Paul DEO

“Don’t let someone’s opinion of You become your Reality, it’s Your Life: create and Be Your Reality” – Paul DEO. That statement by Paul DEO is part of the Museum Of UnCut Funk ethos…can ya dig it!!!

Paul DEO began painting at age 5, under the tutelage of his Aunt Auressa Moore. She taught DEO artistic techniques, as well as of the spiritual world, for deep internal inspiration. Paul was considered a Child Prodigy after winning a city-wide high school Art competition at 6 years old.

Many challenges defined DEO’s life as he grew Up, moving between New York City and New Orleans: the City of Imagination. There, his first Sun was born, inspiring DEO to support his family by creating again and moving his family to NYC. After working and gaining skills on his first film, Spike Lee’s “Malcolm X” he has won film and arts awards mixing live action and animation telling unique visionary stories.

Paul’s creations grew into graphic novels, mixed-media paintings, sculpture, Flash animation, and video. DEO moved his family back to New Orleans.

With a Joan Mitchell Foundation Grant in 2009 Paul DEO created the 75′ x 60′ fiberglass sculpture mural “House of the Rising Sun” based on his modern myth. This award winning piece generates spiritual high positive energy inspiring a devastated area of New Orleans. Evacuated from New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina with his 2 children, Paul DEO & his family are now residing in Harlem, NY.

2012, Professor Greg Tate’s course on Afro-Futurism introduced DEO’s work to the the excited University students. Paul DEO is an extremely imaginative humanitarian artist with a Bachelor of Science in Information Technology. Paul sincerely likes sharing his unique gift teaching and inspiring young students through media arts.

In 2013, Paul DEO won a mural design competition “Planet Harlem” a mixed media mural in Harlem, NY. In the summer of 2013, Paul is created a mixed media mural at Riverbank State Park in Manhattan.

Michelle Obama

ARTIST STATEMENT:

Spinning inspirational stories visually allows for an inclusive experience, allowing all to access the power of imagination. Ancestral oral tradition and modern myths meet, creating a world for viewers to tap into their childlike imaginative abilities, regenerating a sense of balance among contemporary obstacles. I work to reach that doubt in the subconscious that prevents freedom of expression and ambition toward ones visionary dreams.

I create art that evokes the collective, drawing upon ancestral oral tradition as well as threads of modern mythology in order to establish a space for communal dialogue. Essentially, the murals, multimedia projects, sculptures and canvas works are crafted with the vision of telling a story that seeks to engage and inspire absolutely everyone. Lives of people like Martin Luther King, Fela Kuti, Emma Goldman, Romare Bearden, Harriet Tubman, and the Mirabal Sisters are carefully researched, and then rendered. Each study is developed into a visual biography, unfolding pivotal moments in history, and concentrate on themes that heal, preserve, and bond. I carefully select and depict events in the lives of iconic figures that speak of inspiration, change, and triumph over what most would consider the “odds”. Creative visualization, imagination, and dreamscapes are constructed to bridge familiar subjects with a world of possibilities, and inspiration.

Being a product of an interracial extramarital relationship was very isolating in many ways. My relentless hope came from my fine artist aunt Auressa Moore. She taught me various art techniques. She exposed me to the Apollo Theater in Harlem and my art aesthetics were born. I saw Art and the Apollo Theater experiences as ONE in spirit. I remember James Brown entering the stage already sweating. Was he dancing backstage getting ready to take us to the cosmos?? I think so. I wanted to BE James Brown. I wanted the ability to take people to their highest joyful feeling, GIVING and over-delivering that Love with effort and imagination. I loved basketball and how Michael Jordan could show his inspirational love for life through his passion for winning. Over-delivering proved to me to be the way of allowing God to bless you and shine through you.

Studying astrophysics and astronomy has influenced my perspectives on art. There is more unknown than known about our life and our universe. When I look up in to the stars or clouds, I know the pure spirit is there. I equate the black hole with our subconscious mind. Experts say we only use 10% of our brain. What is in that 90% of our brain? What is beyond light? Infinity. When I create I trust my subconscious mind to lead. I connect traditional art with digital technologies merging art and science just as merging left and right brain. I smile with those amazing organic spontaneous clouds stars colors designed for giving hope to EVERYBODY. In this I trust, it is beyond man, beyond end. I create so that homeless child can smile and become motivated to share their Light with the world to levels of HOPE beyond anyone’s expectations.