FREDDYSAM The artwork of Ricky Lee Gordon (Freddy Sam)

Title:
A faded memory of an island.
Antananarivo, Madagascar for the Festival D’Urbain 2014.
Special thanks to Tahina and Cecéle of the Is’art Galerie and Conor Ralphs for making this project happen.

A new wall in Cape Town.

Woodstock Cycle Works invited me to paint the exterior of their new workshop/store.
I collaborated with photographer Stan Engelbrecht who is well know for his Bicycle portraits book. http://www.bicycleportraits.co.za
We took some shots outside the new Woodstock Cycle Works looking for the shapes within the formations cyclists make riding together.I then collaged these images with running springboks to reflect on the subtle similarities.

Mural to commemorate 20 years of Democracy in South Africa
Cape Town
2014

I AM BECAUSE WE ARE

I was humbled by the invitation to paint a 40 Meter tall (10 story) Nelson Mandela mural in the east city of Johannesburg commissioned by the Maboneng precinct as a gift to the city in memory of this giant of a man.
The mural is inspired by Madiba’s definition of ‘Ubuntu’ which is; ‘You cannot be human all by yourself’.

I chose to paint the iconic image of him boxing as he believed all were equal in the ring. Also this wall is not to far from the rooftop where this image was taken.I was so honored when permission was granted to me to paint the mural using the image by Bob Gosani copywrite by the BAHA foundation.

The mural took me 4 days to complete in 2013 just after Madiba’s passing.And I almost completed it on the day of his funeral,with only a few touch ups to do the storms and winds came down and the window washer broke and so completion was delayed to 2014.

I am truly inspired by the legacy of Madiba forever grateful and motivated to continue living to achieve his vision.

I am because we are

Photos by Bheki Dube and Myself.

Please take a look ,like and share a new project I co founded.
http://www.colourikamva.co.za

ColourIkamva is an organisation that works to re-imagine the learning experience in disadvantages schools through;

1.
The physical transformation of the learning environment, co-created with students and educators, giving them a strong sense of pride and ownership over their space

2.
Personal-development workshops, promoting innovative and creative thinking that can foster positive habits to sustain the transformation and explore art as a tool for self-empowerment.

3.
An academic study where we aim to prove the value of an inspiring, uplifting environment on learner outcomes.

Colour Ikageng school transformation from ColourIkamva on Vimeo.

Collaboration with the art mentorship program.

More about Kolor Kathmandu here:
http://kolorkathmandu.sattya.org/

Kadikoy Istanbul for Muralist fetival

I am on a 4 month travel , research ,painting expedition /adventure.

Follow the project and my Tumblr for info and updates.
http://thecolourproject.tumblr.com/
&
http://freddysam.tumblr.com/

For WWF to promote Earth hour I was invited to paint 2 murals ,1 for JHB and 1 for Cape Town
This was my first time using all acrylic and no spray
(And the last time i will use sprays)
I hosted a workshop with a group of kids in each city to inspire the artwork
In CT we exhibited all the kids art and projected them over my mural for Earth hour
CT mural was in collaboration with Selah (CT) and REMED (MADRID)

Video by Rowan Pybus coming soon

JHB mural
Image Freddy Sam


CT mural
Images by Freddy Sam

Keep reading →

‘WAYS OF SEEING’ JAN 24 - MARCH 9TH 2013 - The result of a month long painting project in Cape Town and Johannesburg curated by Ricky Lee Gordon aka Freddy Sam (Cape Town) with international artists in residence KNOW HOPE (Tel Aviv), Gaia (NY), and Franco JAZ Fasoli (Buenos Aires) . TRAVEL BLOG: http://www.acrylicwalls.tumblr.com PROJECT SPONSORED BY: The Maboneng precinct, The Woodstock Exchange and /A WORD OF ART. .

View my works in the Catalog online here: http://www.a-word-of-art.co.za/exhibition-space/past-exhibitions/2013-exhibitions/ways-of-seeing/

See great reviews of the project here:
http://blog.vandalog.com/2013/01/acrylic-walls-a-love-letter-to-south-africa/
and
http://www.brooklynstreetart.com/theblog/2013/01/21/acrylic-walls-gaia-jaz-know-hope-freddy-sam-in-s-africa/

Below images by Matt Ginsburg