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| Photo by Dareon Grace |
If you haven’t been tuning into our blog this month, shame on you. You’re sleeping on some good stuff. Nevertheless, here’s what you missed: All this month we have been giving you a glimpse inside the neighborhood of Carson, CA. We have presented you with various art related events happening in the City. We’ve served you with our dining experience at the new Phantom Carriage Brewery. Now we present to you, Dareon Grace. He’s a Photographer, clothing designer, musician and he’s also a native of Carson. EssenceLA sat down and talked to Dareon about his work as an artist and about his experience growing up in Carson.
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| Photo by Dareon Grace |
“It all started in high school…” he said as we sat down on the shaded front porch of his Carson home on an obscenely hot LA day. Before that, he offered us water, but in true LA fashion, despite the triple digit temperature, Lana LosAngeles declined saying “I have to finish my morning coffee first.” I (Curnie Compton) laughed and shook my head in true “wtf” fashion but I knew in all seriousness this was a hard FACT. I’m sure she’ll agree when I say the day is a much better day for everyone involved when Lana has her morning coffee. But back to Dareon, he went on to tell us about how his love for shooting was a product of him venturing out of his neighborhood to explore and experience the greater Los Angeles city life. With camera in hand and skateboard gliding over the pavement, he explored to neighborhoods like Melrose and Downtown, connecting and interacting with people who were like minded and shared the same interests.
Although much of his work can be considered fashion photography, he says he prefers shooting in places surrounded by a lot of people doing their day to day city shuffle. Besides the city itself, Dareon also says the underground hip hop scene has a big influence on his work. He claims artists like MF Doom and Pharrell Williams have inspired him in many ways. MF Doom for his unique ability to “transfer knowledge” and Pharrell because he identifies with him and his re-imagination of skateboard culture and the way he infuses his music, lifestyle, and passion for fashion. According to Dareon, hip hop culture goes hand in hand with fashion. It has encouraged him to create his brand Imaginary Friends and collaborate with friends and fellow artists to create the brand Clean.
We could not end this interview without Dareon recommending to our essenceLA readers some of his favorite places to go in Los Angeles. Places like the Downtown Art Walk, Fairfax Flea Market are his favorite and of course the beach. One thing that stuck out to us, one of the reasons why we do what we do, was that Dareon too is passionate about connecting other artists who are out here in LA also doing their thing. He told us the networking possibilities and the city’s ability to enable his creative grind are his favorite parts about Los Angeles. He enjoys collaborating with artists who are also passionate and purposeful about their craft. Dareon made sure to let us know about some of these incredible artists, some of which we hope to introduce to all of you in articles to come. "I'm here for there people" Dareon stated and we here at essenceLA are too. We hope that you've enjoyed our exploration of Carson, and we hope you stick around with us as we check out more of our city streets and the creative minds that make them thrive. These are our people, our city, our LA |
| Photo by Dareon Grace |
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| Photo by Dareon Grace |
In addition to constantly adding to his photography portfolio, Dareon has several projects coming up. He is gearing up to relaunch his Clean clothing brand as well as his Imaginary Friends music project and his production company 1937 Films. Hit the play button below to hear part of the interview or check it out on our Soundcloud page. All photos used in this article was take by Dareon. Be sure to check out his work on the links below.
Follow Dareon on Tumblr
Follow on Instagram: @Jamaicanxboogie
