Meet Dustin Harris

Today we’d like to introduce you to Dustin Harris.

Every artist has a unique story. Can you briefly walk us through yours?
I grew up around the arts, initially with dance (ballet) in my early years and breakdancing in my teens. Like most teens in the 80’s, pop culture became a big influence on me with hip-hop (breakdancing, graffiti, djing, mc-ing), skateboarding and BMX, video games and punk rock. It was exciting being a part of all these things at their early stages of development.

I started doing art more seriously in college, along with music. I majored in sculpture and trombone at Columbia College, and spent my time DJing and making beats, playing in bands, dabbling in graffiti and exploring abstract sculpture. After college I decided to focus more on music– writing, recording, and touring in a couple bands from 1994-99, mostly with Chicago bands Skapone and Boogie Shoes, where I MCed and played trombone. While on tour I still paid attention to up and coming artists, mostly those doing street art and graffiti.

When the bands ended, I decided to get back into art. I paid my bills as a DJ and dove into painting and building in my studio. I started to develop an abstract style that plays with movement, action, color, with influences from pop and street art. Over the last 15 years my studio practice has evolved to include shaped wood wall sculpture, mixed media collage, found object sculpture, and larger scale commissions.

In 2004 I met my future wife Lea Pinsky who had a background in acting and scenic painting. As artists who were house painting together here and there, we found we had a mutual interest in wanting to paint murals. We started out painting a few in homes and schools that we were connected to, and branched out to public walls and commissions. We’ve developed a great collaborative style together over the last 12 years, and have painted over 20 murals in Chicago, Evanston, and Hawaii, as Mix Masters.

In addition to painting murals ourselves over the years, Lea and I have taken leadership in overseeing mural projects since 2010– first in Rogers Park with Mile of Murals, and more recently with our new initiative Evanston Mural Arts Program, started in 2017. Being able to give opportunities to other artists who are doing great work is important to me. As an appreciator of murals and public art trends across the globe, I want ignite my own communities to aspire to that level of progressiveness. And as a mural artist myself, I know what it takes to get these projects done well, and the kind of support that artists need during the process.

Please tell us about your art.
I’ve always loved to dive into something and then step back to observe and think of the possibilities and potential of a next phase. This process has allowed me to shift between different mediums with excitement and curiosity. The one common thread I see in my work is movement…with abstraction. Whether in the shapes I choose to play with, the color fades I’m attracted to, the line work I gravitate toward, or the imagery I want to represent, I feel that most of the concepts I see and try to expose are ones that provide the idea of a desire to move; typically, in a horizontal and flowing style. I like working in different mediums and I have set up my space to be able to work with a variety of materials. While my mural work tends to be planned out, in my studio I gravitate to working more organically and improvisational. To quote Mike D, I typically like to ‘make it up as I go along’. Check my website for the varying eras of styles I’ve explored.

Given everything that is going on in the world today, do you think the role of artists has changed? How do local, national or international events and issues affect your art?
My favorite artists are ones that respond to events and issues within the eras that they lived. Artists like David Alfaro Siquieros, Roberto Matta, Kerry James Marshall, Rammellzee, and Doze Green are a few of the many great artists I consider to be progressive thinkers and generators of pushing new imagery and ideas to challenge normalcy within the role of a working artist in the 20th century. In my early years I dabbled in graffiti and my tag was LOVE NOW. The idea of not just writing a nickname that was given to me, but to write as message with depth and meaning. Eventually I have chosen to use that same concept with the mural work Lea and I create.

We have enjoyed including purposeful text in many of our murals, usually in a style that is influenced by sign painting. The phrases ‘Dig deep within’, ‘Give love now’, ‘Connect origins to destinations’, ‘Reveal roots to respect’, ‘Our future belongs to all of us’, ‘We are here, our time is now’, are phrases we have put in our murals. I feel that in today’s divisive world, the platform of public art is powerful. Art on the streets has the ability to unify people and communities. When I have the opportunity to create in a public space, I want to make work that is positive, unifying, and inclusive. I love seeing how public art can get reactions of proposing questions. Aside from including text, it always surprises me how filling walls with bright colors, and compelling imagery can uplift people’s daily lives as they pass by. I feel this interaction is an important element in contributing to a healthy society.

How or where can people see your work? How can people support your work?
I’m having a show later this year at the gallery Space 900 in Evanston. Lea and I have murals in Rogers Park and in Evanston. Please check my website or Instagram for updates and details of new work.

Contact Info:

• Address: Dustin Harris
• Website: dustinharris.biz / mixmastersmurals.com / art artencounter.org
• Email: dustinharris312@gmail.com
• Instagram: industinhetrusts / mixmastersmurals / evanstonmuralartsprogram
• Facebook: Dustin Harris

Image Credit:
1. ‘Dig Deep Within, Give Love Now’, Mural, 10′ x 104′, Acrylic and spray paint on concrete
2. ‘Trust Your Heart’, Mural, 10′ x 108′, Acrylic and spray paint on concrete
3. ‘C2′, tryptic, 4.5′ x 6.5′ – 3 canvas’, acrylic and spray paint on canvas
4. ‘Wall Crawler’, 6′ x 8.5′, found wood, pencil, spray paint
5. photo of Dustin painting Estes mural Dig Deep Within, Give Love Now
6. ‘D3′, 5′ x 7’, Acrylic and spray paint on canvas
7. ‘Green Scene’, tryptic, 12″ x 18″ – 3 canvas’, spray paint on found canvas
8. ‘Shape Shift’, 24″ x 34″, spray paint on wood

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