Making Smoke Company and Dutch Masters held their Making Smoke Master Class on Aug. 19 at the Tiny Arts Gallery Penthouse and rooftop in Los Angeles. The masterclass featured an artist showcase and artist talk with several renowned artists in the area, including Medium Rare Chicken, Trokon V, VMR.3, Tray Lee, and Augie Ray. The artist talk focused on how each artist mastered their craft and their respective creative processes.
The LA art scene is ripe with artists of all kinds, which made it the perfect backdrop for the artist’s masterclass series. There were multi-media artists, sculptors, photographers, and more. The masterclass was a celebration of the visual storytelling of the hot and explosive artists in the city. Rolling out spoke with LA artists Medium Rare Chicken and Augie Ray about how they’re making smoke.
Tell us about your creative process and how you’re making smoke in your city.
Medium Rare Chicken: A lot of it consists of research because my paintings come from a historical background, and I try to incorporate a lot of factual events. So I have to read a lot, ensure I get it right, and ensure I’m not messing up in terms of the references. Other than that, it’s fun. I enjoy what I do.
Augie Ray: My world is based on defying the odds of the fact that you can do multiple things. I also consider myself a plural, or what I’ve coined as pluralism. My universe is being able to join everything together seamlessly, and it’s been interesting because a lot of people are not privy to that. They’re like, “Oh, well, you do art, music, and you’re a professor at Cal State Northridge. You own a studio. You do all these things, but how?” So that’s my world, putting that together, and making that make sense.
What’s bringing you an inspiration to create your world?
MRC: I set a goal for myself where I want to have at least 50 paintings done. I’ll be at home watching a documentary on World War II or the Vietnam War, and then I’ll just want to draw a fighter jet or a different piece that goes with a collection. I have a set goal in my mind where I want to have a certain amount of paintings done. My goal is to be prolific, and have as many paintings as possible so that by the time, it’s said and done for me. My work is out there, and they can speak for me.
Why do you use so many materials to express yourself?
Ray: The most interesting art is the art that’s not perfect, but it’s something that is more so, “Hey, I took something and I recreated it in my image.” I believe that getting into all different forms is subjective because what makes Canvas better than any other thing to us? Is that based on the structure, or is that based on what you believe?
