Ahead of the release of Bargrooves Deluxe Edition 2015, Defected’s Lucy St John profiles the artist behind each the instantly recognisable artwork of the Bargrooves series.
The designs for Bargrooves’ unique covers are created by Japanese artist Dragon76. Based in Yokohama, Dragon76’s idiosyncratic style of art has featured on record covers, advertisements and clothing, and although he was classically trained – studying oil painting at Osaka College of Art – it is his love of graffiti and street art that has largely influenced the style of his work today.
Incorporating elements of Manga and Ukiyo-e, Dragon76’s style is instantly recognizable, yet each piece retains a distinct spirit and tone from one to the next. “A spirit of graffiti is important for me to connect with daily life and current culture,” he explains. His work, with its bold style, is unmistakable, the subjects of his art defined by dark shadow layered on vibrant textures of color.
Dragon76 specializes in large-scale live painting, often working in front of an audience at galleries or events. “Live painting is different from art in a museum. I use live painting as a media to output and draw what I feel my daily life.” Often facing the canvas (or surface he is working on) to the audience, his painting almost becomes a performance, often painting at corporate events for big brands such as Nike, Carlesberg and Facebook, he also works at educational and music events from TED Kids in Tokyo to Café Mambo in Ibiza.
Dragon76’s designs for the Bargrooves covers have a memorable and instantly recognisable look, “Bargrooves is focusing on ‘music and people’ and I try to express the euphoria and energy that I receive from the music” he explains. Bargrooves as a compilation is about creating accessibility for dance music but also bringing the fun back to it; the stylish and luxurious side of house music. The motif of the women dancing or listening to the music that Dragon76 illustrates features on all the covers, “I am trying to capture a moment” and in that moment we see the enjoyment of the music in each of these different characters.
For Dragon76 the real focus is for his work is to convey a message of peace, harmony and revolution. He has created works of art at peace and refugee camps as well as live music events, and his work often depicts current affairs to convey a political message, with the aim of influencing people in a positive way, the way graffiti did for him.“I will be so glad if people can feel positive energy which I felt from graffiti and minority culture through my painting”.
Working with Peace Boat, Dragon76 has painted murals at a refugee camp in Jordan and a primary school in Kenya among others. Speaking about his work in these remote places he reflects on the fact that “when I painted a mural at a refugee camp, despite it being a repressed place, the children were very lively and had so much energy. Their reaction to my painting was incredible, which made me think again of the influence art has on people”.
When doing his work with Peace Boat he traveled by boat, observing how he “felt a gradual change of culture, people, temperature and smell of air”. The link between culture and art is an important one to Dragon76, “I think it is important to make their local people positive through my work which is going to stay there”.
In 2015 Dragon76 is moving to New York from Japan, “I am so excited that I will be able to draw inspiration from new place … and I intend to use that inspiration for my work on future Bargrooves projects”.
Words: Lucy St John
Bargrooves Deluxe Edition 2015 is out 30 November 2014 (CD & digital) on Bargrooves -order from iTunes
