From The Archives: Alexander Sky

Interview by Jorge Lara Santiago

Photos: Courtesy

VIMMAG:  Greetings and how have you been?

ALEXANDER SKY: Shouts brotha, i've been nice. Thanks to thee creator and my new lovely family which he has blessed me with. Shouts to Zenifur my beautiful belly dancing babe, Spazzy - My 5 year old b-girl junglette daughter and last but not least new edition to the family, our 3 month year old Siberian husky.

VIMMAG:  Your are part of the Three Bad Sheep Art Collective with Alexander Huerta and Eddie Canumay. How did that come about?

ALEXANDER SKY: Organically is how it's best described. I was about to leave Las Vegas actually until I met Jennifer. She belly dances in a troupe called Dea which Nikki Marzula is a part of, who happens to be Eddie Canumay's girlfriend, which is a member of the now 3 BAAAD Sheep. At one of Dea's practices I met Eddie and he invited me to Painters on the Patio to meet Alexander P. Huerta, instantly I remembered his name strangely because I only met him once a year before then for a few hours. Sum it up, we made a few collaborations and the name came straight out of one of our first collab's.

VIMMAG: When did you first start painting? And what has been your influences?  

ALEXANDER SKY: I grew up drawing/sketching as a kid, my inspirations then were Marvel Comics, Capcom, game characters and Ninja Turtles. In high school I became infatuated with graffiti, even as a kid I would love when we were stopped by train tracks watchin each piece before we could pass, but after being arrested a few times in L.A. I felt my art was better than that.

VIMMAG: Brian Paco Alvarez mentioned you on Enculturate Las Vegas for one of your art shows with Three Bad Sheep, saying that " he is not just remembered by his awesome piercings but by the amazing works he has painted on his lovely partner Jennifer." Is there a story behind your piercings and tell us about your body painting work. 

ALEXANDER SKY: The piercing came as a bet at first, being that I am a bit needlephobic and that I was too chicken to do it; meditation wine and some good green helped me along just fine. Later it grew on me - embracing my ancestral history and heritage (Aztec and Mayan), I wanted something more organic in my nose which required further stretching of the septum.  As far as body painting, it's ancient too, I absolutely love it, it is the collaboration between the artist and the model, and live..pfft, forget about it, phenomenal performance piece when it's done live. Now a day I won't get into a body painting gig unless the money is right, gotta pay the model and them supplies ain't cheap.

VIMMAG: Any plans for art shows in 2012? What do you see yourself accomplishing in the next 6 months?

ALEXANDER SKY:   I'm a positive pessimist, so I don't overly excite or overwhelm myself. I am certainly excited about works in motion now though, actually painting a mural in the Arts Factory outside of Laura Henkel's Sin City Gallery with the great K.D. Matheson. Opening up for Sin City Galleries, 12 Inches of Sin. In April K.D. and I are doing a show in Sin City Gallery titled Quantum visits. I'm currently working on a mural  in a lawyers office of the downtown Vegas Strip, when it comes to 3 Baaad Sheep there is a constant flow of work coming, keep your eyes peeled for our 3 Baaad Sheep Vintage furniture. So future murals, new art work, and commissioned pieces are before me.                                                                                                                                                                                                        

VIMMAG:  From time to time you do live painting in the patio at the Bar + Bistro at the Arts Factory. How is it working in that dynamic and what paintings have come out of it?

ALEXANDER SKY:  I love to paint out in the open, it's a sweet element especially sharing space with mutual artists is inspiring. It is great for networking. In the Las Vegas Arts District I have found community and family.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  

VIMMAG:  I have interviewed Jennifer Machado and the women from Dea before for VIM. What do you think of their performances?

ALEXANDER SKY: Dea is dope, I dig the fusion of belly dance and urban hip-hop/experimental. They are wicked to watch live and they  are all pretty and talented, nice combo.                                                                                                                                                                                                                     

                                                                                                                                                                       VIMMAG:  Besides painting, do you have any other ways you like to express yourself? I've heard that you have MC'd in the past?

ALEXANDER SKY: I do MC a bit, hymns chants and chats on the ragga, jungle stylee, actually Feb 10 I am MC'ing a jungle show in L.A. with some possee. Since I was 10 yrs old I learned to break dance in the streets of Pomona California. I learned how to break and what it was to be a B-Boywhich. I still practice today, actually entering a break dancing battle tonight at Hip Hop Roots. Shouts to my squad L.A. Breakers and my Walking Dead posse.                                                                                                                                                                                                         

VIMMAG: What are you currently listening to?

                                                                                                                                                                      ALEXANDER SKY: I would like to say i'm eclectic, enjoy a wide range of different genres complimenting my mode or mood at the time, but my absolute niche and scene is Ragga Jungle, consisting of speed breaks (D n' B) and Urban/ Reggae sample. Compiling a superb sound that one can take either slow or fast, it is the rhythm of my life.                                                                                                                                                                                                          

VIMMAG:  If you had to pick three words to describe you what would they be?

ALEXANDER SKY: #1 SPIRIT #2 SOUL #3 BODY.: