》最初是一本剪贴簿，收集了他笔记本和手写材料中的字母艺术，是供纹身店使用的地区性字母艺术参考手册。在Ink-N-Iron纹身展上展示后，Belzel Books的Wendy Belzel看中了它，并将其出版为一系列参考书。它触及了国际纹身受众，并成为该行业洛杉矶风格字母艺术的标准参考之一。《生活字母》也是品牌和网站letterstoliveby.com的名称，他通过这个平台发布字母艺术、艺术品和设计。这些书并非他连接街头与机构的唯一桥梁。他与Jose "Prime" Reza合作出版了一本名为《街区馈赠》的字母艺术书，被盖蒂研究中心收藏。他曾在加州威尼斯的L.A. Louver画廊展出过混合媒体绘画，该画廊的My L.A.访谈系列以David Cavazos的名字称呼他，并记录了他的皮科联盟起源和他美术绘画实践。自21世纪初以来，他一直与Sullen Clothing合作。如今，他在洛杉矶Fairfax区经营着自己的预约制纹身工作室Big Sleeps Studio，同时还有Big Sleeps Ink系列和轮换发行的设计服装。他的妻子Monica是他在这些企业中的业务伙伴。他还进行壁画、研讨会和字母艺术工作坊。在当代字母艺术领域，他在脚本轴线上与Norm Will Rise、BJ Betts和Big Meas并列，并在奇卡诺影响的线条上，以不同的风格方向，与Mark Mahoney并列。他与众不同之处在于其源头。他不是从闪卡上借鉴洛杉矶手写体。他是在自己街区的墙壁上创作的，然后通过印刷品将其传给行业其他人。《生活字母》最初是一本剪贴簿，收集了他笔记本和手写材料中的字母艺术，是供纹身店使用的地区性字母艺术参考手册。Wendy Belzel of Belzel Books picked it up after he showed it at the Ink-N-Iron tattoo convention, and it was published as a series of reference volumes. It reached an international tattoo audience and became one of the standard references for Los Angeles-style lettering in the trade. Letters to Live By is also the brand and website, letterstoliveby.com, through which he releases lettering, art, and design. The books were not his only bridge between the street and the institution. He collaborated with Jose "Prime" Reza on a lettering book titled Neighborhood Offerings, which was acquired by the Getty Research Institute. He has shown mixed-media paintings through L.A. Louver in Venice, California, the gallery whose My L.A. interview series identifies him by name as David Cavazos and documents his Pico-Union origin and his fine-art painting practice. He has collaborated with Sullen Clothing since the early 2000s. Today he runs Big Sleeps Studio, his appointment-based tattoo studio on Fairfax in Los Angeles, alongside the Big Sleeps Ink line and rotating clothing releases of his designs. His wife, Monica, is his business partner across several of these ventures. He also conducts murals, seminars, and lettering workshops. Within the contemporary lettering cohort he sits alongside Norm Will Rise, BJ Betts, and Big Meas on the script axis, and on the Chicano-influenced line that runs, in a different stylistic direction, through Mark Mahoney. What sets him apart is the source. He did not borrow the Los Angeles hand-style from a flash sheet. He built it on the walls of his own neighborhood and then handed it to the rest of the trade in print.

传承脉络