If you walked through Red Square in the past few days, you may have noticed the most amazing thing ever. By which I of course mean the phenomenally accurate chalk drawing of Lil Wayne.
You may have thought to yourself, holy cannoli who on earth made this incredible creation and why??
We’re here to give you the deetz on the rather surprising answer: just like your endless drafts and stacks of review guides, it was for a final!
The artist, who will be referred to in this article as Daisy Winfield for security reasons, agreed to sit down with BTC for a “lil” interview.
BTC: What was the inspiration behind the project?
Daisy Winfield: It started when my Digital Art teacher assigned a final project with very little structure. At first I wanted to do some optical illusion chalk art like you see on the internet for kicks. But Vittles only sells vibrant colored chalks, which doesn’t lend itself to realism… so I figured I would do something fun, something with seemingly no purpose. Something that would stick out on campus but be recognizable.
I also just really like Lil Wayne, haha. I think he has a very interesting face. I figured a lot of people would think it looked great, but it doesn’t necessarily have mass appeal. That’s what makes it art. I think Lil Wayne suits this project perfectly, actually. He’s very polarizing, people either love him or think he’s a little gross or vulgar, and I think people think the same thing about Chalk Weezy – he’s either awesome or he’s an eyesore.
BTC: How long did it take you?
Daisy Winfield: The drawing itself took somewhere around two and a half hours cumulatively, but spanned two days. I finished his face after day one but I couldn’t reach his hat… The next night I grabbed some stools from the art room and used them to stand on. And brought them back, of course. But for about a day he had no hat.
BTC: Tragic! So, can you tell us more about the Todd Olson encounter?
Daisy Winfield: I would love to! He was actually really really nice, so I hope he didn’t come across at “the man” in the video. He just explained that people aren’t supposed to draw on the walls because it doesn’t come off very easily, especially in the tunnel where it doesn’t get rain. He asked if I could do it on the ground instead, but I was so far already, so I explained that it was for a final and I offered to wash it off after. Then he told me I could finish it! He just asked that I let the art department’s faculty and students know that they prefer people don’t draw on the walls with chalk…
BTC: Which you duly noted around 1:41 as we see! Besides that little chat, what’s the most interesting reaction you got while drawing?
Daisy Winfield: This group of three elderly women, probably about 70, came and told me it was beautiful and asked if it was supposed to be somebody. I said it was Lil Wayne and they said they didn’t know what that was, which was adorable. A lot of middle-aged women liked it actually, and went out of their way to tell me so. That was surprising. I expected that to be the crowd that disliked it the most, or understood it the least, anyways. Also, this wasn’t while I was drawing, but I walked by once and heard a girl say really loudly, “Is that a sad clown?” Which is totally fine.
BTC: Is this project just meant to be random and cray-cray or is there more to it?
Daisy Winfield: This might sound like a pretentious-art-student thing to say, but I think the randomness and craziness is what makes it significant. Red Square is the heart of campus in many ways. I associate it with business, things that need to get done, classic Georgetown. So I figured it was the perfect place to put something nonsensical, something to make people smile during finals, wonder why it’s there. I consider it a success that there are people that really like it along with people who don’t. If it were one-sided, it would be too easy. It wouldn’t be interesting.
You know, after having been at Georgetown for four years, I’ve found myself so caught up at times in seeking some purpose. I think we could all use some more purposelessness in our lives. I hope Chalk Weezy captures that idea.
At the same time, I don’t expect everyone to read that meaning into it, because if they see that, it defeats the purpose (the anti-purpose?). I just want it to make people’s days a little more random.
BTC: So, Daisy, what do you do to make your days more random?
Daisy Winfield: Well, aliases are always fun… haha. Really though, you can’t plan these things, then they wouldn’t be random, right? You’ve just got to remember while you’re studying, the best kind of energizer is to do something dumb, like play “big book little book” in Lau, or explore a new fire escape. Do a chalk drawing. Things that mean nothing other than enlivening the moment.
BTC: Where else do you draw inspiration from?
Daisy Winfield: The internet? Where else can you draw inspiration from?
Actually though, there is one artist I really admire conceptually, Duchamp. A lot of his work seemed like he was just always trying to see how much he could get away with. He took a urinal, turned it sideways, put it on a pedestal, signed it, and entered it in a competition. Of course it didn’t win, but now he’s a major influence in modern art. I admire when artists aren’t trying to achieve something necessarily, just trying to look at things differently and get others to do that too. Just trying to flip things around and see what the limitations of art really are.
BTC: What are your favorite Weezy lyrics?
Daisy Winfield: Uh, any line makes me seem a little off out of context… As far as staying appropriate for this interview, I’ll have to go with So misunderstood but what’s the world without enigma from “Six Foot Seven Foot”. There’s also a quote from an interview with Katie Couric – she asks if he considers himself a good role model, and he says “If you need an example for how to live, then you just shouldn’t have been born. Straight up.”
BTC: So, did you get an A in the class?
Daisy Winfield: Well I’ll find out soon! I don’t know, hopefully… maybe if I include this article it will help!
Anything to help, Daisy.
[Photo sources: hiphopwired.com, @TheHoya]
Ellie DiBerardino [alias LED Soundsystem]‘s favorite Lil Wayne lyric is “What goes around comes around. Like a hula hoop.”
