Dan Drossman has been making artwork since he was 5 years outdated. Over many years of devoted follow, his fashion has developed into cartoon-esque, multimedia avenue artwork, typically impressed by rap and hip-hop.

“When I attempt to get into [painting], I at all times play music,” Drossman says, “and if I discover a track that I actually like, I am going to put it on repeat.”

That is precisely what he did in the future final yr, listening to Homeboy Sandman’s “Calm Twister” again and again whereas he was portray. “Whereas I used to be making [the painting], I used to be like, ‘[“Calm Tornado”] is a superb title for this paintings,'” Drossman recollects. He reached out to Sandman, asking if he may identify his artwork after the track that impressed it.

Sandman immediately clicked with Drossman’s artwork. “I used to be like, ‘Wow, these things is fly,’ so we simply started to cut it up from there,” says the New York rapper.

In March 2022, Sandman got here to Denver for a present and invited Drossman, who moved right here from New York in 2017, to fulfill up in particular person. That is when Drossman hit Sandman with an concept that he’d had percolating for a number of years: to create an occasion that showcases totally different mediums of artwork created by rappers, each visible and musical.

“Music and hip-hop have been very intertwined with my artwork,” Drossman explains. “And in listening, it is essential to have the correct rap rhythm. … I used to be simply fascinated with how there is not any actual separation when individuals say, ‘I am not an artist, however I am a musician,’ or, ‘I am not a visible artist, however I am a musician.’ All of them form of blurred to me.”

As Drossman and Sandman started to formulate the present, Sandman’s internet of connections within the rap and hip-hop world was key to discovering artists. “I believe at first it was simply luck for me to know them, however now they’re simply popping up out of the woodwork,” Sandman says.

He started reaching out to different rappers, together with the famed Aesop Rock, Child Pimples and Deca, inviting them to showcase their totally different mediums on the identical occasion. He was capable of get these artists on board, together with Isaac Sawyer and Quelle Chris, however Sandman says he will not be contributing any visible artwork: “I am not going to carry a knife to a gunfight,” he says.

“Artwork is essential to me,” he clarifies. “It is positively a part of what’s essential about how I launch the data. The quilt artwork, the artwork related to the singles. … The aesthetic and the frequency being broadcast by way of the artwork for the data could make all of the distinction.”

The fruits of Drossman and Sandman’s efforts is Seen Planets: Famend Rappers and Their Visible Artwork. The exhibit runs by way of August 10 at Bitfactory Gallery, the place there shall be a free meet-and-greet reception with the artists on Friday, August 4, from 6 to 9 p.m. That shall be adopted by a particular live performance at Herman’s Hideaway on Saturday, August 5, beginning at 8 p.m. Each occasions are sponsored by Summary, Artist Proof Collective, KGNU and Ashley Garrett.

“We needed [a name] that was going to embody the truth that these artists are all very distinctive and considered one of a form. They’re their very own world unto themselves,” Sandman explains, including that Seen Planets additionally calls to thoughts the invisible, or lesser recognized, work of the showcased rappers. “It is also a nod to Digable Planets, which was a hip-hop group that made a implausible contribution to hip-hop on the time,” he says.

Visible artwork, particularly avenue artwork, has been intrinsically tied to hip-hop because the style’s conception within the ’70s, constantly showing because the backdrop for music movies, cyphers and rap battles. Like avenue artwork, hip-hop is about empowering marginalized teams, giving them a artistic and public platform to precise societal dissent and sociopolitical views.

“All of the cats I grew up with did graffiti and tried a number of issues — made beats, rhymed, tried their arms at turntables,” says Deca, a rapper and artist who grew up in Denver. “I believe that is a fantastic level, the truth that graffiti is an integral part of hip-hop.”

Deca has been drawing and rapping since he was younger. In center college he would freestyle in his yard with buddies, and he joined a hip-hop group known as Elemental in highschool. In 2004, when he was eighteen, Deca dropped his first solo album, High of the Line Backside Feeder. As for visible artwork, “my older brother painted, so I grew up watching him paint,” he recollects. “I draw comics, I received into graffiti, and that was enormous for me all through center college and highschool.” He remembers sitting at school, so absorbed in doodling on the margins of his pocket book paper that he would tune out his academics.

In 2010, he moved to New York, the place he is exhibited his visible artwork in a handful of small exhibitions. However considered one of Deca’s largest exhibits was in January 2023 right here within the Mile Excessive Metropolis, the place his work was displayed alongside Drossman’s for Bitfactory’s seventh annual No Present exhibit.

Two new items by Deca shall be displayed at Seen Planets. One is a splash of black ink that he says he made as “sporadic however unified” as he may, whereas the opposite is created from paint splatters on a wooden panel. “I by no means wish to make detailed items,” he explains. “I am simply going to do one thing, simplify it. After which it at all times finally ends up taking me like two months to complete them. This was no exception.”

His paintings is closely impressed by his experiences in nature; he loves exploring the woods and analyzing the abundance of intricate patterns that encompass him. “I have been going tenting loads lately, and I like simply bugging out and looking at tree bark…and patterns bugs make within the wooden and people form of issues,” he says.

To Deca, his visible artwork and music are mixed. Though his relationship with music creation is a extra critical dedication than his fling with artwork, he emphasizes that each mediums are essential expressions of his lived expertise. “His music is meditative; it brings you in, and there is a good rhythm to it. After which to see his work, it is simply the identical factor…however visible,” Drossman says. “Attending to know him as an individual, seeing his artwork, listening to his music — it is all simply flowing creatively.”

Sandman and Drossman are flying in six different artists for the occasion. The exhibit at Bitfactory will show artwork from Deca, Aesop Rock, Isaac Sawyer, Quelle Chris and Child Pimples, whereas the live performance at Herman’s will embrace performances from Blu, Sandman, Deca, Quelle Chris, Child Pimples and Isaac Sawyer, in addition to DJs Felix Fast4ward and Spectacular Diagnostics.

“This present goes to be a surefire factor, so far as a rap present. We ain’t received to fret about nothing,” Sandman says. “Even when the ability cuts out, these cats are the actual deal. We’ll go a cappella all night time.”

Deca, Sandman and Drossman is likely to be trying ahead to totally different components of Seen Planets, from assembly different rappers to socializing with Denverites, however all three can agree that the occasion is a one-of-a-kind expertise. “So far as I do know, it is by no means been executed — an artwork present of all rappers,” Deca says.

“The vitality that these [performers] transmit is useful to the listener…and Dan has offered a brand new platform,” Sandman provides. “That is going to be the primary space on the planet the place these particular, distinctive, glowing people are going to transmit…on one other medium apart from the one which they often do.”

Seen Planets free artist reception, 6 p.m. Friday, August 4, Bitfactory Gallery, 851 Santa Fe Drive. Seen Planets live performance, 8 p.m. Saturday, August 5, Herman’s Hideaway, 1578 South Broadway. Tickets are $35-$500.