Here are some pictures of my latest project. It was for an art competition by New Era. I was one of 100 artists selected to transform a 59fifty hat into a piece of art. They mailed me the hat and I did this work in two weeks. If it is one of the best hats it will go on traveling exhibition. If it is the best hat I win a 10,000 dollar grant. CHA CHING.
Here is the concept:
This hat represents the clashing of young and old that I
encounter here in the small town of Boone, NC, also home of Appalachian State
University. It is here that the old-timey Appalachian mountain culture collides
with the bright and bold youthful culture of a college environment.
Popular among the youth, flashy flat bills can represent
your favorite team, city, band, or simply be a fashion statement. The flat bill
hat to me represents a hat that has lost all of its utilitarian purposes (even
more so when the bill is turned back to the side). It is a decorative social
symbol.
When anyone thinks of hats and Appalachian culture, the
first thing that comes to mind is the iconic coonskin hat worn by our great
American pioneer and explorer, Daniel Boone, for which Boone is named. Making
use of the natural materials from the surrounding land, the hat served its
purpose of warmth and protection.
The bill, upholstered with muskrat fur from the banks of the
New River in Watauga County, juxtaposed with the cap, painted in my abstract
painting style influenced by graffiti’s form and color, creates a conversation
between urban and rural, young and old, historic and progressive, as well as
natural and synthetic.
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