The Miami Art Blog by Heike Dempster

Where are you from?

I grew up in New Mexico in my formative years. I kind of lived everywhere though. I went to 16 different schools before I graduated from high school. I did move around a lot. I have been in Miami for about eight years now.

What brought you to Miami?

Definitely the culture and the ocean. When I came to visit my parents, who live on the other coast of Florida, I came over to this side and just fell in love with the ocean. I actually lived in Coco Beach before I came here. I love to surf and they have good kite-surfing. In Miami not so much but I can go to California and surf. I go snorkeling every weekend cause I love the water here. It’s amazing. Growing up in the desert it’s is totally different. 

When did you start your career as an artist?

That’s always a hard question to answer. Generally, I have been painting ever since I can remember. Professionally, it has been about eleven years that I have been working on my art and doing contract work and painting for galleries. The last two years is when I really made the commitment to do it full time. 

How does your moving and traveling change or influence your art?

It definitely adds a lot of color. I always had really colorful work but here in Miami my work is almost neon, it is so colorful right now. I am completely influences by the colors here. I am just a very vibrant person as it is.

Your subjects are mostly women. Why?

My stuff with the ladies is definitely more popular. I really love doing portrait style work. I did photo-realism for a long time and I did a lot of black and white portraits of people. I also did black and white photography. I love drawing old people. I hate drawing kids. I cannot do it. Their heads are shaped weird. I am just not familiar with little children. I love those imperfections that make people so beautiful.

Do you base the characters on women you know?

Sometimes it’s people that I know and then a lot of times it is just on top of my head and just let it go.

Are the ones with the glasses based on you?

The ones with the glasses are based on me. Actually, I was listening to a lot of No Doubt, so there is a lot of Gwen Stefani in it but I also put me in it. I don’t really like doing self-portraits and adding myself into my artwork so it is more about hints. A little tattoo here, or the glasses there, or some kind of fashion element that I like.

You are very interested in fashion. Can you tell us more about how you incorporate that into your art?

For a long time I wanted to do fashion illustration. I am really good at drawing females. I love creating new outfits, especially accessories and headpieces. I make a lot of jewelry. I used to paint on pieces and make earrings. I really like making headdresses. It is my favorite thing. It is something I have been wanting to explore more now cause I haven’t done it in a long time. I spent a good four years making my own outfits. I used to be a party kid and did the whole dance lifestyle. I do not know what you call them here but in Colorado they used to call them “Candy-Stripers.” We would go to a party and get the party started by getting everybody to dance. We would go on the dance floor and get everyone excited. I did that a lot. I would make new outfits every weekend. A lot of people wanted to buy my stuff so I started making clothes for other people and started designing my own stuff. I haven’t done it in a while. My sewing machine is nicely tucked away. 

You have many Native American references in your work. Where does that influence come from?

There is a lot of Native American influence of course in New Mexico and I am also part Shawnee, which is actually from the Midwest. The Ohio basin. I have a little bit in me. I have done a lot of research into all the tribes of North America and also South America. I am into Asian tribes right now. They have these amazing headpieces that they wear. I really like history. I read up on Shawnee culture and I know pretty much everything about their history that there is to know. I read as many books as I could find. It is really beautiful how their cultures are so similar but so different at the same time. 

Do you keep the meaning behind different aspects you use in your work in mind?

I do. For example, some of the patterns that you find in tribal designs have specific meanings, like three solid triangles in a row can be clouds. When you have the different shapes and different line work and when I put it in my artwork I do it for a specific reason. Usually, I am trying to tell a story in a non-verbal way, using patterns and imagery, which is why I have been doing a lot of pattern work in my pieces recently.

What are you currently working on?

I am working on a bunch of pieces for a solo show this fall. It will be my first solo show in three years. I have not actually put together a body of work to show all on my own so it’s very nerve wrecking and I am very nervous to out my work out like that but I think it is a good, natural progression for an artist.

Have you decided on a theme for the show?

Yes. It is called “Inner Reflections,” which is based on one of my pieces of a girl that has a reflection of herself behind her. She is very peaceful and tranquil and then behind her is this angry person but its all rainbow. The light is coming out of her even though she is not expressing it. Above her is a bunch of elements from my past like I lizard that I had when I was a kid and my mom’s favorite flowers and my grandma always loved butterflies so I have butterflies on there. The date for the show is still kind of up in the air. It is either going to open on the second Saturday of October or November. Most likely it is going to be November at Unix Gallery in Wynwood.

You also often paint tigers. What’s the story behind the tiger?

I always had a really strong connection to really large cats. They are really smart. I do like small cats, too, but I am not as impressed with them as I am with large cats. Some can be so individual and others are extreme pack animals. Or they can be both. They are just very independent, which I think I vibe with.

Did you start with canvas or murals first?

Murals. I actually started painting murals with paint and then moved into acrylic. I did a lot of graffiti in high school. Once I decided to take a move in another direction I started doing my murals in spray paint. Now, I mix it up. I do paints and markers. I have been doing a lot of murals lately. That has been my bread and butter recently. I am doing one at the new Wynwood Brewery and the other one I have in progress right now is actually in Biscayne Park. The next one I will be working on is in West Palm. I am doing a collaboration with a couple of awesome Miami artists. Ruben Ubiera and Trek6 are also going to be on the mural in West Palm. In the near future I want to do a collaboration with Alex Yanes, who is a good friend mine. He is totally awesome. I cannot wait to do it. He is going to do his 3-D cut out stuff and I will paint around it. I am also going to do the costume shop that is right by the RC Cola Plant with my friend Grabs. He is in the graffiti crew FDC. He is amazing. He is totally cool.  He is Brazilian and a really great guy. Then I am doing the mural on the DOG building on Miami Ave. I will be doing that hopefully within the next two weeks, too. For that one I have a sketch I did a year ago. I always wanted to do it big on a wall. It is a wolf howling and out of his mouth comes a big rainbow towards the sky. I always envision sound as color. I always try to interpret what I see around me as a prism.

How important is public art to you?

I really have a thing for art in public spaces. And the one idea I have is to make a sculpture that is basically a solar powered charging station. You can put it in parks or school. It would have a turbine on top and solar panels, which I already have done all the research one. I already made the business plan. It would also have the charging station so people could charge their iPhones or whatever and chill out in the park and enjoy the beauty of nature and use a natural way to charge.

If you could pick any wall or building in the world, which wall would you love to paint?

That’s a good one. I would love to do something in Brazil. They have a lot of houses kind of stacked up on the hill. It’s the same in Colombia and Venezuela. I always wanted to go to one of those three countries and paint a giant piece stacked up on twenty houses. It would continue all the way up so if you are standing next to it you could only see some detail but if you go far away you can see the whole piece. There is one artist, Junior, he has been doing these huge portraits all around the world. He is one of my good friend’s friend. He moved to New York a couple of years ago and I think he had done something in Brazil that was like that. He started off doing eyes and little kids’ faces and he went to a couple of different countries and did giant wheat pastes of kids’ eyes across a couple of buildings. You can only see it from the air or from across the valley. It completely inspired me and took my mind to a different place that I can do something so large. It made me start thinking about small canvases and small walls and start doing giant pieces that can be more powerful and significant to people than just like one canvas. You can bring a place that is all slum to a place of beauty. Art really improves a community. Art heals people and people change the world. That’s really what I want to do. And, I would really love to do something on the Berlin Wall. I actually have a friend that just went there recently and she took a picture of a piece that kind of looked like something that would inspire me. I always wanted to do something there and now I am actually planning a trip next year to do something. I am part Czechoslovakian so I really want to do something in Prague. I will be doing a really cool thing in Greece next year. My friend’s whole family is from there and they have a house there in this little town. Beautiful, by the ocean. Her aunt is hiring me to paint her house here and then she is going to fly me out. All I want is a trip to Greece. There is four generations under one roof. I am going to paint this house that they built out of stone 400 years ago. Then I am taking a tour around Europe starting from Greece.

What is your biggest dream?

My biggest dream is to spend three years on the road, traveling and painting everywhere. I have spent a couple of years on the road just backpacking and hiking and I fell in love with that gypsy culture. That’s what I want to do. At least three years just on the road like a tour of everywhere I can go. Just do art to make my way to the next place.

Do you have a favorite band or musician?

I do. I love music. There is a couple. Beastie Boys. I never get tired of their music. I could put that stuff on repeat for the rest of my life. I listen when I paint. Also, Bonobo. He is a DJ and producer and he has a whole band. They play amazing music. Trip hop meets down tempo funk. It’s really beautiful.

How did you come by the name Kazilla?

When I do my art and pretty much everything else that I do, I do it super fast and with a lot of speed momentum. I feel like a tornado or whirlwind. My real name is Cassie. My friends started calling me Cas because of the Tasmanian Devil. I am a huge fan of old school monster flicks and Godzilla is one of my favorites from back in the day. I totally love all the old monster flicks. Godzilla was a character in a couple of the pieces that I did so my friends started calling me Kazilla.