We continue our journey to the Land Down Under with a glimpse into the exceedingly bright and playfully serious minds of art world duo, DabsMyla.
These two are so fun…and they’re having fun doing all sorts of shows across the globe. If you allow their positivity to infiltrate your mind’s eye, I promise there will be handsome rewards. Handsome rewards!
They work in tandem, and their output is undoubtedly a reflection of their positive vibes-filled lifestyle together. When you meet someone who you can not only share your work with, but share your life with as well? Well, that’s something of an anomaly. DabsMyla may be onto something here.
How did the two of you meet?
MYLA: We met at Art School when we were both studying Illustration. We became good friends and by the end of our studies we had fallen in love!
How was the reception for Marvelous Expeditions and did it live up to your expectations?
MYLA: We had so much fun working on the show…it completely exceeded our expectations! All the work that our friends made for the curated part of the show was incredible, and it was really cool to see their interpretation on the theme of the show. We also had a lot of fun working on the installation with our good friend Greg Craola Simkins.
The opening night was really fun and there was a lot of people who came out to support the show and all the artists involved!
Don’t Trip with Sergio Hernandez was in your project room for that as well. Paint a picture for our readers who may not have had the opportunity to check out the show…
DABS:We have known SURGE for a long time!
He is a good friend and an incredible artist. He is such a talented drawer, and he had a really impressive collection of these amazing drawings as well as a few paintings. We were so stoked to have him in the project room along side our show. His work really complimented our work and all the work from our other friends!!
Could you speak a little bit about the one day pop up event at Known Gallery? How did it come together and how did you get involved with it, etc.?
MYLA:The one day event at Known Gallery was for the Hello Kitty!Hello Art! book release with Sanrio.
We have done some paintings in the past for Sanrio themed shows, and it’s always a lot of fun working with their themes and characters!
Roger Gastman organized the book launch and also curated a one day exhibition to coincide with the launch. There was an amazing solo show of new works from our friend POSE that were all Sanrio themed as well as some work from a few other artists that were featured in the book.
How did you guys hook up with Blink 182?
DABS: We have done a few posters for BLINK182! Its just something that came about I guess!
We always have a blast working on the posters for Blink. I think it’s because their overall style is really fun…. and so is ours, so it always makes a nice match!
Tell us about the Space/Form show in Portland…
MYLA: Our friend Sven Davis curated the show which included 100 artists who created a piece on a 10 x 10 inch panel. It was a great idea for a show and we were really happy to be a part of it!
Similar to the way Keith Haring’s motion lines create movement in his works, the faces you incorporate into yours add a sense of instant and lasting emotion. How did you come to the decision to use the face that has sort of become a Dabs Myla signature?
DABS:I don’t know? It wasn’t really something pre meditated?
I just found myself always painting positive stuff with a big smile! And whenever I would draw a character that wasn’t smiling insanely I wouldn’t like it and would end up changing it to a big grin!
We are pretty positive people, and feel so happy in our lives everyday, and our artwork is a reflection of our life together…so it makes sense!
What have you two noticed about the similarities and differences between the street art scene in Australia vs. The United States?
DABS: I think one of the main differences between graffiti and street art from Melbourne to Los Angeles comes from the makeup of the two cities. There are a lot of similarities from city to city when it comes to graffiti. But one thing I think that affects the scene is that all cities are laid out and constructed in a different way.
Melbourne is a very small city, with a long spanning train line, and everything is built around and toward the Downtown area in the centre.
So a lot of murals/bombing etc. can be seen in a small radius in and around the city centre.
Where a place like Los Angeles is so spread out like a giant suburb…so the street art is also spread out! They also buff like crazy in the city of LA where in Melbourne they don’t really buff much at all.
What do you want people to take away from your art?
MYLA: Just visual enjoyment and hopefully a smile on their face!!
What are your short/long term goals as a duo?
DABS: On the short term we have a show coming up in Melbourne at Metro Gallery. So we will be focusing on that for the rest of the year. We have a lot of work to do still…so we will most likely be locked away painting till then!
Tell our readers where they can keep up with what you’ve got going on regularly…
DABS: We try to keep the blog as updated as possible. That’s probably the best place to see what we have coming up…or on our website!
BLOG: www.dabsmyla.wordpress.com
SITE:www.dabsmyla.com
INSTAGRAM:@dabsmyla
So much fun, these two…