I've decided to periodically check back in with some folks who have completed their 365 projects...
Gary Lockwood AKA Freehand Profit started MASK365 on May 17, 2010 (in unison with Burger365) and finished his project on May 17, 2011 (though he says, "It hasn't come to a true end however, I am continuing to make masks and keeping to my task of being creative everyday.")
What are the biggest lessons/skills you learned from doing your project? I hate to say it but I think I may have learned more about myself and my work by doing this year long project than I did in my 4 years as an undergrad. Unknowingly I was developing a personal branding, that interest in branding expressed itself through the Branding Wars. The Branding Wars is a series of work that began within MASK365 with the Gucci gas mask and developed itself further with the various sneaker gas masks I created. Post-MASK365, this series of work has gained the majority of my focus.
I honed a number of skills and developed ones that I couldn't have dreamed of. The Guerrilla Art Squadron was a series of hybridized gas masks that I created in Adobe Illustrator. I'm a huge fan of vector art and Illustrator has been my tool of choice for many years now but the old saying "Practice makes perfect" couldn't be more true. The more G.A.S. masks I designed the faster I got and I developed new techniques for working within Illustrator and grew to love tools that I had never paid much attention to. Before MASK365 I feared making 3-dimensional work, there always seemed to be a disconnect between my hands and mind when it came time to create what I had envisioned.
Wrapping objects in other objects would have sounded so alien to me but after painting and drawing and designing mask after mask I had to branch out to find a new treatment in order to keep the project interesting for both me and fans of the project.
In what ways did the project change your life? I spent a year building a body of work that not only shows dedication but also growth. People take note of that on different levels. It has rejuvenated my desire to be an exhibiting artist and the courage to put work out there that may not be a "masterpiece". I've enjoyed being a part of a number of different art shows in LA including The Pancakes Booze Art Show and various Project Ethos events, I even got to be a part of the Skull Appreciation Day show in Richmond, VA. MASK365 gave me a presence in the art community that I am working to push even further, this brings in more interest and projects as a designer and artist. I am "that guy with the gas masks".
Now what? Branding Wars. Branding Wars. Branding Wars. I'm obsessed with building an arsenal of commercial artillery that belong in a post-apocalyptic, part Hip-Hop, part steampunk consumer wasteland. The masks are on ice right now but not for long. It's such a strange change for me. My past work has been very focused on portraiture, now it expresses and feeds our obsession with objects. I look forward to the day when the two combine and everything comes full circle. I also have plans to begin a graphic novel, the story is being fleshed out and I plan to illustrate it in the same style that I created the Gas Mask Pin Up Girls. I'm also pleased to say I am working full time for We Got The Juice and Candyman 187 as their in house designer. Music, Hip-Hop in particular, is a huge influence in my work and I look forward to seeing where a new job so closely tied to the music will take my personal work.
See Gary's original interview HERE.
And see all of Gary's masks and new projects HERE.
Gary Lockwood AKA Freehand Profit started MASK365 on May 17, 2010 (in unison with Burger365) and finished his project on May 17, 2011 (though he says, "It hasn't come to a true end however, I am continuing to make masks and keeping to my task of being creative everyday.")
What are the biggest lessons/skills you learned from doing your project? I hate to say it but I think I may have learned more about myself and my work by doing this year long project than I did in my 4 years as an undergrad. Unknowingly I was developing a personal branding, that interest in branding expressed itself through the Branding Wars. The Branding Wars is a series of work that began within MASK365 with the Gucci gas mask and developed itself further with the various sneaker gas masks I created. Post-MASK365, this series of work has gained the majority of my focus.
I honed a number of skills and developed ones that I couldn't have dreamed of. The Guerrilla Art Squadron was a series of hybridized gas masks that I created in Adobe Illustrator. I'm a huge fan of vector art and Illustrator has been my tool of choice for many years now but the old saying "Practice makes perfect" couldn't be more true. The more G.A.S. masks I designed the faster I got and I developed new techniques for working within Illustrator and grew to love tools that I had never paid much attention to. Before MASK365 I feared making 3-dimensional work, there always seemed to be a disconnect between my hands and mind when it came time to create what I had envisioned.
Wrapping objects in other objects would have sounded so alien to me but after painting and drawing and designing mask after mask I had to branch out to find a new treatment in order to keep the project interesting for both me and fans of the project.
In what ways did the project change your life? I spent a year building a body of work that not only shows dedication but also growth. People take note of that on different levels. It has rejuvenated my desire to be an exhibiting artist and the courage to put work out there that may not be a "masterpiece". I've enjoyed being a part of a number of different art shows in LA including The Pancakes Booze Art Show and various Project Ethos events, I even got to be a part of the Skull Appreciation Day show in Richmond, VA. MASK365 gave me a presence in the art community that I am working to push even further, this brings in more interest and projects as a designer and artist. I am "that guy with the gas masks".
Now what? Branding Wars. Branding Wars. Branding Wars. I'm obsessed with building an arsenal of commercial artillery that belong in a post-apocalyptic, part Hip-Hop, part steampunk consumer wasteland. The masks are on ice right now but not for long. It's such a strange change for me. My past work has been very focused on portraiture, now it expresses and feeds our obsession with objects. I look forward to the day when the two combine and everything comes full circle. I also have plans to begin a graphic novel, the story is being fleshed out and I plan to illustrate it in the same style that I created the Gas Mask Pin Up Girls. I'm also pleased to say I am working full time for We Got The Juice and Candyman 187 as their in house designer. Music, Hip-Hop in particular, is a huge influence in my work and I look forward to seeing where a new job so closely tied to the music will take my personal work.
See Gary's original interview HERE.
And see all of Gary's masks and new projects HERE.
