Fresh interview with the talented Miami native Jeff ‘DeKal’ on his amazing paintings in and out of the music business. Truly one of most talented artists out of the whole Miami art scene.
Full interview at IHLET.com.
For more amazing art hit www.jeffdekal.com
So Graffiti was a good influence for you, how did you come up with the name/tag Dekal?
Graffiti was an influence that fueled my art for the time being. I would not take back any of the experiences I had growing up and doing graffiti, but I do wish that I started drawing figures and the kind of art I do now at an earlier time. What I do now is more of my calling and finding ones calling as early as possible is ideal.
We don’t live in an ideal world though, so I’m just thankful that I am doing what I love now. The name Dekal came around when I was about 15 listening to Method Man say “Tical” in his raps. I thought it sounded dope the way he said it. I liked the letter D at the time so I just formulated the name around that.
I noticed that you have created album art for musical groups and bands. What was it like working with these other artists and how did you come up with the concepts for the album art for groups like MayDay and Lai-Si?
I really enjoy working with musical artists. Especially when there is a mutual respect and admiration for each others work. Its very inspiring. Mayday already had a pretty solid concept for the album and I just did my thing with it. Their title, “Stuck on an Island” is a metaphor for their music. The music is like an island, being that there is no one around with their kind of sound. It’s a futuristic kind of sound hence the glasses and vibe. Lai-Si on the other hand didn’t have a solid concept for her cover. She left it up to me to come up with something. The title of the album is “2 worlds 1 sound”, incorporating her Cuban heritage with an American flavor. Her music is very beautiful so I just decided to have a really beautiful image of her in mid song. The two orbs represent the two worlds.
