DE
LA VEGA IS VANE
James
De La Vega has been doing his thing since back in ’93.
His witty proverbs and iconic fishes have appeared throughout
New York, existing as chalk drawings, masking tape outlines, or
murals on the wall. Born and raised in Spanish Harlem and educated
at Yale, his work has become synonymous with his neighborhood
and is both inspirational and socially conscious. After being
arrested several times for creating his art in the streets, De
La Vega has adapted and found other venues to inspire and affect
people with his work, and after thirteen years, his message has
become perhaps even more ubiquitous.
I caught up with the New York legend at his storefront and Galleria
on St. Marks to discuss his work in an ever-changing (and gentrifying)
New York. I found him finishing up the touches on a new painting,
rocking his sunglasses while his striped shirt was rolled up to
his elbows, revealing his trademark slogan “Become Your
Dream” and its Spanish equivalent “Realiza Tu Suenos”
tatted on his left and right forearms. Throughout the conversation,
De La Vega continued to paint, and occasionally stopped to reflect,
genuinely answering every question.
Back in ‘93, The City was a different place. Graf on subway
cars, crack and Giulianni have all come and gone, yet De La Vega
and his work still remain. |
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VANE:
You are very intentional about separating yourself from the
graf scene and graffiti artists. Why?
DLV: I just don’t associate myself with it. I think
graffiti is a very powerful movement—it’s universal,
and it has had an impact on the world, much like hip-hop,
its parent culture. I’m not against graffiti, I’m
just not a part of the movement. There’s a street warrior
approach to it that I identify with, but I’m just trying
to be smart about what I do. The fact that I was arrested
changed my approach to things. What I do is not criminal.
I’m trying to create something that will reach a larger
audience. I can have a long term, institutional impact with
my work. To be on the streets making art and getting arrested,
it’s just not worth it to me.
VANE: Then I suppose you see
your work more in line with the larger art world and the gallery
scene?
DLV: No, not really. I don’t see myself fitting in the
art world. The gallery scene is in Chelsea. My business and
art is self-contained over here. My art doesn’t need
any gallery validation. This will never be a passing fad.
I could die today, and this thing here, in the right hands,
will continue to develop and grow. It just works: it’s
inspirational, it’s philosophical, it’s thought
provoking. These words travel.
VANE: How do you think that you differ from these other gallery
artists?
DLV: For some artists, their dream is to land a gallery. But
I use all the different possible mediums to communicate the
ideas that make people think. And I think that’s the
role of an artist: to be an effective communicator, to make
interesting and provoking images, and to reach people to affect
the world.
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VANE
: What would you say is the essence of your work and why it has
been successful?
DLV: Much of my work is effective because of the fact that it’s
temporary. There’s an ephemeral quality to it, whether you
see it in the streets, on a wall, or a tee. It comes and it goes.
You can come in here and buy something, whether it’s a tee
shirt or a sticker, but even these are temporary. Even this [he
rolls up his sleeves to display his tattoos] is temporary, because
when I die, it’s gone too. In this way, I am trying to create
value for my work. That’s a something that a lot of young
artists never learn, to create value for themselves or their work.
VANE : Within your work, your mom
and the fish have become reoccurring images. How did they develop
in your work?
DLV: I don’t know how exactly my mother got involved in
my work, but she’s been there ever since college. She became
a symbol to me, my Mickey Mouse. She became my character that
I could tell stories through. Everyone has something to talk through,
and my characters speak. The fish became a way of talking on the
streets, in a fun, mysterious way.
VANE: Speaking of the New York Streets, The City has been gentrifying
for the last 10 years. What’s your take on current day New
York?
DLV: I think what’s going on now is a little bugged out.
Unless you have money, you can’t even function. And I think
that’s apart of me and my work too, I’m tryin not
to get pushed out. As an artist, it’s about learning to
function, because capitalism isn’t going away. I think that
you can make a little money and do something for you and the people
around you, but you will never save the have nots, or at least
help the totality of their condition. The world is about power.
That’s never going to change.
VANE: what’s your relationship to your neighborhood, Spanish
Harlem?
DLV: I have respect for the neighborhood on a much larger level,
but right now I have no love for Uptown. There are problems with
the education system that have hurt the people, but at a certain
point you gotta want to make shit better, and that can mean a
lot of different things to different people. I have a problem
of only living between 96th street and 120th street, and more
often than not, people just stay there. I want to have an impact
on a larger level, and you cant just sit there on 104th street.
VANE: What exactly do you hope to
achieve with your work, in terms of the large impact you hope
to accomplish?
DLV: The message is in my work. The real revolution, if there
is one, is to inspire people to believe that they can break through
these barriers, that you can come from poverty and be successful,
that you can take an idea and make it something concrete. One
day, I would like to create a space ten times as big as this one,
with my work and the clothing moved across the world, with my
quotes translated in every different language. Right now, it’s
a young business, and the sky’s the limit.
VANE: What advice would you give to kids trying to start out on
their own?
DLV: Meet a lot of women! [A grin breaks out on his face.] I just
think that it’s a part of business. Women are the buyers,
they know how to make business grow. Guys are retarded. Women
are communicators. The like to talk, to share things, and when
they’re trying to share their thought about their boyfriends,
families, or whatever, they use everything to communicate.
VANE: Besides keeping good female company, any other thoughts
on running a business?
DLV: A friend said to me, “The most important thing in running
a business you have to learn to be proactive. You can’t
wait for the people to come to you.” And that stuck with
me. You have to go out and get the dollar. I hate the sound of
it, but it is what it is. I am in the business of pushing my work.
I am in the business of making money. And there are ways to do
it legally, I think. I think that when it comes to the game of
making money, you have to determine your own ethics. It’s
a solution you have to decide for yourself. I Its hard to survive
as an artist, or a photographer, or writer. The world don’t
owe you a fucking thing, you gotta go out and get it for yourself.
You have to learn the business, you have learn to work relationships,
you have to learn to play the game. You have to play this game,
or it is going to play out on you. Life is a game. It’s
a serious game.
And with a smile, De La Vega paused and said, “I like that.
I think I’m gonna call this piece that. Fuck it, why not?
I love these little contradictions.”
And in big bold letters in his signature handwriting, at the top
of the canvas, with his paintbrush he scrawled out, “LIFE
IS A GAME. IT’S A SERIOUS GAME.”
De La Vega’s Galleria is located at
102 St. Mark's Place in the East Village,
8th Street between 1st Avenue and Avenue A.
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