{"id":9915,"date":"2012-07-17T16:28:07","date_gmt":"2012-07-17T16:28:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.wonderlandmagazine.com\/?p=9915"},"modified":"2013-05-26T16:26:16","modified_gmt":"2013-05-26T16:26:16","slug":"rising-brandon-opalka","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.wonderlandmagazine.com\/2012\/07\/17\/rising-brandon-opalka\/","title":{"rendered":"RISING:  Brandon Opalka"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Brandon Opalka was painting 30 foot murals by the time he was out of high school, but the rough and ready artist has been making waves at Art Basel. Wonderland talks to him about his crazy, conceptual murals.<\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"\/2012\/07\/rising-brandon-opalka\/img_4\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-9917\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/\/media.wonderlandmagazine.com\/uploads\/2012\/07\/img_4-e1342542331957.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"Brandon Opalka\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-9917\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Who is Brandon Opalka? <\/p>\n<p>I go by many names! I\u2019m survivor of a dysfunctional single mother and a crazy-ass bloodline. Basically, I\u2019m a redneck with a city boy spirit, clever enough to convince my family it was worth it. <\/p>\n<p>What do you do on a typical day?<\/p>\n<p>Feed my creative spirit with life\u2019s fascinating challenges as I walk with my thoughts playing constantly on repeat saying \u201cget it, put it\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>What are some highlights of your career to date?<\/p>\n<p>Working with Tony Goldman and Wynwood Walls was so amazing. I had just become a father and took on a full time gig at MOCA as Exhibition Coordinator. During the day I ran the crew at MOCA installing Mark Handforth\u2019s show, and after I put Wyatt to sleep at night, go paint. That happened for over a month and somehow I found the energy to keep going. That was the most incredible and memorable feeling.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"\/2012\/07\/rising-brandon-opalka\/brandon-opalka\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-9921\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/\/media.wonderlandmagazine.com\/uploads\/2012\/07\/Brandon-Opalka-e1342542384593.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"Brandon Opalka\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-9921\" \/><\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"\/2012\/07\/rising-brandon-opalka\/brandon-opalka-2\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-9919\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/\/media.wonderlandmagazine.com\/uploads\/2012\/07\/Brandon-Opalka-2-e1342542312796.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"Brandon Opalka 2\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-9919\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>What defines the art of Brandon Opalka?<\/p>\n<p>Setting goals, but always allowing myself the freedom to surprise. Kind of like some ambition with a shot of madness.<\/p>\n<p>Is it important to you to continue to do both street art and gallery work?<\/p>\n<p>I don\u2019t really like the term street art. It isn\u2019t really what I\u2019m doing. Without the graffiti, my gallery work would have no presence. I started with graffiti, my friends are vandals and they\u2019ve become my family over the years. <\/p>\n<p>You often incorporate animals into your work. Is there a specific meaning to each animal?<\/p>\n<p>My work is full of symbolism that has been created naturally through years of dreaming, when objects make it onto the canvas or walls they have already passed through a trip through my mind\u2019s eye, picking up with them various personal memories. So I\u2018ve come to terms that the viewer will have there own trip to deal with, but while experiencing my work they are free from explanation. That leaves me feeling more fulfilled with the work, by not expecting a specific reaction from the masses. I almost have to disconnect from the work before I show it so my feeling can stay true to my spirit.<\/p>\n<p>Do you personally collect art? <\/p>\n<p>I\u2019ve been trading and buying art ever since I made my first sale in 1997 in Miami Beach. Some of my earliest paintings are from Christian Curiel and Jason Ferguson. My favorite work is a painting by Robert Thiele. The painting hangs next to my TV\u2014 which sounds underrated. His work is so mysterious and that is hard to pull off. I find him to be a modern master. Thanks, Bob.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"\/2012\/07\/rising-brandon-opalka\/img_9278\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-9918\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/\/media.wonderlandmagazine.com\/uploads\/2012\/07\/IMG_9278-e1342542297858.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"Brandon Opalka\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-9918\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Do you have any upcoming exhibitions?<\/p>\n<p>I will be creating an installation called \u201cJanigans\u201d at the Art and cultural center of Hollywood in March 2013,  named after my mother. The installation is a bar filled with TV\u2019s, trophies, and fictional sports memorabilia. <\/p>\n<p>What&#039;s next?<\/p>\n<p>Traveling and painting murals. Living this next chapter with a tad more wisdom.<\/p>\n<p>If you had to paint a mural with the title \u201cWonderland,\u201d what would it look like?<\/p>\n<p>Animals, lots of animals. A mystic place with no sense of pain or sorrow. A happy place with lush vegetation, mostly of the rainforest variety. Very colorful, as if it had a sound track. Music is playing, something like David Bowie and the animals are taking a nap now. Goodnight, little furry friends. It\u2019s all good!<\/p>\n<p><em><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.brandonopalka.com\/\">brandonopalka.com<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Words: Heike Dempster<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Brandon Opalka was painting 30 foot murals by the time he was out of high school, but the rough and ready artist has been making waves at Art Basel. Wonderland talks to him about his crazy, conceptual murals.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":9917,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[305],"tags":[305,1319,2714,2098,2475,559,50,2715,495,2022,2716],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>RISING: Brandon Opalka | Wonderland<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"RISING: Brandon Opalka.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.wonderlandmagazine.com\/2012\/07\/17\/rising-brandon-opalka\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"RISING: Brandon Opalka | Wonderland\" \/>\n<meta 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