Announcing Moss Rock Festival’s 2014 Featured Artist, DARRELL EZEKIEL!

The art for Moss Rock Festival (MRF) poster and media campaign has historically showcased our nature-inspired tree logo or a creative concept brought to life by a fun photography campaign. Last year, we broke from that mold to feature a work of art as the poster art. Susan Shoemaker’s “Dwarf Rabbit” and its hypnotic stare took the honors that year. In 2014, the artist search lead us to the work of a regional artist we know well, Sylacauga’s Darrell Ezekiel.

 

Darrell describs himself as an artist that is “multidimensional rather than multimedia”. Moss Rock Festival has been a fan of his work for years, whether it was his quirky character driven mixed media portrait paintings, his wonderful found object assemblages, his colorful paper-scaled wood fish, or his mixed media sculptures using repurposed “cast offs and overlooked treasures” to turn into fun, funky 2D characters like a painted bird with a spatula wing and vintage button eye. He has a nack for giving inanimate objects a whole new identity as only an artist can.

Darrell’s new body of work over the last year or more has caught our attention once again. It features laser cut screens that frame the shape of recognizable images which are then brought to life by recycled quilts as the background or skin of his subject.

This most recent shadow box work is harnessing his design training, his love for reuse, his passion for spotlighting the handmade of yesteryear, and his overall graphic point of view. “I see these works as being very vibrant, and having a strong sense of the renewal of life.” And they do. “They are beautiful” said Alex Kunzman, co-director of MRF.  “Plus, his reuse of materials and choice of subject in this new body of work closely connects with the eco-creative festival’s themes of nature, eco-ideas, art + design.”

You might very well find Darrell getting lost rummaging around a great second hand or vintage store for art assets to be used in future works. When you see that object show up in one of his pieces, it often takes on a whole new form and meaning. But his artistic vision always remains fresh, and defines his artwork as truly original, whimsical, and very Darrell. We are excited to feature his work this year on the poster as we celebrate the 9th anniversary of #MossRockFest on November 1 & 2 at The Preserve in Hoover. Help us welcome Darrell and spread the news about his big announcement!

And now for a little cliffhanger….

Can you guess which image subject we chose for the poster? Stay tuned as we unveil the 2014 design this week!