Curtis Kulig is the charming multimedia artist sending love letters to New York City on a daily basis.
‘Love Me’ is Kulig’s very pretty graffiti tag, usually scrawled in red, the colour of love, and visible not only on the streets of NYC but also throughout his second homes LA, Tokyo and wherever else he travels to. Growing up in an artistic family spurred Kulig’s interest in the arts and with no formal training he began working with sculpture, painting, neon lighting, metalwork, text and his first love, photography. Adding to this list, ‘Love Me’ has most recently made his mark with branding and design stints at Vans and Smashbox.
i-D online chatted up Kulig on Skype to discuss all the things that make us Love Him.
Why do you write ‘Love me’? Love Me started when I was living in Los Angeles. It was about 7 years ago and I was getting sober and getting over my whole party phase of life and was quite in touch with my feelings and detoxing and that sort of thing. I was writing a lot and sketching and it was pretty natural. I just started writing and playing with it.
What statement do you want your work to make? I just want people to interpret it for what it is to them. It means something different to everybody. It means different things to me almost daily. I guess it is what it is.
Who or what inspires your work? Travel inspires my work, the city of New York and its energy, and girls.
I understand you do some photography. What do you like to shoot? I like portraiture but I also like to capture events. Something shot in natural light, more of a documentation of events, friends hanging out in the city or whatever I’m doing, that sort of thing.
What do you listen to while you work? I listen to everything from jazz, to weird emo stuff, to obnoxious rap, to whatever. I always have it on shuffle though. My secret band that I listen to but never admit to anybody is Coldplay. Coldplay rips!
What are you working on at the moment? I just finished a few shoes with Vans, two designs for women and one for men. I also just started working with the cosmetic company Smashbox. I’m doing a full line of makeup, the colours, the packaging. Besides that I think I have a show at the end of the year and just mainly travelling back and forth between New York and LA.
Tell us 5 things you love?
Plants that are not dying
Oysters at Balthazar
Museums sometimes
Good coffee
Comfortable shoes
Who loves you the most? Hopefully my mom!
Text: Hazel Ong
Photography: Gogy Esparza
