Urban Digitz, Ohio
Member Since May 2007
Artist Statement What is Urban Digitz?
URBAN
speaks of the culture incorporated into each body of work. The eclectic nature of what is behind each piece. The many remnants of heritage borrowed and woven through layer by layer. It enlightens and educates us on the positive aspect of cultures and sub-cultures, ideas and themes, people and places, hopes and dreams.
DIGITZ
refers to the enormous amount of digital artwork and technology used to create a certain body of work. The traditional medium rendered in digital form and re-rendered in an unpredictable, un-controlled fashion.
Mercé Culp is a designer, native to Toledo, Ohio who's work spans digital art, fashion, graphic design, public art and traditional media. She currently owns UrbanDigitz Arts Studio. With her bachelor degree in fine arts, she illustrates and constructs custom fashions and accessories, styling models, brides and musicians for their "Big Day". She also creates custom artwork for individuals, creating brands for upcoming campaigns and business identities. Mercé's vector style is a great asset she possesses that allows versatility of imagery. This "vector-edge" can present itself as highly professional for corporate clients or a precise drawing aesthetic that creates clean symmetry for custom textiles. The presence of vector graphics allows for limitless replication of her original drawings that later enter a mix of unpredictable traditional art forms that now occupy many canvases. Backstage, she is a hair and makeup designer for fashion runways, actors/actresses, and dancers of local shows. As a Bowling Green State University alumna, she uses her design skills and metal-smithing to create wearable art, and exhibits in many art shows, such as, one of her favorites, The Arts Commission’s “Artomatic 419!.” Exhibitions include paintings, mixed media, live (matching) models from her work, live and interactive drawing, etc. Often, Mercé exhibits with her family of artists made up of photography, culinary arts, vocal performances and dance. Together, they want to bring inspiration to the community and have a hand in efforts to make Artomatic 419! a big success.
Mercé’s art exceeds her local reach with 2 traveling and permanent displays in the Brooklyn, New York Art Library, a sketchbook called "Happy Thoughts" and a miniature mixed media replica of her unpublished urban fairytale, “Lil’ Red Rydin’-N-Tha Hood”. Many of these sketches end-up as wearable, functional artwork like repeating patterns in her custom textiles or free-hand drawings on skirts, shirts, and shoes. She believes that art should always inspire and what better way to express inspiration than through fashion. One of her main artistic passions is mixed media. The mixture of media becomes a mirror of her desire to see more diversity in the Toledo Arts scene. The mixture of media is not simply a marriage of paint, paper, metal, etc. She uses this to highlight and educate others about other cultures’ expression of art and their influence on us.
Recently, Mercé spent 2 weeks as an artist in residence exhibiting artwork in Israel. Along with10 other American artist applicants selected from the States, she joined the Western Galilee Partnership2Gether to work with Israeli artists and experience their culture through art. Her experience there led to a deeper understanding of how universal art really is and how it can be used to unite a community even across the world. The Partnership2Gether group was created to allow for easy communication between members of Jewish Federations in the U.S., its community members, the Partnership’s Israeli and Hungarian partners who are or have been involved with Partnership2Gether-Western Galilee programming and information. The Partnership provides opportunities for communication on programs, coordinating marketing efforts, finding home hospitality for visitors, including artists in residence and anything that would enhance the growth and experiences related to Partnership2Geth
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