Thursday, May 5th Art Soiree took its guests on a ONE NIGHT ONLY artistic tour of cities within a city, exploring DC’s diverse culture through seeing, feeling and tasting. The exclusive night of Intraurban Art took place at no better venue than CITIES, a chameleon of a new downtown restaurant. While our multimedia exhibit of Andrea Gagne’s photography, Nena Depaz’s artistry and Derrick Grissette’s music production took guests on a one of a kind adventure, eclectic and meticulously crafted menu inspired by various world cuisines further transported them to exotic and far away destinations. The evening also featured a special guest live performance by Yusef, presenting works from his soon to be released debut album “Jazz & the Joint Forces”. Soaking in the heart and soul of featured instrumentalists, Yusef aims to combine some of the many forces of jazz music while melding it with his very own flavor of hip hop.

Intraurban Art is a three way interpretation of culturally diverse moments in metropolitan life, through digital imagery, mixed media painting and music creation. Three artists took up their respective tools to individually translate specified moments. The result is a fantastic juxtaposition of unified, yet diverse photographs, paintings and beats.

During the venture, Andrea often carried away a stark, literal interpretation of subjects and, consequently, her photos are a strict study in composition, line, and form. Andrea Gagne, native of Washington DC, has had passion for the photography since she was a child. She thrives in capturing everyday “moments” as well as organic subject matter such as nature and landscapes. While working on this project and experimenting with unconventional shots, she was able to rediscover her passion for photography. Through capturing not only present form, but form’s moment and mood in a given context, Andrea aims at making her viewers feel the full meaning of the captured form.

On the other hand, Nena frequently felt the expressiveness of subjects. Hence, Nena’s paintings, through her use of an assortment of textures and saturated colors, are a materialization of the subject’s sentiment. An artist all her life, Nena Depaz’s art work diversely ranges from fine art to craft. Born in Montgomery County Maryland, she earned her Bachelor of Arts in Studio Art from Maryland University in 2001. Currently, her work tends to incorporate not only traditional mediums such as acrylics and pastels, but also a mix media of environmentally friendly objects such as recycled cardboard, eggshells, and natural grasses. Nena feels her inner sole is indebted to the act of creation, for her use of art throughout her life to emotionally cope and sooth hardship. Her work has been seen in Washington D.C., Maryland, and South Carolina through galleries and exhibitions. Also, Nena often donates her work to local animal rescues to raise money for animal charities.

Derrick’s music adds another layer to the project as he portrays the resonance of all the subjects through his music. Derrick Grissette, CEO and Producer for Free Kings Entertainment, has created music since elementary school, by first using a turntable and a mixer. Through dedication and hard work, he is now able to pursue his passion and produce music through a variety of music equipment on a daily basis. In his line of work, Derrick often collaborates with other local artists and producers. He has provided beats for a number of local venues, companies such as Under Armour and Up Against the Wall, as well as various comedy shows. His future endeavors involve putting the DMV on the music industry map through creating a blend of unique and worldly sounds.

Enter Yusef, a true son of the Queens, NY streets, was raised among the times, sounds and people of Hip Hop’s first golden era. Those New York City roots stick to the essence of his production, even after relocating to the DC area. If Yusef could describe his music, it would be in form of a love poem to life on those streets, to the people that dwell in similar circumstances, and to the fearlessness of generational icons such as Marvin Gaye, Malcolm X, James Brown and De La Soul to name a few. A part of Yusef’s genius is to take that known formula of hip hop and to combine it with elements of the new. Hidden between the beats are essences of jazz, house, drum and base, as well as the newer sounds that are being created now in the moment. At the heart of the matter, his music is an ode to the listener; to not only follow him on a journey, but to join in.