Happy Ending, 2024

OG Slick  

Born and raised in Honolulu, Hawaii, Slick moved to Los Angeles in 1986 at age 19 where he became a defining force in the West Coast's contribution to graffiti worldwide. Slick developed his artistic talents influenced by his childhood fascination with American and Japanese popular culture. Expanding his talents, Slick took to commercial art and was at the forefront of American streetwear culture where he was able to adapt his unique satirical style for a broader audience.

Working at the intersection of commerce and art, process and a subversive tension are central to Slick's practice. Slick's body of work ranges from traditional graffiti burners, streetwear and toy design, to site-specific installations, public sculptures and studio painting, with aerosol spray paint as his weapon of choice. A fascination with natural decay and human destruction frame Slick's critiques of popular culture and normative behaviors. From the anti-branding re-work of both startup and corporate logos, to battle driven, chiaroscuro influenced burners and deviously playful sculptures, Slick's creations ignite the emotions through satire and parody.

Slick's background includes work as a pioneer in streetwear with the brands 3rd Rail, Fuct, Shaolin Worldwide and DISSIZIT in succession over 3 decades. Most recently, sculptural and installation commissions at home and abroad have broadened the scope of Slick's practice. The 15' Love Gloves and the 16' Three Slick Pigs, both made in 2019 in Shanghai, China, situate Slick's hyper-cartoonish, yet soulfully personified character styles in highly commercialized public spaces. Known internationally and celebrated at home for his LA Hands logo, Slick often reworks the iconic hands on canvas and walls, as well as in sculptures and installations, and re-imagined it as part of a 2018 commission for the Beyond the Streets exhibition in Los Angeles. Even with his commercial work, Slick never strays too far from that raw graffiti aesthetic. The work, Degrees of Perfect (Color Changing Mural), deftly embodies both abstraction and figuration within the language of graffiti and Slick's personal iconography.

Slick's work has been presented in a variety of spaces, including the exhibitions: Art In The Streets at MOCA (Los Angeles, CA), LA Heat at Chinese American Museum (Los Angeles, CA), Beyond The Streets (Los Angeles, CA), Roll Call at LA Louver (Venice, CA), California Locos Masters Of Style at Eastern Projects (Los Angeles, CA) and Into Action, a social justice festival of art and ideas (Los Angeles, CA). It has also been documented in numerous publications and books such as: Graffiti LA, Mascots & Mugs and The History of Los Angeles Graffiti Art. Other commissions and clients include: Adidas, Levi's, Microsoft, Disney, LA Lakers, Mercedes and even a gigantic inflatable pig for Roger Waters among others.