INTERVIEW WITH C'EST PRUNE MAGAZINE |
Swimming in structured chaos with Sharky Edwards
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PRUNE: Introduce yourself to our readers.
SHARKY: Hi I’m Sharky Edwards a Los Angeles Based Artist. PRUNE:You’re a man with many layers. Let’s talk about your art first. Tell us how you first got into art and design. SHARKY: Well I’ve always been intrigued by art and tattoos. My dad and brother are both heavily covered in tattoos, my mom is a very talented acrylic scenery painter, and my brother became a tattoo artist. So I grew up with art all around me. In high school graffiti art was my hobby/getaway- which later down the road my urge to do graffiti faded away and I wanted to do art that could take me in a different direction. I then became a tattoo apprentice under my brother for about three years and started tattooing. On the side, I began to apply my art to shoes, jackets etc. That itself became a small business for me. I started making custom jackets, painting custom images on each one, selling them and even giving them away for people to wear. I wanted my custom jackets to be a statement- every time someone seen one of my pieces I wanted it to be known it was my art. I developed an abstract style that I took to my jackets and canvases which became my style to this day. PRUNE: How would you describe your artistic style? SHARKY: I would describe my artistic style as 'Structured Chaos', There is a structured method to my madness. PRUNE: We can also find you behind the lens. What are your favorite things to shoot? SHARKY: Some of my favorite things to shoot would be high fashion and very eccentric shots. I love being different, I like looking at my photos and seeing poses etc. many others wouldn’t do. Another favorite thing to shoot is portrait shots, I love being up close and personal with the lens bringing details to photos. PRUNE:Your talent gained you a large Instagram following. How did this begin? SHARKY: With Instagram being a big platform for artists these days you have to do things that make you stand out. With one of my passions being modeling, I was asked to do a collaboration video with well known hair stylists, We filmed a video of them coloring and cutting my hair, and with their talent and large following on instagram mixed with my eccentric look the video went viral receiving millions of views and gaining me thousands of new followers. PRUNE: People know you for your sense of style. What are your top three designers at the moment? SHARKY: A few of my favorite designers at the moment would be, Vivienne Westwood, Jerry Lorenzo, and Rick Owens. PRUNE: Who are your style inspirations? SHARKY: I don’t really have any specific style inspirations, I style myself in things I like to wear, Or that are appealing to my taste. I may see different ways people wear their clothes or how they styled something specific, and If I like it I’ll find ways to incorporate it into my own style. I was never able to afford high fashion name brands, so I always had to make what I could afford work. Therefore I always made my style speak loud so name brand didn’t matter to me. PRUNE: You’ve covered your body in art. What was your very first tattoo? SHARKY: I’m heavily covered in tattoos, but my first tattoo was an old english E above my knee which stands for my last name, Edwards. I got the tattoo in a friends bedroom in high school but I had to hide it from my family. My brother was a tattoo artist and they wanted me to wait until I was eighteen so I could get tattooed by my him. I ended up telling them about the tattoo after I received my first one from my brother and it was all laughs from then on. PRUNE: What will your ne xt tattoo be? SHARKY: I’m currently working on my full Japanese body suit. So that will take up my next few tattoo sessions. I have one leg that I’m saving room for artists I would like to get tattooed by. PRUNE: Where can we follow you on social media? SHARKY: You can follow me on instagram @Sharky_Edwards |