The Gallery presents Sage Suede & Thelonious Poon live on Friday, September 25, 2020 on Twitch at 8 pm CST.
Sage Suede is a local singer-songwriter & producer in Austin. He met Eric Ing on Instagram and contracted him to work on the music videos for the album Thicc Juicy Bass. The videos utilize 3-D animations and feature a variety of visual and musical styles. Together, these two artists have created an eclectic & inclusive environment with an otherworldly ambience. Packed with action, these videos demonstrate creative freedom, cultural diversity and open expression.
The album Thicc Juicy Bass is critically acclaimed and was created solely by Sage Suede. This includes the production, editing and even design of album covers. Sage does just about everything for his work and the album is audibly titillating through quirky samples and lyrics in Spanish, English and Portuguese.
Eric Ing’s artistic musings fit beautifully with Sage’s style, as they incorporate a spectrum of lifestyles and dynamically stimulating visuals. He created the videos while working at Neuroplastic Studios. Eric cites the importance of spirituality in his work and expressing the human condition, sometimes through darker themes.
From Sage Suege:
“At the time we created these videos, we faced a lot of challenges. COVID-19 was scaring the country, so I couldn’t get people to show up for recordings and I wanted to do something that was bigger than myself. In the past, a lot of videos just showed me performing alone and I knew that we could capture more diversity to help establish the inclusivity of Sage Suede as a brand.
I’m often limited in what I can create by financial struggles, but through Eric’s animations, we were able to show vibrant futuristic communities with people from all walks of life. It is very important to me that people feel welcomed at my concerts and one of the best ways for me to support equality is to show what that looks like in videos. People should expect to love one another when they associate with my brand and that’s the world I want to live in.”
The music videos for Thicc Juicy Bass show great creativity and underlying themes of intersectionality. In Slappin Bass Harder, we see a lesbian couple and others enjoying personal success. Perhaps this video shows a world where people are allowed to be themselves without retribution. In Masterpiece, we see a man in Egypt, achieving spiritual ascendance while visiting an Egyptian pyramid. In Sizzle Dee Sipper, there is symbolic feminism, with the main character holding an axe, while riding an alligator. Go Down So Smooth brings more levity, with a campy rejection of the sexualization of women in hip hop; the video features two women having a good time on a mechanical bull and bananas raining from the sky, in a parody of “the casting couch.”
Through their unbridled creativity, these two artists demonstrate the importance of free expression. Art may not be the final resolution to existing issues in politics and legislation, but it helps to bring people to action. When we are able to visualize a better world, it’s easier to do the right thing. At The Gallery ATX, we believe strongly in Black Lives Matter, so please consider signing some petitions to support the cause: https://thegalleryatx.org/support-blm
Eric Ing is creating great new animations and you can find more of his work on instagram (@theloniuspoon). You can find more of Sage Suede’s videos on https://www.YouTube.com/c/SageSuede. His album Thicc Juicy Bass is available for purchase and streaming: https://artist.landr.com/music/672985283688.
Watch the show LIVE on Friday 9/25/20 at 9 PM CST on Twitch here: