For sweet spot doc #5, I catch up with artist One9 in his Dumbo studio to take me through the many styles he is currently working on and get a lesson on chess and a peak at his "back row series". This artists is all about rhythm and movement .. check it!

sweet spot doc #5 One9 from Leah Hamilton on Vimeo.

One9 began his artistic career as an aerosol artist on the streets, alleys and corners of urban America. With a can of spray paint as his chosen instrument of expression, One9 was able to successfully connect his creative thoughts with the passion and cutting edge sentiment that characterized his environment. This period of the artist’s life culminated in his inclusion as a featured artist in the upcoming book “History of U.S. Graffiti” (By Roger Gastman), a book that takes a close look at the ideas and work of the capital city’s most prominent street artists.

Unsatisfied with the traditional course offerings available to him at the University of Maryland, One9 designed a new curriculum that combined traditional artistic practices with new technological advances and graduated with a degree in Visual Communications in 1996. His receipt of the International Competition for Broadcast Design Award (BDA), a NY Film Festival Cultural Award and his 6 Telly awards showcased the artists’ ability to integrate two seemingly disparate forms into an artistic whole and validated the unconventional path he chose to travel.

As One9 matured his artistic vision followed suit. He became increasingly interested in communicating the visual manifestations of rhythm and his work began to illustrate this new philosophy. In 1997, One9’s work led to his being chosen to conduct a workshop on the interpretation of rhythm as part of the Smithsonian Institution’s Seeing Jazz Festival. One9 led workshop participants through exercises that allowed them to translate music into visual form.

One9’s work has been featured in numerous art shows including: Manifest Hope DC, in collaboration with Irvine Contemporary Gallery, MoveOn.org Political Action, The Service Employees International Union and Obey Giant, Washington DC, The Walls Belong To Us Art Benefit, in collaboration with FiftyFive DSL and Sound of Art, New York, NY, 2007 3rd Wave: The Planet of Brooklyn Transitions, in collaboration with Brooklyn Arts Council Gallery and natcreole.com, as well as co-creating the 1st Annual Kings & Queens Chess Give, The Malcolm X & Dr. Betty Shabazz Memorial and Educational Center, New York, NY. check out his site www.one9.com.

LiLi Happi blurbs on Artist Euphema Robinson's work "Pocomania" in Direct Art Magazine Vol 16

For the first time I was given the honors to do a spotlight blurb on painter Euphema Robinson in Volume 16 of Direct Art Magazine. The work is a beautiful rendition from her childhood memories of an age old African and Caribbean practice called POCOMANIA and is completed in a bevy of brilliant oil pastel layers. I had the pleasure of also curating a show with Euphema at Limner Gallery called "Histories" Stay tuned for this artist as she will be featuring on my viral show "all this art" in early 2010 and keep up with Direct Art Magazine at www.directart.org. Direct Art selects artists purely on the basis of their work without regard to educational, exhibition, or biographical credentials. In this manner they assemble a diverse collection of artists who are rarely seen in other media outlets which flows right along with the purpose of this blog and the hope to provide more visibility in highlighting such extraordinary talent across the globe . I look forward the Euphema Robinson interview for "All this Art" as well as exposing the magical energy of her latest work.

LiLi Happi in conjunction with Essence, Bacardi & Designer Scott Tucker does end of year art mixer "Love Art Respect"

I had a Super Event called "Love Art Respect" in conjunction with Essence Magazine, Barcardi and Sculptor Designer Scott Tucker at his Raunjiba Studio in Brooklyn NY Sept 24th. The goal of the art mixer was to bring together the talents of industry and art to meet and mingle on where we stand as we close the end of an era and collectively roll into a new one. We had the skills of Shawn Martinbrough, Musa Hixson, Tony Peralta, Keith Major, Ajamu Kojo Walker, Patrick Earl Barnes, Thomas Heath, Jennifer Crute, Toofly, Marc Baptiste and even the beautiful Maiysha stopped through. many other artists in the room and on monitor display in a cozy area of the room where you could watch the slide show, enjoy the comforts of a Scott Tucker Designed seating and of course a yummy mojito all to the sounds of Qool Dj Marv who kept the energy flowing. Barcardi sponsored the event and kept the Mojito's in effect and everyone busy not just enjoy the taste but learning to make them properly! What Fun! Big thanks to Dayna Gillard for making this possible as well as the Lesley Pinckney and Emil Wilbekin from Essence some of classiest people I have met in a very long time! ... yaaaay we love that! Much appreciation to Raunjiba Studio for hosting the space and the super talented Sculptor/Designer Scott Tucker for surrounding us with his wonderful furniture , designs, sculptures and paintings at Raunjiba! you can see more images here and video coming soon. Long Live Art!

LiLi Happi Interviewed by Collective Art

All This Art √4 Musa Hixson

All This Art √4 get's up with Brooklyn Sculptor/Artist Musa Hixson out at his studio and gets the scoop on his latest series, a work in progress called "Art Incubator". He even took an interview break to finish up some work with his electric welder and kept things moving between time and the sparks from his angle grinder never missing a beat.






MUSA’s international and local explorations have allowed him the exciting opportunity to hone his voice in the art world as an Installation Artist and Sculptor. This artistic journey was bolstered during his undergraduate studies at Hampton University where he majored in Comprehensive Art. In the spring of 1994 Musa traveled to Rwanda and Uganda as a US Delegate through an invitation from the 7th Annual Pan African Congress.In 1995, MUSA returned to Brooklyn, to attend graduate school at Pratt Institute and earned an MFA in sculpture. In 2002, he returned to the continent of Africa and visited South Africa and Ghana. During this time he studied with master wood carvers and further researched the techniques and history of African sculpture.
MUSA has taught Art History at the City University of New York’s Medgar Evers College, since 2002, which has given him the unique opportunity to share his global perspectives on art history with hundreds of students. In order to create a greater connection with the youth of Bedford Stuyvesant, MUSA established the Brooklyn Arts Incubator, Inc., a not-for-profit community based organization in 2003. In its seven year history, MUSA has been able to employ dozens of professional artists who organize community based art projects with hundreds of children throughout Bedford Stuyvesant public schools. You can find related and more info about Musa on various websites...just google him baby!

LiLi Happi's " All This Art" √3 Fuse Green

All This Art √3 catches up with Artist and Visual Strategist Fuse Green,as he gives us a sneak peak on his upcoming visual /musical book project done in collaboration with 9th Wonder called "The Planet". He also took the time to lend insights on what "Fuse" represents.





Bobby Green better known as Fuse Green - Artist,Visual Strategist , Creative Director, began his professional career working for Atlanta based "Nomenudum", a specialized creative agency creating acclaimed campaigns for Coca Cola, Sprite, Minute Maid, and Lugz. In the summer of 2000, Marc Ecko (Ecko Unltd), recruited Fuse Green as one of their newest creative directors/designers landing him in NYC. In 2001.
In 2003 he partnered with GTM to form the lifestyle brand Wheat Bread Life. The Wheat Bread product line includes apparel, prints, dj accessories, and the I-Tunes based radio station "WheatBreadRadio" as well as exclusive creative projects. He collaborates frequently with J Period creating monster visuals his album projects. He served as a senior graphic designer for Jay Z's Rocawear and has done work for clients like TBS, DC Comics, Truth.com, Current Tv, Scion, Nike, Pete Rock /Nature Sounds and countless others. Check out his work on his website fusegreen.com.

LiLi Happi's " All This Art" √2 Tony Peralta

All This Art √ 2 is a quick feature on Dominican-York Artist M.Tony Peralta and his latest project entitled " The Buena Suerte Series" aka The Good Luck Series. So I hiked up to Probus in the Heights to get some good luck and get a glimpse of the screen prints.





Peralta began his career as a Design Director at a boutique PR/marketing agency in Manhattan. His in-house work designing logos, Web sites and promotional materials for clients opened up outside opportunities to design graphics for fashion companies like Drunknmunky, Mad Soul, Snoop Dogg Clothing and others.Most recently 34-year-old Peralta has linked with The Sound of Art, and has been putting brush to canvas. As a result, he is developing a solid following and has sold several limited-edition posters and paintings. Currently he's chosen to express his art in the medium of screen-printing, Tony has developed a popular, street-oriented t-shirt line that is currently available at cool street-wear boutiques in the U.S. and Canada learn more about tony on his website the peralta project.

LiLi Happi's "All This Art" √1 Craig Anthony Miller

All This Art √1 features the latest Mural project done by Artist Craig Anthony Miller and the 303 Collective. Make sure you take a trip down to DUMBO Brooklyn to see it. You can also see more of his work while you are down under the brooklyn bridge on the exterior walls of Pedros, in the lounge at rebar and for a limited time hovering above the beats at Halcyon





Trained in computerized art with a BA in graphic design, Craig Anthony Miller aka "CAM," is a solid Brooklyn native who started painting out with live painting at a venue on the Lower East Side of NYC finally surrendering his skill to the canvas in 1996. Since then, CAM has showcased briefly on the streets of NYC in addition to collective group and solo showings and has a strong presence in and around establishments of DUMBO Brooklyn. CAM's art was selected and featured on a 2003 Samuel Adams billboard advertisement in SoHo, NYC and in the 2004 Pepsi Black History Commemorative Calendar. In November 2006, CAM was part of a group exhibition at the Index International Show in Dubai, UAE. 2007 brought a one man international exhibition at Proud Gallery (Camden) London, England. He is Creative Director for Six Miles Deep a retro track& field inspired line of clothing, he is a dedicated Affiliate of ArtExpo, The Sound of Art and 311 Studio. Find out more about CAM on his website craiganthonymiller.com