Dewey Saunders

As much as Florida-born, Philly-based visual artist Dewey Saunders’ work is fluid and adaptable, he does have central themes, and chief among them are hip hop and his unique brand of psychedelia. A great deal of his illustrations are portraits of hip-hop artists, and it should come as no surprise if you’re perusing the Instagram feeds of your favorite rappers and find one of his portraits reposted. The second essential Dewey Saunders trait is psychedelia, but not a rehashed '60s copycat psychedelia. His particular brand of psychedelia relies on a pastel color palette, bizarre juxtaposition, and the arrangement of collected images into a friendly composition of outrageous peculiarity. While much art in the psychedelic tradition references the frenzied free spiritedness of an acid trip, Saunders is more in keeping with the sublime comfort of a hash pipe in similar fashion to Dada or Situationism.
— Zach Moldof

[Programming descriptions are generated by participants and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of SXSW.]