An @aj5s Origin Story

When not part of making TV and movie magic in and around NYC as an on-set Prop for Film/Television, Curtis is playing out creative scenarios inspired by every day life, cultures upon growing cultures, word playing at reference - you name it. Discovery and exploration are key elements - finding that buried treasure feeling through seeing something different - be it triggered by mood, knowledge, experience of the day, or learning while seeing.

Primarily hand-drawn digital works often translated onto paper, into animation and onto clothes. I marvel at the body as the original human environment. I draw from sound, the agent 5 sharing agent 5 show, “more to see in everything”, a history in skateboarding, internet radio, histories of collaboration, bike rides, fashion, and music.

Curtis Oliveira grew up in Houston’s skateboarding and music culture scenes of the 1990’s. At that time they became involved in street/public art, as well as collective/collaborative environment and installation work as Agent 5. Curtis earned a BFA from The School of The Art Institute of Chicago with a focus in sound and sculpture. He contributed to the establishment of freeradiosaic.org while attending SAIC. This would mark the origin of the Agent 5 sharing Agent 5 show. Midway through attending SAIC, along side collaborator, Danny Kerschen, they rode bicycles from Chicago to Portland Oregon. A pivotal life experience.

Post SAIC, back in Houston, Curtis continued the passion for environments and the body via designing clothes through remixing and sampling techniques. They contributed collectively as a founding member of the artist/community space, Bill Hicks Resurrection Laboratory. Curtis then attended an artist residency at 4/5ths Gallery in Breckenridge Colorado. He ultimately relocated to New York City where he worked as a prop stylist and fabricator for film and television and collaboratively with a variety of artists.

In the past decade, all life experiences funneled into a focus on hand-drawn digital artworks, a summation akin to sculptural and aerosol technique as well as the love for hidden imagery in everyday life presented through a versatile medium by way of a common thread, storytelling.

Ongoing collaborations include @aj5s of @jfjlive available on youtube and more recently as a sight-specific interactive installation work. Aj5s is also the visual director of Ice Cream, a music project. Curtis is an active union member of IATSE local 52 primarily working on-set in the property department for film and television. They are based out of Brooklyn, New York and upstate New York.