There’s something special about having artist friends. The kind of friends who believe in you. The kind who see the work before the world sees it. And the kind who show up with a camera and say, “Let’s get it.”
Recently, I got to talk with my friend LeXander Bryant. He’s that kind of friend.
LeXander has been traveling through the Global South filming life, neighborhoods, and artists. It’s part of a project he calls We Are the Archive.
I’m grateful he pointed the lens toward my studio in East Nashville.
“The story of the streets gets told on the streets.”
Shabazz Larkin
Part of the conversation happened while I was doing finishing touches on some huge portraits of artists with roots in Tennessee. Which, BTW, will soon live inside the Bankers Alley Hotel, here in Nashville.
Standing there, looking at these works, I started thinking about how art begins to live once it leaves the studio.
People will walk past it.
People will sit underneath it.
People will make significant memories around it.
Few will stop in awe.
It’s a pity. But there is a reward for those that do.
That’s how the archive grows. It becomes a backdrop for the germination of rememberings, ideas, and conversations.
LeXander put together this short film.
I’m excited to share it with you.
The archive keeps growing.
For the first time, I’m opening commissions for walls and public spaces that need art.
If you know a new building popping up, a school, a park, a hotel or any place that deserves a story on the wall — send it my way. Email my studio at studio@larkinart.co
Or visit my online gallery www.Larkinart.co
