Curtis Kulig: Love Me Kulig Mural

Curtis Kulig has taken his iconic Love Me imagery coast to coast, from New York to Los Angeles. In collaboration with the Standard Hotel LA, Curtis Kulig adorned a massive urban wall with a Love Me installation – the below film captures the process.

CURTIS KULIG INTERVIEW:

The Standard: Were you taking photos or painting first? How does one influence the other? Do you like one or the other better?

Curtis Kulig: I was shooting photos first. I started with photography at a young age, I was shooting punk shows and skating/lifestyle mostly. Always film, digital didn’t even exist back then. I wouldn’t say I like one better then the other, its really just depending on the day, how I’m feeling at that moment. Whether its time in the studio painting, or out rolling around shooting, both bring interesting and challenging aspects to the table.

Q:How and when did Love Me come about?

A:Love me came about in a very organic manner. Its an everyday thing for myself and most, at least from what I gather speaking with friends and such. I would say Love Me came about 5 years ago.

Q:What city do you spend most of your time in?

A:Most of my time is spent in NY, but I travel back in forth to LA often, I also take a few trips a year to Tokyo and Paris as well.

Q:Do you find your surroundings influence your work?

A:For sure, everywhere that I have traveled to and the people that I have met along the way are all major sources of inspiration for me. I love city life, the energy, and characters that you come across. The amazing city scape and buildings both old and new, how the sun sets between them, and the people that inhabit them. There is just so much to take in and keep you inspired and productive in my surroundings. That’s something I really love, staying busy, producing work, I love to be doing something at all times of the day. I try to create as much as I can and use the short amount of time we are given here to the best of my ability. The act of creating and being productive is a major influence for me and keeps me driven.

Q:What’s better – NY or LA?

A:That’s a tough one, cause I love both. I would say LA for the Winter and Summer and NY for the Spring and Fall. Which is obviously based on weather. However, overall my heart and home has been in NY for a while now.

Q:How was working in downtown LA different or similar to other places? Have you worked on similar installations?

A:I have definitely been doing my fair share of installs lately. Maybe not so public in people are walking by while I work, which was a bit different and distracting, but interesting none the less. It was unique having a dialogue with pedestrians, there was a lot of positivity and pleasant exchanges, which was a plus.

READ MORE ABOUT CURTIS KULIG – http://cinquecollective.com/artist/curtis-kulig/