WHERE ANGELS TREAD
Renowned Los Angeles artist Saber on his first Bangkok show
Discovering something that forces you to alter your worldview is no doubt an unnerving experience. For Los Angeles-based artist Saber, who arrived in Bangkok last month, discovering that there is not only one but two “City of Angels” was a massive revelation.
“I thought that LA was the only City of Angels, and we wear that with a badge of honour,” he said.
Unlearning and rediscovering what the City of Angels might actually mean, Saber has created a completely new set of artworks, for his “Decoding City Of Angels” exhibition set to be unveiled at Bangkok’s newest art venue Chin’s Gallery at tomorrow evening’s launch.
A proud “Angelo”, the former graffiti artist is considered to be one of the best and most respected figures of his field. His name pops up in every listing for the world’s top graffiti artists and he’s one of the legends of LA’s rough and raw scene.
He’s built a name for himself with his LA riverbank graffiti piece and high-profile political activism — topics that could make two whole separate articles. But coming to Bangkok, Saber seems to be more on a journey of self-discovery.
“City of Angels in Los Angeles means something totally different than the City of Angels here, but there’s a common bond I’m searching for,” he said.
Working based off an emotional response from what he sees and feels from Bangkok, Saber has absolutely no plans for going about his art.
“I absorb what’s happening around me and then I react and create the work,” he said. “The common thread for me here is the spirituality. The search for something deeper here in the city has allowed me to see the depth back home. What else is out there besides the superficial? What is in our hearts and our minds and spirits? And Bangkok has allowed me to see some of these reflections.”
With his extensive graffiti background, which was to paint extremely complex large-scale murals using whatever he had with him, Saber refined these techniques into detailed and meticulous mixed-media abstract canvas paintings, which still successfully depict the texture, movement and energy of the walls outside.
“Once I saw graffiti in Belmont tunnels in 1989, I knew that’s what I needed to do. I had no idea where I would end up. But it gave me certain tools and perspectives you can’t gain as an artist,” he said. “Primarily coming from my background, we use unorthodox mediums. House paint, spray paint. I’m using bug sprayers. I’m trying to get a hold of fire extinguishers and certain markers and oil sticks where in fine art it’s not traditional. But we want to elevate those mediums. But to me the most important thing is that I’m gonna give you my best work and give you what I can do on the spot. It’s about an emotional reaction and an emotional experience. Hopefully that will translate in the end.”
It’s worth noting that graffiti and street art are two completely different worlds. Street art, which is mostly image based, is legally done in public spaces with permission or even commission from the owners. Bangkok, which is new to the public art scene, is full of them. Graffiti, however, is word based, and can be “easily equated to calligraphy”, according to Saber, and exists in a contained culture with a secret language of its own.
“Graffiti is about its lineage and history and understanding letter-form abstraction,” he added. “In LA we have a very organised and deep history. But everything comes back to the art of calligraphy. It’s about the whips, the angles, the movement, and wild-style is the ultimate form. If you’re a practitioner, then you know it took me 25 years to understand [that style]. Graffiti gives you this certain perspective that you can do things you didn’t know were possible. You see what people have done in LA and New York — you say how do they do that? Where do they do that? How’s that possible? Most of it is to go out and conquer space for recognition, but for us it’s much deeper.”
Doing the interview a few weeks before the launch of the Bangkok show, Saber only had a few pieces done in his makeshift studio at the gallery. His first set of finished paintings perfectly depict the lights, sounds and textures of Bangkok’s nightlife — all the superficial elements he first faced with when he got here. Black energetic lines depict the chaotic telephone wires, the first thing he noticed when arriving here. Bright neon lines going through the canvas depict tuk-tuks zooming by, and white vertical lines depict all the sky-rise buildings he saw during his walks.
“This is supposed to not be a literal representation [of Bangkok],” he explained. “But an abstract feeling of me hitting the streets going, ‘Oh shit! Watch out! Wow! Look at those lights!’.”
But as his works progress, they’ll eventually go on a more varied and deeper route. According to him, there will be new versions of his famous American Flag, some monochrome pieces, maybe some fine art pieces, etchings on anodised aluminium, and reluctantly describing his biggest set piece as a temple, he and his team will create a gold-leaf covered hexagon hanging from the ceiling, etched into it in the style of LA graffiti writing is what he calls “street poetry” — names of his loved ones, alive and gone, and those who have influenced his life deeply.
“That’s the final place — that’s the deepest form I get out of this exhibition,” he said. “The gold isn’t about greed, but it’s about purity. I’m really excited to do this one. I want to walk visitors through the process of understanding what City of Angels means to me. That’s very important. That’s the final story told by the end of the show.”
There’s a common bond I’m searching for