(scene sizzling) - What's up Jay Lew?

How you been, bro?

What we're gonna do today is we're gonna kinda just chop it up and talk about our experiences together and kinda what you do as an artist, growing up as an artist in Rhode Island.

- Okay.

- And during that time, I'm gonna do this portrait of you.

In the day and age where we have social media and everything's moving so fast, we can follow people in our community and not even know who they are.

So I use live painting to make it comfortable, do something interesting, and collaborate with my guest at the same time.

- We might look at a wall, you might see a white wall, we see something different.

- [Savonnara] I see a canvas.

- Exactly.

- Really just taking the time, listening and digging deep into somebody's story, and just trying to learn as much as you can about them.

- Every person has a duty to produce something to the world, whether it's a tangible thing, whether it's a lesson, or whether it's just being a good person or good vibe, you know?

(upbeat music) - Jay Lew is a very, he's a special person, just talented, ahead-of-his-time artist.

- I could sit in discomfort if I know that in the long run, I'm gonna get to where I need to be.

- When we first started working together in 2019 at AS220 Youth, he was actually a youth that aged out and then later became an instructor.

Being a mentor is a very heavy, important role to play in somebody's life.

The way that he's juggling being an artist, and an instructor, and a mentor, it's an art in itself.

So he's perfect candidate for somebody that I would like to learn more about.

It's like the most inspiring thing just to see your mentor actually still do what they're teaching, you know what I mean?

- Right.

We teach through a craft.

Really, yesterday, I'm in a studio, I started writing to a beat.

"What are you writing to?"

I'm like, "Oh, I'm about to jump on this beat."

"You need to collab on it?"

"Yeah, for sure."

Now, me and you can work on a collab.

I'm like, "Yo, I'm buying a beat off a youth member."

You know what I'm saying?

- Uh-huh?

♪ Trying to save me ♪ ♪ Stop holding your breath ♪ ♪ And you think I'm crazy ♪ - The way that I was brought up, coming from a refugee family, the Cambodian community always stuck really close to each other.

We always took care of each other.

If we saw each other at the temple, we'll make sure the other families are eating and comfortable just the way that we are.

And I really moved around a lot as a youth, so I was always, like, the outsider looking in.

And I always noticed how much the community that I was in, I was like, took me in.

We definitely need to be connected.

We need to be friendly and then loving to each other.

It's nice to have a family, a support team that really sees you and hears you.

I'm not a master, I'm not an expert.

I'm a student learning the same way as everybody else.

Hence the reason why I think AS220 is also so great because we harness that type of learning.

We just want you to learn how to be a good, good to yourself really.

You know what I mean?

- Right.

- Being good to yourself will automatically open the door to being good to your craft, being good to your family, being good to everybody around you.

(relaxing music) - What's up, bro?

- All right, man?

- All right, nice to see you.

Thanks for coming.

Also, thanks for being a part of that segment.

- Appreciate your involvement.

- I got that piece that we worked on, so let's go ahead and check it out.

- Appreciate it.

Let's go, let's go.

- Okay.

All right, bro, moment of truth.

- Ah, no worries.

Wow.

- [Savonnara] I know one of your most recent single was called "The Monsters in My Head," right?

- [Jay] Yeah, yeah, yeah, "Monster."

- [Savonnara] So I took a part of your lyrics from your hook, and I put it right into the shadowy monster that, I guess, portrays the monsters in your head, so.

- I appreciate it, man.

- Yeah, thank you, bro.

- Yo, love you, bro.

I really appreciate it.

- Thank you too, man.

Love you too.

- Y'all gotta see this.

Look at this wild, crazy piece.

Like, I'm literally trying to process it.

This is crazy.

- Yeah.

(upbeat music) - Street art is a love letter to our city, to ourselves, to our community.

It's an open letter to our family, our friends, our chosen family, and it's, I think, an invitation to a lot of artists who have been, like, dormant or quiet, or maybe emerging artists who are afraid to pop out into the scene.

(upbeat music continues) For me, when I showcase this, I'm hoping that I inspire, like, other young artists or just artists in general to, like, just do what you want, say what you want, like, paint what you want so that at least people can see and hear you.

(upbeat music continues) (upbeat music continues) We're painting at Avenue Concepts here today.

Avenue Concepts is just a place where a lot of street artists would like to come and practice their skills.

They have legal walls here that is open 24 hours, so we can come at any time of the day or night, and it's a safe place for us to showcase our work.

(upbeat music continues) The way I work is with layers, so I just layer, and layer, and layer until I find something that I like.

Once I'm, like, comfortable with the background that I make, then I come in with a concept.

This one particularly, it's about love, but it's not like everybody's storybook feel of love.

A lot of times, I won't explain my concepts to people only because I like for my pieces to have the an open story, where people can just build their own story off of.

(upbeat music continues) We're kinda using the walls of our city as like a journal entry, just showing people how you feel.

And then not only if you're making this concept, but you're tapping into people who feel the same way.

So like, it's kinda almost like telling people that you're not the only one feeling this way.

(upbeat music continues) I wanted to come up with a concept where I can represent not only myself and my personalities, but just the people that I meet, the people in the City of Providence.

It just started inspiring me a lot more.

(hopeful music) A lot of the pieces that I do, they're just like a portrait of our people, of our community, basically.

(hopeful music continues) (hopeful music continues) (hopeful music continues) Street art, at least for myself, it's something for me to communicate when I can't find the words to communicate what I'm feeling, and it's just a great way to keep us grounded, to let us know we still have culture, let us know we still have a look, a personality.

Some people will say graffiti is like just defacing property, and I think all of that type of art is just a voice for people who aren't heard, marginalized communities that aren't being seen.

We act out when we're not being heard, or noticed, or, like, being helped.

We don't have to go out sometimes and protest and march all the time or riot, but, like, street art and visual arts, in general, is just a more peaceful way to convey what we're trying to say.

Yeah, we need that.

It's a platform for us.

(spray paint hissing) (hopeful music continues) (hopeful music fades)