Naturel‘s journey has been driven by his love for hip-hop and fashion. Originally from PG County, Maryland, his studies took him to the ever-so-trendy Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, New York, where he took up fine art. While in Brooklyn, he connected with the Rocawear brand, taking care of designs and working closely with CEO Dame Dash. This was just before Jay-Z bought the brand out, changing Rocawear’s culture and direction. Naturel left so he could pursue other ventures, although he took a slew of odd jobs in between.
Continued after Alife feature
Naturel is an artist of the digital era and takes full advantage the resources at his disposal, creating vector art which is made via computer-generated shapes that come together to form a much bigger piece. His work addresses a multitude of topics pertaining to today’s pop culture, with a great focus on streetwear and hip-hop. Notable past works from the artist include a reimagining of the iconic Jordan Brand ‘Jumpman’ logo featuring Tupac instead of Michael Jordan, and designer logos from fashion houses like Chanel and Louis Vuitton comprised of vectorized lighters. To stir up some friendly competition, he participates in the #30MinuteWorkout, where Naturel challenges his friends to make a themed body of work within 30 minutes to share with Instagram followers.
We had the chance to speak with Naturel recently, to ask him about his collaborative process and recent works.
How do you come up with ideas when working collaboratively?
The way lyrics kind of pop out when you listen to music, there’s a laundry list of things that appear in my mind — almost like a still life. So when it comes down to working with someone, it’s a matter of finding a common language with them.
How did the Alife collaboration come about?
In my inbox one day, I saw that Rob (Alife artist) had reached out. Dude, I was super surprised. I wasn’t expecting that. So when I saw that in my inbox, the chance to work with Alife — I jumped at it, you know?
How did you come up with graphics?
I figured the brand has this edge — it’s aggressive, you know? Like the Lower East Side, you “funk” to it. The wolf, the polo horse — everything like that just surrounds those guys.
NATUREL X MR. FLAWLESS
PRINTS FROM NATUREL
SLAMXART
RELATED: JUMPMAN X MAISON MARTIN MARGIELA X PABLO PICASSO(?) PRINTS BY NATUREL
The post SlamXArt: Digital Excellence with Naturel appeared first on SLAMXHYPE.