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We appreciate all the positive response from this story. To contact James De La Vega, please call 212.876.8649 or visit his gallery at 1651 Lexington Avenue @ E. 104th Street.
Although he claimed he wasn't a public person, he stood in front of his gallery in East Harlem surrounded by a crowd of people who knew and recognized him. They were taking pictures and making conversation with him. Attending the reception and the one day show put on by De La Vega in the near-by schoolyard, were people of diverse neighborhoods and ethnic groups. The East Harlem Puerto Rican attended Cornell University and has been a public artist for six years. He also expresses his ideas through words. In the storefront-gallery window stood a woman's pump heel; on it he wrote his impressions of the opposite sex. Another one of his sayings is, "A man can be rejected a hundred times and still end up on top." |
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It
was late in the afternoon and HarlemLive reporters were on schedule
to interview James De La Vega, a young versatile artist of the new urban
world.
He
has presently produced artwork for Old Navy department store and has
upcoming work on VH1. With his art, Mr. De La Vega has journeyed as
far as Texas and California. What's interesting about this artist is
the media he uses to create his art. They vary from charcoal, spray
paint, poster paint, tape and just about anything you can imagine.
He
gets his inspiration from the people. He said that he once saw a whole
group of commuters come out of a train station and marveled at the constant
repetition. This is where he decided to work. He saw the rushing people
as animals. So, he made rat like figures on the sidewalk by the station
to describe these people. He used masking tape as his medium.
As
an artist, he says he feels that drawing (and writing) in public is
his way of giving back to the community. He feels it is his duty as
an artist to provoke thought. He says he likes the good feedback he
gets from people, it inspires him. "You know you're doing well when
older people tell you so."
