World-renownded street artist, t_w_o_o_n_e (Hiroyasu Tsuri) didn’t know what he wanted to do with his life as high school ended in 2003. This posed a big problem, because in Japan you’re supposed to choose your life path at that time, and few ever veer from it.
Not ready to pull that trigger, Hiro bolted the comfort of his native land for Australia, because he desired to learn English, and it was nearer than England. He’d heard of Sydney, so he chose Melbourne, about which he knew nothing.
t_w_o_o_n_e “Black bird” Re.Discover Street Art Festival, Bunbury, Australia, 2014
Hanging at his local one night soon after arriving, Hiro noticed some interesting drawings on the bathroom stall. Whimsically, he grabbed a pencil and added his own flourishes to the existing marks. When he returned the next evening, he noticed that the original artist had drawn his own fresh additions to Hiro’s marks. Over the next few days, the bathroom installation grew and grew, as two total strangers dialogued in spontaneous illustration. Hiro finally met his toilet collaborator, and they became fast friends who began drawing together in public places. Not long after, that pub hosted a show for Hiro, where he sold work and, lucky for the rest of us, realized his path.
t_w_o_o_n_e gets right down to business at Fancy Nasty.
A few weeks ago, I stood at my grill flipping sausages for a gathering of Fancy Nasty artists who’d flown in from various parts of Europe, Asia and South America.
We sipped beers and philosophized about our work, our families, our dreams. All the while, Hiro, now 30, sat drawing on the brown paper in which the sausages had been wrapped. His eyes twinkled when I asked him if I could keep it. “Surely,” he said in soft, musical, perfect English.
Hiro draws on a sausage wrapper.
In the days that followed, my new friend got busy. Hiro’s first of two exterior walls featured a man’s resolute profile, perhaps a shaman or warrior preparing for battle.
What struck me was how, after Hiro rendered the face perfectly, he chose to mar it with slashes of pink, as if to say, perfection is overrated and life is made compelling by one’s scars.
t_w_o_o_n_e adds the turkey vulture
The next time I saw the face, Hiro had overlaid it with a bird. When I asked him about it, he said, “When I go to a new place to paint, I like to research the local wildlife. I discovered that the turkey vulture is popular here.” When he said “turkey vulture,” I got chills. “Hiro, do you see that island,” I said, pointing to a cluster of mangroves 300 meters from where we stood. “That is a turkey vulture sanctuary.” Within minutes, turkey vultures swirled high above us.
@stuart_sheldon – Wipeout (See Notes) aka The Gold Room, 2015
These past 6 months, crystalizing the vision that became Fancy Nasty, have been some of the most serendipitous and satisfying of my life as an artist … and a person.
Not just because the work that we each made was strong. But because a group of disparate personalities, from the far corners of the globe, each understood immediately the opportunity, and proceeded to roll up their sleeves, put their heads down and get their jobs done, said job being to pull forth from their chests the very beating heart that makes them creative geniuses. Each recognized that Fancy Nasty was not just another art show but an affirmation, in a fraught world, that creative purity abounds, non-commercial excellence compels and mystical connectivity, when acknowledged, spins straw into gold.
Hiro is gone, swept off to paint his next masterpiece in Paris and then who knows where. Ditto many of the twenty majestic creatures who touched down briefly, sprinkled their fairy dust and flew away.
To each, I bow humbly, and say, WOW! Thank you for creating with me one of the highlights of my life! And for helping to inaugurate Build Crew, the non-profit I founded with friends to help artists build, install and place public art.
Wherever he goes, Hiro jumps in! In the distance – the turkey vulture island.
We just can’t stop!
Come unwind with the artists
THIS FRIDAY NIGHT (Dec 18th)
around the Fancy Nasty firepit
9pm – ??
BYOB!!!
5625 North Bayshore Drive in Morningside
Don’t take my word for it. Here is what Fusion TV had to say about Fancy Nasty:
A photo posted by Fusion (@thisisfusion) on Dec 2, 2015 at 8:03am PST
t_w_o_o_n_e & NOVE collaboration. Painted in two days.
NOVE @digitalorganico (Sao Paolo)
Strawberrita Dreams
Andrea Nhuch @thenhuch
Kelly Breez
Fuckin Feelin It
@Hoxxoh & Brandon Opalka go old-school ballistic
Another day at the Fancy Nasty office
DJ Strategy flew the Golden Age Hiphop in from New Orleans – OMFG!
@stuart_sheldon
Gustavo Amaral & Andrea Nhuch
Strawberrita Dreams. It’s lit, alright!
Gary Feinberg
@zosenbandido & @mina_hamada (Buenos Aires & Tokyo)
@KellyBreez
Michael Loveland @flyinglovebucket
Lee-Joon Youn (S. Korea)
@RandyBurman
Light sculpture by Jesse Laino @real_jesse . Mirror etching by Kyle Chapman @krbchapman
Dracula performs around the Bambi shrine and nightmare disco ball.
@Typoe
Kiss me now!
Benji Cospolite
@wyattgallery
MSG Crew
Autumn Casey @strawbrry5trill_
Benji Cospolite
Shiny happy people.
Autumn Casey
Magic
Jesse Laino & Kyle Chapman
@stuart_sheldon
Autumn Casey
@GustavoAmaral (Sao Paolo)
Primary Projects makes a rainbow
Gimme That Cold Money! @stuart_sheldon
t_w_o_o_n_e & NOVE sketch their next moves. With Elif Ucan from @spokeofficial
More Magic
We killed it!
Fancy Nasty is all over Instagram at #FancyNasty and #thegoldhouse.
If you missed it, read more about it here and see more photos here. Message me for a private tour before the show gets scraped off the planet by bulldozers next month. And, if you’re the media, hit me to cover the destruction of the installation with all this killer art inside.
Hells yeah!!
Mic Drop!
