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.