Hip-hop immediately makes an impression on most people. Words like loud, rebellious and powerful often come to mind. And when fusing it with the fine art world, it can be beautiful. Today, professional location artist Borbay unveils his newest exhibit "The Kings of Hip Hop" in New York City. Borbay sat down with theGrio to discuss how he broke away from the corporate world, the parallels between the rap and the art worlds and his one unforgettable encounter with Tracey Morgan.
Can you tell us a little bit about yourself?
Well when I was 4 my mom let me paint a wooden bunny and from that point on I was hooked on art. However, as I got older, I didn't know what I wanted to do professionally so I ended to go to [Boston University] to run on scholarship where I majored in graphic design. I ended up working at as a designer for a company called The Beacon Hill Times, a small staff weekly paper. After that I planned on out moving west with a slam poet but then I decided to stay in Boston because I then got cast into a reality TV show and taping was for the following 6 months...
What was the show called?
It was called The Roomies. Basically it was a radio exec in Boston's pet project . But thankfully it was before the evolution of technology and the explosion of reality TV. We were shooting our stuff exclusively on web cams with 24/7 coverage and while were testing previewing the show in different markets, the network collapsed. If only we waited two years later when people got hip to YouTube we would've made a killing. It was a blessing in disguise for me to pursue my other interests.
Which were?
So after moving to Manhattan with no money, I started doing stand-up comedy. One man on the stage type stuff. True story, my first time performing live I was scared out of my mind. Like sweating through my clothes. In my moments of nervousness I didn't even notice that Tracy Morgan was sitting right next to me.
Tracy is a legend. 
Yeah it kinda blew me away. So I start talking to him asking him if he is going on before me and for any advice in general. Tracy looked right at me without saying a word; motioned for his security guard to come over to us and whispered in his ear.
I like where this is going already.
Ha! The security guard then proceeded to tap me on my shoulder and says "Don't talk to Tracy" and walked away. Then I did my show.
I guess with Tracy's disrespect he inadvertently fueled you into other ventures.
I got sick of the hustle of the comedy game. Long hours. Too much booze. I was burned out and it wasn't for me anymore. But to make a long story short, I made a contact with someone who was affiliated with the Trump Towers. I landed a desk job there and went the corporate route and was involved in big large scale Trump licensing projects that were spread all over the world.
How long were you with the Donald?
I was working there for a little under 2 years, where I began to parlay into the world of advertising. I became successful within my field and a few year back I was on vacation in Hawaii with my then girlfriend now wife. I met this artist from New York while I was out there. We connected and through him I rekindled my passion for the arts. I was literally painting on the beach, 6-pack to the side and I began to think to myself, 'Dude this is the life.' The world doesn't another a**hole selling websites.
Let's fast forward a bit. How did you get the concept for your painting style?
Well my break literally came from playing ice hockey in Chelsea. When you snap your fibula, it comes with a lot of downtime. I'm an avid reader so I took to the newspapers. The New York Times was too business oriented...The Daily News was OK. But I became a fan of the New York Post. It's like the perfect mix of gossip and news. So as I'm doing my rehab and on my meds, I realized that the variety of content in the Post was crazy. So I began to create these collages using the headlines and words from the paper. They were part artistic expression part social commentary.
And that was the beginning. After being commissioned to do a multiple projects in NYC, I felt I was ready to do some portraits. One day I was blogging and I was looking for inspiration for paint and title my post: "I got 99 problems and finding a portrait subject is one"
Source: http://www.thegrio.com/entertainment/art-preview-borbays-kings-of-hip-hop-exhibit.php
terrelle pryor orangutan moammar gadhafi bachelor pad bachelor pad hp touchpad tablet hurricane tracking
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.