Dan Drossman and Homeboy Sandman present
Visible Planets Denver 2024
Last Year
2024 by Quelle Chris
Artists
Deca is originally from Denver but is currently based out of NYC. He is mostly self-taught, creating comics and graffiti since a young age. After years of focusing solely on making music, he reignited his interest in visual art in 2011, using acrylic paint and ink as his medium. He states “I got back into it as a way of creating that didn’t feel as heavy to me as my process of making music. It’s a lot more meditative.”. Deca is a gestalt rapper, producer, and visual artist with a dedicated following.
Visible Planets in Westword
Dan Drossman has been making art since he was five years old. Over decades of dedicated practice, his style has developed into cartoon-esque, multimedia street art, often inspired by rap and hip-hop.
“When I try to get into [painting], I always play music,” Drossman says, “and if I find a song that I really like, I’ll put it on repeat.”
That’s exactly what he did one day last year, listening to Homeboy Sandman’s “Calm Tornado” over and over again while he was painting. “While I was making [the painting], I was like, ‘[“Calm Tornado”] is a great title for this artwork,'” Drossman recalls. He reached out to Sandman, asking if he could name his art after the song that inspired it.
Sandman instantly clicked with Drossman’s art. “I was like, ‘Wow, this stuff is fly,’ so we just began to chop it up from there,” says the New York rapper.
How it Started
Dan Drossman is an artist and the founder of Visible Planets. This event is a dream come true for him that came together through a little bit of serendipity, a few good connections, and a lot of generosity. It began when he reached out to Angel Del Villar II (aka Homeboy Sandman) about permission to use his song title for one of his paintings. They met up later while he was in Denver performing, and they became friends. Drossman approached Del Villar about his idea for this show and he offered to help get other rapper/artists on board. Gallerist and musician Bill Thomason helped connect him to the music venue, and his friend, former tennis student, and artist in her own right as a photographer in New York City, Ashley Garrett, agreed to help finance the show. While seen as separate creative fields, Drossman has always felt fine art and music are closely linked—both as forms of language that creatives use to communicate. He is thrilled to unite the two genres and share this experience so that others can appreciate the connection.
About Mick Burson
![VPshirtBack_Artwork 1 (1)](https://www.annmorgan.art/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/VPshirtBack_Artwork-1-1.png)
Mick created the incredible design for all of our merch, and will be contributing an original painting of the design to the art show.
Mick Burson is an artist originally from Waco, Texas. Growing up in a train yard he developed a sense of non-permanence towards objects and paintings he made. He makes large paintings outdoors on the sides of buildings and smaller objects indoors derived from an impulsive need to touch surfaces and pick things up. The work contains joy, nostalgia, and overarching humanness. Lines are consistently crooked, surfaces rely on one another and objects are propped up as if they are a tired human. The work that is made is usually made in a transient state where the un-pack and the pack become an art form in and of itself. He is currently in the middle of a 34-year-old project where he consistently wanders around while appearing to have a destination.
Kristina Johnson
![kristina](https://www.annmorgan.art/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/kristina-scaled.jpg)
Tina is a talented pyrographic artist renowned for her captivating animal and human portraits. Drawing inspiration from hip-hop culture and her favorite artists, Tina infuses her artworks with authentic energy and deep emotional resonance. Her journey into pyrography began as a form of self-care and a means to create heartfelt gifts for loved ones, eventually blossoming into a confident exploration of her artistic voice. Tina’s style combines intricate detailing and expressive compositions, capturing the essence of her subjects with each burned stroke on wood. Her dedication to her craft has led to recognition within the art community, including the honor of presenting artwork to Black Thought. Through her art, Tina aims to celebrate diversity, evoke meaningful connections, and inspire others to embark on their own creative journeys.