
Brandon Lewis AKA Juse One er opvokset i New York og erfaren
graffitimaler, filmskaber, Spoken Word artist og underviser. Tjek
hans ting på Juseone.com. Da Brandon Lewis er fra New York vil
undervisningen primært foregå på engelsk.
Her er Juse One's baggrund trukket fra Juseone.com:
I am Juse One, a graffiti artist, filmmaker, poet, and
educator. I have painted Graffiti in many places throughout
the world, from New York, to California, Puerto Rico, Argentina,
and Sweden. Like many artists, I began making visual creations at
an early age. As a child, comic book imagery flooded my field
of vision, and the infinite possibilities opened by depicting
superhuman beings fascinated and enthralled me. When I
grew a little older however, my love for superheroes and comic
books would be usurped by a new obsession. While riding the
school bus from the rural area of Sawkill into the semi-urban city
of Kingston, NY, I discovered graffiti. Seeing early Ewok
pieces, and the remnants of walls and freights painted by Kingston
crews like VAL and IOF injected a completely new aesthetic in to my
consciousness. Graffiti became the outlet for my every
undefined urge, emotion, and fantasy.
After graduating from Kingston High School, I studied Visual Art
at the State University of New York at New Paltz. My time at
New Paltz was brief; after roughly two years of financial struggle
and limited artistic growth, I left school in favor of full time
work, and the pursuit of freelance art commissions. In 2003,
I displayed my work in my first gallery exhibition at Backstage
Studios Productions in Kingston. The show was entitled
Genesis. It was a showcase of oil paintings and graffiti
art done during the time I attended school, and throughout the
summer of that year. An untitled self portrait, purchased by
my mother, Roxanne, was the first painting I ever sold.
In 2005, I returned to Backstage Studios for my second art
exhibition and first solo show entitled Synthesis.
The focus was a juxtaposition of oil painted portraits with
graffiti letter forms. The show was a success, and I was
armed with a fresh sense of validation as an artist. Later that
year, I went back to school with a renewed vigor for the arts and
academics, and an ambitious agenda in mind: two degrees in two
years. By the end of 2007, I had an Associate's Degree in
Humanities from SUNY Ulster, and a Bachelor's degree in Media
Studies from Hunter College. It was during my time in New
York City and studying at Hunter that I discovered documentary film
making. After graduation, I shot and directed my first
documentary, Beyond Gotham: Hip Hop in Upstate New York. I
also worked full time as a digital arts instructor with the Pearson
Foundation. This incredible experience afforded me the
opportunity to fuse my love and passion for graffiti and poetry
with my newly acquired skills in digital media production. My
students throughout New York City and the surrounding area continue
to inspire me with the irreplaceable memories they have given
me.
Currently, I reside in Copenhagen, Denmark with my wife
Kathrine, and I am working full time out of my studio space. I am a
graduate student at the University of Copenhagen, working towards
and MA in Cognition and Communication. And of course, as often as I
can, I get out and paint graffiti. Ambitious as it may sound,
someday I want to be one of the best graffiti artists in the
world. Until that day comes, I have a lot of work to do.