Walking into a new Baton Rouge art scene is something Lord Huey is used to doing.
In the past, the 21-year-old Baton Rouge native used graphite, charcoal and prismacolor pencils as his main materials. But about two to three years ago, Lord Huey said he decided to leave his comfort zone and explore new frontiers — he recently decided to focus on doing live painting at events.
Lord Huey said he has always had a passion for art and said being able to express himself was one of the main reasons he was drawn to becoming an artist.
“Any time I could put my hands on something to freely express [myself] in some way, I would do that,” Lord Huey said, reminiscing about his kindergarten days.
The artist started painting late in middle school, when he had his first minor show. He said he was the type of student classmates would always want in their groups for class projects to help them with any type of creative effort.
One of his favorite subjects to paint is the female anatomy. Lord Huey said he was always told that the female body was the first piece of art God created. He’s also drawn to wildlife and subjects people don’t have a vast understanding of, like the deep ocean or outer space. Lord Huey also is intrigued by the skull, like Leonardo da Vinci once was.
“I like seeing the old skulls,” Lord Huey said. “They are so timeless to me. That’s supposed to be my logo, a skull.”
To create his art, Lord Huey goes through a very specific thought process. There are two ways he approaches a white canvas: applying the inspiration he has gained from multiple people and taking himself away from the world by zoning out. Sometimes, he’ll work through many sketches before starting to develop a specific piece. And when he sees a white canvas, he said he constantly feels innocence.
“A lot of the times I don’t want to touch it,” Lord Huey said. “It’s a cry of innocence and a cry of help. Think of it as a white shell, over what is inside of it, and me painting is actually like scraping whitened shell off just breaking into it’s barrier, its core.”
Influenced by the music, vibes and art around him, Lord Huey creates pieces of art on the spot at different events. If there are certain colors or specific people around him, he uses them as inspiration to slowly shift the way his original idea was heading. To Lord Huey, music and art go hand in hand, which is why when he talks about art, he tries to find a way to incorporate music.
Lord Huey met artist Ceaux Young when he was in high school. He is one of the artists Lord Huey said has influenced him throughout the years.
“He was real deep, deeper to the passion like the craft itself,” Lord Huey said. “I don’t think I’d seen anyone else focus as much as him at the time. Just seeing how much he appreciated the art always made me want to get that appreciation towards it and pay attention to details.”
Recently Lord Huey has been busy with his work and traveling. He went to Atlanta last week and was recently in New Orleans attending an event, only to leave for Los Angeles the next day. The first time he had to travel was to Houston earlier this year for his first live painting gig.
“It’s becoming like a new thing, it is like an underground [movement], for a lot of pop up art shows,” Lord Huey said. “I been seeing it for about the last two to three years, where people just come to certain venues and paint for a certain amount of hours.”
Even though Lord Huey is stationed in Baton Rouge, he does most of his work in New Orleans, where he just primed a mural for rap group Made Grøceries for Ceaux to complete.
He said he isn’t affected when a mural is taken down or re-painted, but he habitually prepares himself for things like that. He said he feels that it is a part of the art, and that the world is ever changing.
“I want to be the master creator, a lot of people think I’m in it just for the art, that is just a small percentage of what I do.” Lord Huey said. “One of my bigger dreams is to design a hotel and a park, I want to be the guy that basically influences the new age, a creator in all aspects of the word.”

Gallery • 3 Photos

Javier Fernández

Lord Huey stands in front of his work on Tuesday, July 7, 2015 in DownTown Baton Rouge.