One cranberry and vodka, please. Yes, I’d love to hit that blunt. My shorts need to be a bit higher and eyeliner needs to be a bit thicker. The air is thick and the scenery is dark. I make my way with my friends to the middle of the dance floor and we’re zombies to the beat and the bass replaces our heartbeats, and it’s alright. Who needs life when there’s a party? I look around and we’re all like the dancing dead. Red eyes, sweaty skin dancing machines. Who’s the master of the night? GREATeclectic. The emerging curator of the sounds that effortlessly mix Rick Ross’ “BMF” with Rihanna’s “S&M,” that’s so wrong that it has no choice but to be right.
GREATeclectic is a D.J. best known for bridging worlds that traditionally don’t know of each other. Combining the ghetto fabulous and euro-trash into a world that hypnotizes the drunks and perplexes the weed heads. To quote Beyoncé, GREATeclectic is the one to get you bodied. “Everything I do, it feels like I’ve always done it. I’ve always been in love with music. I’ve always wanted to make something,” GREATelectic (also known as Kendrick Daye) utters with a surprisingly breezy tone one might not expect from someone who is responsible for feeding so many social monsters dubstep and Nicki Minaj verses between strobe lights.
The name, GREATeclectic, was birthed from Kendrick’s love of the childhood book, “The Great Gatsby” and the fact that he is, well, eclectic. Apart from DJing, (which became necessity after dealing with unsatisfactory DJs for his events) he’s the editor of acclaimed independent magazine “Art Nouveau,” visual artist, and well-respected event planner. “I just liked the name. It made sense because I always had been dabbling in everything and I never saw a problem with that. Wherever I’m able to express myself, I’m going to do it.”
Its 1 a.m. and by this time, there’s beginner goblins up-chucking their diets and vampires looking to get lucky and suck on someone special by the end of the night. GREATeclectic’s face is emerged in the glow from his MacBook, content on controlling the slaves of the music that are left who are refusing defeat.
“I’m amped to release ‘Planet of the Ape$’,” he chuckles. He finishes quickly into sonic projects that we can devour sooner than later. “It started with ‘Noi$ePorn’, but it became a different animal the more I delved into production […] everything I do is a ‘do it yourself’ attitude, so when I didn’t get the production I was looking for, I made it.”
His events are known for not only bringing art, but bridging it in music and fashion. My boots are leather, my accomplices’ legs are being suffocated by lace, our fingers are riddled with metal, and there are enough black feathers to make Alexander McQueen sneeze in his grave. “A lot of artists try to act like fashion is not important. [...] you can’t deny the way you look and what you’re wearing is as important as what you’re making. They go hand in hand.”
In one hand, GREATeclectic has our lungs controlling how hard we’re breathing and in the other he has our minds, taking us wherever he desires. That kind of hypnotic talent is as eerie as it is captivating, but what does the future hold? “[…] I hope to be traveling, doing what I’m doing, but on a grander scale. Everything I’m doing now is just preparation for that.” The hauntingly Eclectic One talks deeper about his ultimate aspirations. “I want people to look at my entire body of work. Not just this week or this month, or just this specific project.” He adds a sentiment when probed about how he knows people are looking at all, “Don’t worry about people noticing it because people do notice it.”
The venue is looking more and more like a cathedral filled with sexy saints looking for a reason to exercise all of the stresses of the week away. The dancing undead faces morph more into hopeful wannabes as the conversation furthers where GREATeclectic shares some intimate testimony. “Artists, in general, just keep pushing. It’s hard out here, trust me I know. If this is something you want to do, you have to keep doing it and keep pushing and keep going. It’s not something that can be done overnight.” What can be done overnight, however, is a good time that leaves all your demons on the floor and dances that keeps Satan down in his hole. Gratefully, we have GREATeclectic to be the D.J. for such imperative ceremonies.
Someone once said that Washington D.C. is like Hollywood for ugly people. With his upcoming gallery show focused on fame, power, and the almighty dolla, Atlanta-based artist GreatEclectic gives today’s personalities (celebrity and political) the pop art treatment and maybe proves the point. “Want To See A Sad Boy Smile? Pay Him,” features mostly portraits of Ameri- can cultural icons and could be considered the result of what would happen if Basquiat and Warhol had a lovechild. Said child would be coming into his own in this golden age of instant marketing and spontaneous fame and fortune.
Aside from imaginative, layered portraits, the strength of his current work are the few pieces of the show that highlight the fine line between political prominence and celebrity. While their are many highs in the recent series, perhaps my favorite is the one featured left of the Gipper himself. Doesn’t it just make you want to forget about the jobless economy and eat a bag of jelly beans? No? Why the long face?
- Excerpt from preview by Donovan Ramsey
Solo Exhibitions
April 2011 – Want To See A Sad Boy Smile? Pay Him (Atlanta)
Group Exhibitions
Aug 2010 – Extraordinary Machine 2 at Wm Turner Gallery (Atlanta)
Aug 2010 – Super Pop! at Wm Turner Gallery (Atlanta)
Jul 2009 – Extraordinary Machine at Wm Turner Gallery (Atlanta)
Curated Exhibitions
Aug 2010 – Super Pop! at Wm Turner Gallery (Atlanta)
April 2009 – All Together Now at Tilt Coffee Shop (Atlanta)
