San Diego Unseen: An Urban Portrait
When we caught up with him, he was busily destroying one of his recent murals at Voyeur, painting over it and creating a new piece before the bar and restaurant opened later that night.
“I’m used to it by now,” he said about having to go over his own work.
Feather describes his art as a work in progress. He went to San Diego State University for furniture design, but when he graduated, he found that he was more interested in making art. His style quickly evolved from standard graffiti to more pop-infused urban art with recognizable elements like his famous stenciled red rose and recurring houndstooth patterning (he has a houndstooth pattern tattooed on his arm; that’s how much he loves the vintage black-and-white design).
About a year ago, Feather started incorporating wheatpasting into his work, and the mixed-media panels, murals and canvases he’s been creating ever since have evolved into a style he says he can comfortably call his own.
“I think, somehow, I stumbled into a style finally,” he said. “But I’m still just trying to learn and be better. I’ll probably never be happy with what I do, but I’m working on it.”
Feather refers to the piece on the cover this week—a work commissioned by his art dealer, Alexander Salazar—as “The Bathroom Project.” He says it was one of the most difficult murals to date because he was instructed to cover the floor to the ceiling. He says it was hard for him to figure out the right composition without being able to step back and take it all in.
“It’s really tricky doing a piece that you’re completely inside,” he said. “It took me forever.”
When Feather isn’t working on his own art, he’s showing the art of others through his alternative gallery project, Gallery AKA, which is tucked inside Disconnected Salon in North Park (AKA stands for his mantra, Art Kills Artists). Feather focuses on showing underground urban art and, from 7 to 10 p.m. Saturday, June 18, he’ll be celebrating the gallery’s two-year anniversary with a group show, Red White and Black, featuring his own works, as well as those of Eric Wixon, Jack Stricker, Nomad and more.
