Portfolio Review: Artist Creative Shields Shares His Favorite Paintings

If there's one thing that's certain about James Shields, it's the fact that he will never conform. Since 2009, the Stockton, CA native has been riding the highs and lows of an unpredictable artist's life after being laid off from a secure, corporate job at Macy's. Giving credit to a lack of interest and a "slight form of ADD," Shields planned to escape the mundanity regardless—the severance package just happened to gift wrap the move. Being jobless with a little extra cash to buy art supplies brought forth a bounty of inspiration. Over the course of a few weeks after his departure, Shields got back into creating his art and thus gave life to his moniker, "Creative."

Last year, Creative got our attention with his Hip Hop Coloring Book. Currently working on the second volume, he's been able to bring hip-hop to the classroom and instruct his own workshops. Balancing life between the hustle and bustle of both Cali and New York, Creative has accomplished some amazing feats in just a short while. Complex got a chance to catch up with him and learn the stories behind his work. Now we know why his winning streak won't let up.

Portfolio Review: Artist and Painter Creative Shields Shares His Favorite Works

"Living in Brooklyn for 3 years really gave me the opportunity to observe how much Biggie meant to the community. He was a gangster with love for his community. Most Brooklyn natives respect him in a saintly manner. I just wanted to contribute to the positive image- Spread Love."

"This one is from a series based on fantasy. I did a series called 'Chocolate Wonderland.' This is a dope piece because I was able to imagine what Candy Land looked like for adults-- I like taking the opportunity to take adult content and make them where they can be receptive in any environment, making it artistic. The female form is beautiful and I like being able to direct the energy and perspectives of how we view women. I think I did it pretty well with this piece because it's sexy but not lewd or abrasive."

"This is probably my most known piece of work to date, nationally and internationally. Historically, it's the first hip-hop coloring book ever. It speaks from the same context of creating. It came from a place of really wanting to contribute to the culture of hip-hop. I wanted to put something out there that would influence people's lives for the better. It's a blessing to see it do so well to where I'm able to work on the second volume now. I've been able to teach my own classes and workshops with this book and express to kids that hip-hop is about creating and taking whatever resources you have in order to make something."

"This painting comes from the Creators Gone Create show, too. I've been dabbling in abstract with live painting but I started working on this in the studio. When I finished, I felt like 'Whoa, this is it. This is what I want to see from my work.' It was the first piece I created for that series of work so I called it 'First Born.'"

"This one is from my Creators Gone Create show. It was the first time I did a solid, monochromatic painting where I only used black. You can see some of the words spray painted underneath the mixed media. Basically, I just wrote what was on my mind. It says 'Light Is All Around Us, Even In The Darkness.' That comes from a true space with me sometimes being broke or sleeping in a studio I shouldn't be in some nights. It represents deliverance and a 'come-through.' Even in your darkest situations, your opportunities are still out there."

"I collaborated with an older gentleman, Abdul Badi, on this. He's from East New York and is straight OG. We got up with each other through the ARTs East New York organization and we did this mural about nonviolence. He addressed the past with tragedy, and I addressed the present by using kids and the opportunity for a better future. The mural is 100 feet long and 20 feet tall and it's above the last stop on the 3 train. It was dope working on it because it was really my opportunity to contribute to the community, especially with me being an outsider from Cali. We received mad love and it symbolizes the power to transform communities with art. I'd say that's been my illest experience in New York."

"This painting was inspired by Jay Z's song 'I Know.' It's also just about living in NYC where people can really get caught up in city with all the shiny images and the illusions of it. It deals with getting caught up in the glory and popularity of what they see."

"'Bird Brain's' fifth part deals with being physically locked down but having a mind that's free. I was inspired by all prisoners but specifically Mandela and Mumia. Despite them being physically enslaved, they were mentally liberated."

"Conceptually, this is along the lines of my piece 'Bigger Than Your Box.' I was approached by this company called Liberation Skateboards, who are based out of Jersey. They were like 'Do a series on something that means freedom or liberation.' Straight up, I knew this piece would be about mental liberation. We live in America, where we have more prisons here than any other country or the world combined. The biggest prison is the mental one. I always wanted to do this series on a character who's trying to get free, showing all the situations we could be freed of. This started as a five part series in 2010."

"The 'Pistola' joint is cool because it was an experiment I did the day of my first art show in '09. I did it as a gift to show love to the people supporting me. I did two of them-- a girl and a guy. I ended up giving both away at the show. I wasn't going to do them at all but it turned out to be a love offering for the people who came out to the show. I was inspired by Mos Def's song 'Pistola.' Conceptually, I like the concept of love because it's so diverse with so many aspects to it. I took some street art stencils and kept it clean. This is a cool piece that I'm gonna keep developing."

"Spiritually, as a Christian, we say 'You bear your fruit.' My fruit is creativity and I symbolized that by using the banana. Sometimes when I'm dealing with a mental block, I want to walk away from it and let the idea come to me. Other times I want to forcefully take down that mental block and smash it. This painting represents me at a high level of creativity where I'm bursting out the seams with influence and inspiration."

"This one is about dealing with labels and stereotypes, and how we conform to them. I can say I watched too much TV as a kid and I believe the images on TV whether it was Zack Morris or Lisa Turtle from Saved By The Bell. I thought you had to fit those characters and was shocked to learn that they weren't my realities. Other than that, this painting is about us trying to live up to these images in the media and on television. We're bigger than that. There's a lot of people out there trying to hold on and fulfill images of who they think they should be. I wanted to break out of the small mindedness that constantly consumes us."

"This is actually my first painting that I sold to Spike Lee-- it's in his collection. Spike Lee is one of my biggest inspirations, specifically in film. I remember watching She's Gotta Have It at home when I was in high school. I was so taken aback by all of it. From the music, to the black and white and the characters. Specifically the music-- I'm a big fan of jazz because it's American history but it's Black history. When I saw his films, I saw all these elements of Black arts and culture fused with each other. I wanted to pay homage to him because of this. His art inspires art."

"For this one, I found the photo randomly on the Internet and the title was 'Starving Biafran Child.' It captured me and I wanted to draw it immediately. One thing I wanted to do was to convey my emotions through colors. Everybody had their own relationship to that painting. My girlfriend at the time was Eritrean and what that painting meant to her was something completely different. Malnutrition and starvation is high in Africa so it was interesting to see how strongly she related to it-- she related to it much differently than I could have. This is the first piece where I realized my artwork can speak way louder than I ever could."