TheWrap has commissioned a one-of-a-kind mural from New York City emerging visual artist Edward Granger to adorn its new, luminous West Los Angeles headquarters.
Fresh off a high profile gig with amfAR, glossy magazine features and making the rounds at the Gowanus Brooklyn Art Fair, Granger spent over 24 hours on the exclusive piece: a meditation on color, form and cultural essence in a context exclusively for TheWrap and the scope of its coverage.
“I like to create awkwardly beautiful fantasy worlds,” said Granger, a sentiment that could easily be echoed by filmmakers and show business influencers alike.
Drawing inspiration from artists Sol LeWitt, Bernard Friz, Wassily Kandinsky and architect Zaha Hadid, Granger’s creation is both vivid and dreamlike — underscoring the color red and evoking the delirium of pop culture.
“It’s representing the fragility of the built environment versus the natural environment, but on a different level I wanted it to be reminiscent of an episode of ‘Saved By The Bell,’ or some really funky 70s diner,” he said.
Watch Granger creating the exclusive piece in TheWrap’s time lapse video:
Those instincts haven’t just landed him in the personal collections of fashion star Betsey Johnson and design dandy Bradford Shellhammer. It got Hollywood calling.
In early November, Granger partnered with Microsoft for a digital art installation at amFAR’s Inspiration gala, hosted by Gwyneth Paltrow and honoring Tom Ford. (pictured below)
Recently an untitled mural from Granger served as backdrop for a Billboard Magazine cover story on Iggy Azalea. He was also the subject of features from Dwell, L’Uomo Vogue magazines and Milk Studios. The Louisiana native (and graduate of University of Louisiana at Lafayette) relocated to New York in late 2012 and became a member of Brooklyn’s Art Space Collective. The emerging artist quickly amassed a sizeable social media following with over 38,000 followers on his Instagram account, where he frequently features pictures of his work and a look into his process.
Granger has also kept busy over the past year designing exclusive murals for the New York City based headquarters of Thrillist, Dodo and Fire Island’s popular cafe Canteen.
Naturally, we asked Edward about what makes a successful contemporary artist.
“A successful artist doesn’t rely on talent alone,” he said.”It’s about finding your identity, and once you have your identity taking ownership of it and running uninhibited and wild with it.”
“If you don’t take your work seriously, no one else will. Understand your elevator pitch, that’s what a successful artist truly is: being humble but being bold with your work,” Granger added. “There’s a quote from Edgar Degas that says, ‘Art is not what you see, but what you make others see’ and I think that’s absolutely spot on.”
See more of Granger’s work at his official site, and watch TheWrap’s interview with him below:
