These days, we spend a good amount of time on social media trying to find emerging artists to follow, artists who live their lives passionately pursuing careers in the arts. One of the artists we recently encountered is Kacper Abolik, whose paintings were recently featured on A$AP Rocky’s Instagram.
With A$AP Rocky’s prestigious standing in the realms of hiphop, art, and fashion, we just had to reach out to Abolik to discuss with him how he was offered the amazing opportunity to have his art featured on Rocky’s page, as well as give him the opportunity to introduce himself as an artist. Luckily, Abolik was willing to participate in an interview with us. Read it below:
Introduce yourself. Tell us about your birthplace and artist origin.
My name is Kacper Abolik. I landed in Passaic, New Jersey circa 1994 where I was brought up by two Polish artists who would take me to galleries and museums all over the world. At the age of two, I was front row at a Pink Floyd concert, and by three I was intaking the Dali museum in Figueres, Spain.
What school did you attend for art education?
The greater part of all my art education is sourced from my Guru, Barnaby Ruhe, a shaman throwing paint longer and better than all the greats from the infamous NYC 80s art boom.
How did you learn your art techniques?
Techniques come from playing with the paint, canvas, and subjects the way my body and hands flow as brushes, an extension of my soul through to the tip of the brush. It’s as if the technique is an art form itself watching myself paint, watching myself sleep, watching myself dream and becoming the happening itself transcending movement and purpose to source and back, then back again.
That is extremely poetic. Art is most certainly an extension of the self, and I love learning about what aspects of themselves an artist enjoys extending and portraying onto their canvas.
Who or what is your inspiration for art?
Egon Schiele, Barnaby Ruhe, Alex Joué (emerging architect), Nick Godard, and Noah Violet are probably the key people who inspire me right now at this moment, through their movements and depictions of still beauty where the breath is absent, or changes to a deeper course connecting with the unconscious flow of inspiration, where you can be immensely influenced, lets say, by a real life on another planet or galaxy where you temporarily exist for a moment in a fleeting journey away from this reality.
Beautifully said. You seem to draw on the unconscious a lot, which is what attracted me to your paintings as a critic. Your paintings, though they clearly depict Rocky, are extremely abstract. You portray the image of Rocky along with his fashions in a manner that does not imitate, but elevates Rocky as an artist. We do not need a painting of Rocky that is realistic, that portrays him in the manner that say, a photograph might. Instead, what you do is you create an abstract appeal of Rocky’s character, creating a distortion that still captures his emotion and identity as an artist himself, an artist who is so often in the public eye. Your paintings illustrate the significance of ALL aspects of Rocky’s artistry – not just on the image of Rocky’s face and clothing which photography often does – but on Rocky as a work of art himself. I would say you truly immortalize Rocky with your paintings, and I am sure this can be a reason why he was drawn to your work. I know it most certainly was a reason I was drawn to it.
What is the Type of the medium you use to create art, why do you use it, and what does it mean for you?
I don’t follow any rules, when it comes to alchemy the structures of life are played with by experimenting with oils, acrylics, gauche, water colour, ink, graphite, and tears. You may see me focusing on a certain set of mediums within a painting or series however. You might also see a mixture of all of these in one piece or series as well. The smell and wind direction is a major component through medium as it evolves in its relationship with myself, the canvas, and all surrounding energy.
Your emotional and transcendent connection to your art is highly inspiring.
Tell me, how did A$AP Rocky get in contact with you?
Im not sure how it happened exactly. I kind of spoke it into existence, then my first initial painting of Rocky in a red Dior coat led to Robert Gallardo, the creative director for AWGE, reaching out to me on twitter because Rocky liked it so much. Rocky wanted me to do more, so I did about five more paintings of the GUESS collab and more Dior. Two months went by and they reached out to me again asking to paint more of the J.W. Anderson collaboration and some more GUESS photos “ASAP” which led to a 48 hour painting marathon birthing most of the Rocky icons you see on his instagram now.
Why did you decide to use A$AP Rocky as your subject:
I consider myself a Royal Court Painter and Rocky is a Phantom Prince of Pop Culture so it was nothing to think about it had to happen.
Well, we’re glad that you made the decision to paint Rocky because this series of work is truly outstanding. Thank you for the opportunity of diving into your mind and learning more about your ideologies as an artist. We hope others will find you as inspiring as you have become to us.
For more of Abolik’s work, please see his social media accounts below:
www.instagram.com/kacperabolik
lordjakobrothschild.tumblr.com
Photos by Maria Beburia
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