SKIN DEEP (2020)

TITLE: Ruse (study)
SIZE: 30” x 40”
MEDIUM: Acrylic on canvas
RETAIL PRICE: $5000.00
DESCRIPTION:
The piece is a personal reflection on the madness of appearing comfortable while contorting to
exist as a black man in America. It is part of a series that explores the idea of the black
experience in the west as life in a perpetual state of vertigo – a visual representation of the sonic
expression of Jazz which is rooted in improvisation. The colors are a play on the American flag
and the background reveals a portion of the names of black people killed in the US by police so
far this year.

SHORT BIO
Trinidad is a modern day griot – award winning radio personality, event curator, and culture
critic, credited in part with shaping the modern musical landscape of Los Angeles, dubbed one
of the planet’s most influential DJs by press and peers. Employing assorted platforms, he
introduces the world to such artists as Flying Lotus and Janelle Monae, interviews luminaries
like Quincy Jones and Nas, while remaining a primary source for music discovery and staunch
supporter of independent artists worldwide. Trinidad lists Apple, Conde Nast, Sony, and Tesla
Motors as clients and has been featured in the pages of Vanity Fair, Wallpaper, and Rolling
Stone Magazines, tapped for commentary by BBC, NPR, and PBS, and appeared on local
television stations ABC7, KTLA5, and KCET. Currently a content curator and consultant for the
groundbreaking new Tunesmap app, resident music supervisor at Butter Music + Sound, and
one half of Yoruba Records duo Trinidad-Senolia, Garth continues spinning his critically
acclaimed international mix of music, weeknights from 8-10pm on NPR affiliate KCRW 89.9fm
Los Angeles. With a BFA from Otis College, he paints on occasion and plans an inevitable return to his first love – the visual arts. @garthtrinidad

ARTIST STATEMENT (SKIN DEEP 2010)
“The piece is a play on simple vaudeville style adverts that toys with the idea of human interest in viewing the grotesque; in this case, a bloody boxer, black man with a west African rhino head, broken horn in mouth, bloody/ bruised face + body, in a classic boxing pose. The advert contains lots of hand painted type – Icarus el Negro Presents – Black vs Man: The Last Stand – at Google Dome, city of New Angeles, on Mars – Sept 22, 2062 – Live via Interplanetary Sensor Network – Sanctioned by Hennessy Electrolytic Rehydration. The symbols in word, location, date, color, and character reflect my thoughts on the cyclical black experience post slavery in the colonized world, our roles, lack of responsibility, twisted self perception, self hatred, and our relationship to the dominant white supremacist media machine.”

BIO
Before his flourishing career as a DJ and KCRW radio personality, Garth Trinidad was a student at the prestigious Otis College of Art and Design, preparing for a career in commercial and entertainment illustration.

Garth Trinidad
“Self Portrait Assignment”
Acrylic, pen & ink on board
OTIS, 1996

Growing up in 1980’s Los Angeles, Garth celebrated and participated in the burgeoning cultures of hip-hop, punk rock, and skateboarding. Their rebellious attitude and brazen style inspired his philosophy early on; taking cues from the bold visuals and buoyant music that accompanied them. Throughout his early school career, he designed logos for sports teams, provided graphics for school publicity, painted background sets for school productions, started a business that specialized in airbrushed clothing, and served as the Calabasas High School newspaper cartoonist from 1990 – 1992. As his intellectual and visual prowess matured, Garth became electrified by the work of surrealist Salvador Dali, symbolist Gustav Klimt, expressionist Egon Shiele, illustrator J.C. Leyendecker, and psychedelic fine artist Robert Williams. Since his high school days and throughout his college career, Garth worked as a freelance illustrator and briefly as an art instructor at View Park Preparatory Charter School in South LA. Since his somewhat accidental path in music began after graduating from Otis, accompanied by his commitment to marriage and fatherhood, Garth hasn’t devoted much time to his love for visual art until recently. He says, “It’s in my blood. Returning to my first love was inevitable”.