The Miami Art Blog by Heike Dempster

Switzerland. Geneva. The French part.

It has been three years that I do back and forth between Geneva and Miami.

Wynwood, because it is full of paint and people are really creative in this neighborhood.

Murals and some new art works on canvas, paper, and wood.

Yes but I have not signed any contracts yet. My exhibition is still running at Brisky Gallery and I am planning a next one for before the summer.

That’s a very difficult question because I am really into always changing my techniques, learning new techniques. I am always evolving with the medium. I really like spray cans for sure because that is really the roots of my painting, but I love all kinds of medium. I like pencil, watercolors, it can be a ball pen, anything that can get in your hands and I am creative with that.

No. I drew since I was a little kid. I started at five years old and I never stopped to draw. At 15, I discovered spray paint. That is where my love for paint comes from. Before that, I did not like regular paint with a brush but after I did a lot of graffiti the love for the brush and different paint mediums came.

Human beings. People. I guess you can say a lot of women. That’s true but I also paint a lot of guys. I have painted less guys lately on walls but my subject is the human being. No matter the sex, actually.

I do both. I really like to create characters but I think I really need to work on it so I do that sometimes so basically I work with models and with people I meet. I talk to them and we share ideas and we work together. Some of my new watercolors are just from my imagination though. I really try to do both.

Yes I am always open to collaborations. I love to collaborate with different artists. It brings a lot to your own work and you share and it’s really amazing, but sometimes the schedule is difficult for that.

Everywhere.

Brazil. Sao Paulo and everywhere else in Brazil. Tokyo. That’s also I place I really want to go. It seems really inspiring. Barcelona is maybe also a place I want to paint. Basically, I love to discover places. When I came to Miami, I wasn’t expecting that at all. I was surprised and I fell in love with Miami and I keep going back and forth. I want to paint everywhere and discover different kinds of landscapes.

Actually, I don’t remember that. I tried the other day to remember what was my image of Miami. My crew is based in LA, so before Miami I often went to LA so I did not really have an image of Miami but I guess it was South Beach and party and probably a lot of people. That’s really why I am glad I came to Wynwood where the culture is accessible to everyone. You just walk in the street and here it is.

“Leza” means “comfortable with” in French. It is actually a street language name. In French we reverse words, so originally “leza” is alez” and when you reverse it becomes “leza.” It means, comfortable with a person, a situation.

When I was 14, I started to do tags and throw ups in the streets with my friends and back in the day you expressed yourself but also you took care of the territory so you represented a certain neighborhood and go against other neighborhoods to show you are better than them etcetera. Back in the days, when we were kids, our names were like “Killer 75,” “Assassin.” Bad names. When I stopped that, I was like, I love so much to draw and I love so much to paint, I cannot go further and further with a name like this. I tried to find a name that goes with me, my feelings and the way I think. So I came up with this name.

I do both. My main thing is freedom. That’s why I paint in the street. I am really glad and I am thankful when people ask me to paint and commission me and I get paid for it. I never dreamt of it and now it is coming and I am really glad. I always also keep doing stuff when I want where I want. I don’t ask. I always go with respect. I never think I destroy something. Sometimes I still paint during the night. I hit some spot I know. If I ask they say no but I think that in the morning when they see the piece they do not feel offended. Maybe they say “oh, we cannot keep it” and they cover it white again but I never go with a wrong idea. I keep my freedom.

First when I came to Miami I was invited by Art Whino Gallery from Washington. I came with my crew so we were all together in an apartment. We stayed for one week to paint a mural during Art Basel. It was really an amazing time. I discovered Wynwood. I discovered Miami a little bit more and I felt really, really welcome. The whole point of this is really that local and international artists, wherever you come from, share. I really feel that Miami allowed that. I met local artists as well as international artists. I met both and that was really a fortune for me.

For me, the story is like when you are a kid, you have dreams and stuff and usually, when you grow up a little bit, you forget those dreams. For me, it is about keeping the things you want and the way you want to live your life in your mind and not just be a slave of anything. Money, or your job, or your husband, or your mother. Be free and be respectful with anyone and go on your own way. I represented this with this kid but actually it could be a grown up. We all have this part in ourselves but we just need to figure out how to let it go.

The crew is called “Army of Snipers.” The founder is Angry Woebots aka Aaron “Woes” Martin. He founded this collective maybe four years ago. He traveled around the world and met people he thought were on the same page in the way they create and the way they see life. He invited them to represent the crew. We are 15 now from all over the world but mainly in the US.

So you just meet somewhere in the world and do projects together?

Exactly. We are all independent but we work together.

In Geneva the art scene is pretty good. It is a small city but there are plenty of graffiti artists and plenty of muralists. Some people are really creative for a small city like this. They always keep going, keep going and keep painting. If you go to Geneva you will always see graffiti, tags, murals, frescos. It is not legal to do that but it is way more allowed. If you go and paint on walls that are already crappy and dirty and you paint with a positive attitude then nobody will say anything. It is kind of accepted there.

No but I have a gallery that represents me. Frank Pages Gallery in Geneva. Here in Miami, I work since last February with Brisky Gallery.

- Graffiti/Street Art: Sunday March 2 and Monday March 3
- Drawing/Sketch Sunday March 9 and Monday March 10 (model will be present)
- Painting/Watercolor/Acrylic Sunday March 16 and Monday March 17