2020: Recapping the year in Visual Art, Live Experiences, Graffiti and Innovations
2020 was a tumultuous year that nobody saw coming. From a marketing perspective, the pandemic expedited changes that were starting to take shape in past years. For the purposes of this document, I looked at how these changes affected live-events, graffiti, visual arts and other innovations across pop culture. Some people were able to pivot and generate new opportunities and growth. Others were devastated as their entire industries collapsed. It will be interesting to see what changes from 2020 are here to stay when we arrive at a new normal. As always, thanks to my close collaborators Neely Lisk and Andrew Barnett for their support in 2020. Please hit me with any questions or thoughts or feedback.
INNOVATORS AND INSPIRATIONS
MSCHF
MSCHF is the coolest company in the game right now. I first heard about them in 2019, and they really took off in 2020 with creative ideas that translated into successful drops that became coveted by celebrities and were quickly copied by wannabes around the world. Very excited to see where they go in 2021.
Louis Vuitton Heaven on Earth Fashion Show
The set design for Louis Vuitton’s Heaven on Earth fashion show during Paris Fashion week at the beginning of 2020 blended art, design and theater together in a fun and poppy way. While Bureau Betak is the established innovator in this space, it will be exciting to see how fashion brands leverage art and technology to enhance their shows and connect audiences in new ways in the coming years.
The NBA Bubble
The NBA bubble in 2020 was an experiment in how to make professional sports work during a pandemic. All the teams in the league moved to Disneyworld and played over half of the remaining season in a quarantined environment. The quality of basketball was surprisingly good and it was cool to see how brands activated in the bubble. It wasn’t all positive, with many players experiencing depression from being away from friends and family for months. That said, I’m excited to see what more can be done in this space with the NBA and with other professional sports leagues, especially in times of social distance and in the whatever new normal we return to.
Beeple Everydays
In late 2020, Mike Winkelmann aka Beeple began selling his artwork as NFTs — non-fungible tokens that live on the blockchain. NFTs are unique to their owner, and they’re often sold as one-of-a-kind pieces. He sold out of his editions and in the process, smashed the record for most valuable artwork sold on blockchain. Read more about Beeple and his Everyday editions here.
Larry June and Jay Worthy
LA based rapper Jay Worthy and San Francisco based rapper Larry June are two artists who both managed to stay busy and raise their profiles in 2020. Both artists released multiple solo projects and collaborative EPs with big name producers during a time when major label artists were unable to tour and couldn’t easily release new music to the public. Jay Worthy and Larry June also own their own labels, own the rights to their music and have created large fan bases without signing to a major label.
VISUAL ARTISTS
Andrew Kuo
Brooklyn-based artist Andrew Kuo “takes no days off” and in 2020 he used social media and his podcast to raise his profile and gain a wider audience. Some of his work included an edition for NADA, buzzworthy merch for his popular podcast Cookies Hoops, an Ideal Map of New York City 2020 that was featured on bus shelters around NYC, and creating watercolors of NBA players that he sold through his Instagram.
Mario Ayala
LA-based artist Maria Ayala’s paintings have the quality of an airbrushed t-shirt you might find on Venice beach or at an amusement park, but they are more complex and trippy and typically deal with the representation of brownness and latinx identification and LA culture. This past year he was invited to participate in the prestigious Hammer Museum’s Made in L.A. 2020, contributed a design for a Supreme collaboration and continued his upward trajectory.
Eike König
This past year I got hip to the work of artist and designer Eike König. A lot of his work critiques contemporary culture in a playful and eerie way, like “The New Normal Times” series, which seemed especially on point in 2020.
Tschabalala Self
Tschabalala Self is a Harlem based artist best known for her mixed media depictions of Black female figures using paint and fabric. She’s been on a steady rise for years and had a big 2020 with solo show at the ICA Boston and an immersive show Cotton Mouth at New York’s Galerie Eva Presenhuber, which included paintings, drawings, murals and sculptures.
GABRIEL ALCALA
Gabe is a multifaceted artist and musician whose recent works have been featured on album covers, music videos and regularly in big publications like the New York Times. In addition to being the lead singer of Miami garage rock band Jacuzzi Boys, his visual artwork has taken off in a big way. Highlights for Gabe in 2020 included commissions for various record labels and recording artists, work for Warby Parker and clever t-shirt releases featuring Jerry Garcia and Lou Reed. Excited to see him keep going in 2021.
GRAFFITI
In 2020 police either had their funding slashed or were too busy with other things to focus on graffiti. As a result, graffiti writers in big cities thrived. It was hard to keep this list down to only five people. Some runner ups this year include PLAN9, FALSE, ANSO, ADZE, and CECS.
SAVIE WTF, BHB, OTR
SAVIE was on my list back in 2018 and he’s back on it again 2020. He just keeps going bigger and developing a more interesting style. I’ve never seen a single person crush cities with huge and ambitious spots the way SAVIE has been doing this past year. It’s cool, and kind of scary, to see how he is leading the charge for a new generation of writers who are pushing the limits of what is possible by getting bigger and more dangerous spots.
BAER BTR
BAER made the list last year and he’s back again as arguably the most innovative graffiti artist of the year. In addition to his wildly complex and technical graffiti output, in 2020 he put out a zine, made some amazing Instagram content and challenged a lot of conventions about graffiti in the process. Excited to see where he takes things in 2021.
AIDZ
AIDZ is another graffiti writer who has been consistently elevating his work over the past couple of years. In 2020 I personally saw amazing work from him from SF to LA. He continued to find huge spots and cement himself as one of the most iconic names in graffiti. Excited to see him keep going in 2021.
TEXAS / GANE
TEXAS and GANE have been putting in work for a few years now, but in 2020 they firmly cemented themselves as graffiti elites with their style of taking Philly style tags and turning them into blockbusters with rollers in high profile spots.
KEM5
Over the past couple of decades, KEM5 has been one of the most consistent writers in the game, constantly evolving his style and defining a “way of life” with graffiti at the center. In 2020 his instagram was jam packed with travels around the world, painting huge blockbuster pieces in remote places with a crazy cast of characters.
EXPERIENCES AND STUNTS
Riot Games / League of Legends Worlds 2020 / Possible Productions with Lux Machina
Riot Games worked with Possible Productions and Lux Machina to develop a mixed reality experience for live competitions in Shanghai to celebrate League of Legends Worlds 2020. A myriad of LED screens surrounded two competing teams and integrated augmented reality to create a 360-degree virtual world for competitions. The production relied on a network environment and hardware system that rendered images in real time making 2020 League of Legends Esports World Championship the first-ever live multi camera production using this technology. Read more about it in this article on The Verge.
Visible / Red Rocks Unpaused / VTProDesign with Master of Shapes
Visible and their agency Madwell tapped VTProDesign to design and produce a 3 -night concert series at Red Rocks Amphitheater in Denver and “unpause” the iconic venue during quarantine. VTProDesign worked with frequent collaborator Master of Shapes and flipped the stage around, created a custom lighting and stage design package including projection mapping on the rock formations, and a custom live stream experience via microsite that included interactive elements for the audience to engage with the talent during each show. Read more about it in these articles on Biz Bash and Fast Company.
Akeem Smith No Gyal Can Test / Red Bull Arts New York
NYC-based artist Akeem Smith’s first solo show, No Gyal Can Test took place just before the pandemic hit in 2020, at the now defunct Red Bull Arts New York. His show drew inspiration from his experience growing up between New York and Jamaica and brought together disparate elements from his extensive archival documentation, including photos, immersive videos, music and sculpture. Read more about the show here.
Netflix Stranger Things Drive Thru Experience
Netflix worked with Fever and Secret Cinema to create an immersive, ticketed, drive through experience at ROW DTLA based on the popular show Stranger Things. Attendees never have to leave their cars and are treated to three 15-minute sections as performances play out around them. In between the performances they are guided up and down the levels of the parking garage, through various show components. At the conclusion of the experience, guests are led out to a drive-thru souvenir shop.
David Blaine Balloon Stunt for Youtube
David Blaine produced his first live stunt in nearly eight years, soaring above a desert in Arizona to an altitude of 24,900 feet and piloting more than four dozen helium balloons. The stunt was live streamed on Youtube, which funded and produced the project. After lifting off just before 8 a.m. PT, Blaine stayed in the air for about an hour before safely parachuting back to Earth.
UTAH MONOLITH
Last but not least, the most talked about and buzzy experience occurred in late November, when a 10–12 foot monolith was discovered in the Utah desert and quickly became a trending news topic. The project captured the attention of people around the world is a great example of the supreme power of art and live experience to capture people’s imaginations and create organic buzz like nothing else.
