David Cavazo, also known as Big Sleeps, is an iconic Los Angeles based street artist, and highly sought after tattoo artist. He was tapped as the official artist to bring his signature style of indecipherable, hand painted, hieroglyphics to life on the all-new 2022 Ford Maverick during ComplexCon ’21, held in Long Beach, CA. Big Sleeps was given a very short time frame to get it done within 2-weeks, but he over-delivered and went above and beyond.
Dee Guerrero, Ford’s multicultural marketing manager, had nothing but high praises for Big Sleeps. “We wanted to create [the Ford Maverick] as art itself,” Guerrero said when asked how they selected Big Sleeps as their artist. “We scoured and looked for an artist that could bring this to life. We found Big Sleeps in the LA area. He’s in the national museum in LA in Getty, and we said we would love to partner to make it different, ‘but make it you’.”
Spectators at ComplexCon were very impressed with the hand-crafted design that the LA native carefully curated. At first glance, it’s difficult to tell that the design is composed of actual words. However, after speaking with the artist himself during the event, Big Sleeps broke down exactly what the design says and where his inspiration came from.
Tell us about what we see?
So, here we have some LA style indigenous calligraphy. Every row has a word or a phrase designed to have a symmetrical pattern. I went with colors that would best compliment the truck. The blue really set it off.
Where were you when you first started this type of art?
I studied lettering when I was a kid and practiced it most of my young life. I went to school for sign and graphics and studied hieroglyphics and hand styles.
Why did you add the drips?
It gives it character. I paint large scale and wanted to paint this by hand.
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