Just look for the large, stuffed toy alligator hanging out of the upstairs window. That’s what Dickie Eikcid says he might use as a signal to let passersby know his new gallery/working art studio is open for those that want to come up and look. Eikcid – a musician with several ensembles including Nancy and Two Meteors, DJ Dickie (self explanatory) and a music production specialist, has become the latest visual artist to hang out a shingle in downtown Roanoke.
Sounding a bit like Lenny Kravitz or even Jimi Hendrix perhaps, Eikcid calls his new space “Just Embrace Love Please,” the same name he used for his just-closed gallery at Happy’s Flea Market. (He will continue to do custom airbrushing on the weekends at the Williamson Road institution.)
Eikcid, a 25-year-old New Jersey native who moved to Botetourt County when he was five years old, said he took up painting as a visual artist just five years ago. He’s also done outdoor murals and employs several different media for his art, which often has a surrealistic quality. At his gallery opening (304B 1st Street, corner of 1st and Kirk Avenue, upstairs) Eikcid displayed drawings, paintings, even skateboard bodies that had been turned into works of art.
He still enjoys playing synthesizer, bass guitar, drums and the newly-learned trumpet, for groups like Nancy and Two Meteors, Audiomurder and True Noke, but Eikcid acknowledges that music is a “rough” industry for those looking to be commercially viable. Now, visual art has taken center stage in many ways.
“It’s always been a passion and part of who I am,” said Eikcid of his paintings. He points to surrealist Salvador Dali and “gonzo artist” Ralph Steadman as influences on his work. About a year ago Eikcid said he got “serious” about his art. “I really feel like putting something [noteworthy] on the earth.” Having someone own an artist’s work, “long after you are gone,” strikes him as profound and impactful. He took one art class in middle school; other than that “I do my own thing.”
It’s also been a year since Eikcid decided he wanted to make a living as a full time artist, and the Just Embrace Love Please gallery on 1st Street is the next step. You may have noticed the reed-thin, dreadlocked Eikcid, who has also been known to offer people bike rides with a local “pedi-cab” service. He’s a familiar face downtown and doesn’t mind chatting up strangers. “I just talk to people, tell them what I do – paint and have fun.”
Eikcid said he would even “pull people off the street” to come see his paintings and envisions the cavernous studio as an ideal performing arts space. He’ll branch out somewhat in October, painting a backdrop that will be used for a play at Studio Roanoke – a painting of Jesus he may use a model for.
“I just let it flow – whatever my hand wants to do,” said Eikcid as people came and went at his gallery opening night party. “I can’t make a mistake. I hang everything. I never have a piece I’m ashamed of. When I decide it’s done, its done. If you don’t like it that’s fine. [But] I always get really good response. I always just let it flow.” If you want to see Dickie Eikcid’s art, just look for that alligator hanging out of the window at 304B 1st Street. The new space “is just going to change everything,” he vows.
(See dickieeikcid.com for more information)
