For our latest round of Artist Series Bandanas, we’re partnering with four of the most exciting contemporary artists in the world to bring you a limited collection of timeless, wearable pieces. These beautiful and versatile bandanas can be admired on a wall or worn for protection against the elements, among a million other uses.

Devin Reynolds, one of four featured artists, grew up in Venice but now calls New Orleans home. The clash of cultures in both of these places mirror Devin’s upbringing, and his work is a reflection of that duality. What started as tagging graffiti on trains and anything else he could find, Reynolds’ art has evolved into a nostalgic look at this nation we live in.

Where are you from? When did you start creating art?
I was born at Santa Monica hospital and grew up around Venice and Marvista. I always doodled in class and had a short while in high school when I was painting surfboards a little bit. Me and my buddies would do these really bad ripoffs of the Lost surfboard graphics. Lost had these crazy paint jobs on their boards back then, it was all about skulls and flames, like the surfing version of the graphics on Hook Ups skateboards. That little chunk of time in high school was more just doing teenage shit that everyone does at one point or another. I didn’t really get into painting until 2017 or so when I was living in New Orleans.

How would you describe your artistic style?
I never really know how to answer this question and because I reference a lot of sign painting and murals my style shifts depending on what I’m painting. Sign painting and murals (pre street art/spray paint murals) tend to serve the specifics of the job rather than the style or hand of the artist. You see it throughout history, the hand or the style of the artist becomes what the artist is recognized for, not so much what they paint or how it affects people, but whether or not it’s easily recognizable.

How did 2020 impact your life? And your work?
2020 was weird. Huge valleys and peaks are the best way I could describe it. From crippling anxiety and depression, deaths and all kinds of crazy stuff to selling paintings and surfing, if I learned anything last year it was to just keep pushing. It’s easier said than done when your the one having success so I don’t want to sound like I’m on some corny, “everyone can do it if you work hard” stuff. I think I just got lucky and was doing the work at the right time this year and made some pretty big leaps with my art career. Out of the studio, I did get a pretty good look at what it means to live in a community after my partner and I left New Orleans this fall to come out to LA. I’ve got a lot of people that I love and respect in LA but if I had to drive to the front lines in a war situation I would be with my New Orleans peeps. There’s nothing like living in a community where you have 40 plus people in a square mile that you really know, nobody caring about new clothes and cars or credit scores, just hanging out on the same old rock pile by the train tracks drinking beers and talking shit.

Did quarantine/isolation/pandemic change your creative process at all? 
No shade to anyone else, but I saw a lot of people around me stop everything they were doing because of the quarantine. It really showed me that you just have to do the work no matter what. I had moments myself where I was really depressed or going through life stuff that made me pump the breaks for a little. In the end, I had a show coming up at Residency Gallery in August and Rick Garzon (The owner and director of the gallery) and I had a lot of back and forth on what to do because of the pandemic. I think some people might have taken a big pause but Rick really pushed me to keep my head down and get the work installed. Between him, so many friends in New Orleans that have supported me over the years, and my partner Savannah Levin, I’m not sure what my process in the studio would be like, I owe a lot to quite a few folks that have held me down.

When you look back on your work from this era, how will it make you feel?
Ask me in 20 years. Haha.

Have you ever made wearable art like these bandanas? What does it mean to you that people will use your art as PPE?
Damn, I haven’t thought about it too much. I’ll have to see what it feels like when I see someone with one on. I honestly struggle with my identity to fashion and more or less wear the same ratty clothes every day but I’m pumped if it makes people happy.

What can you tell us about the piece featured on the bandana in particular? What inspired it? How did you choose your palette?
I’ve just been really into this brown and blue combination for the last few months and been experimenting in some paintings with chain links. It just seemed like an interesting fit for the bandana pattern.

What did you learn this past year that you’ll put to good use in 2021?
Headphones. I’m not gonna plug the company whose headphones I bought, but I bought some nice ass headphones this year. Even though I haven’t been super productive in the studio after my move from New Orleans to Los Angeles, my headphones changed my studio experience a lot. And again having a solid community.

What’s next for you and your art?
Honestly, I have no clue. I have a couple of group shows coming up in the spring and then just keep it moving in the studio. Maybe one thing that’s next is listening to whole albums while I work and branching out into more genres of music.

How do you like working on a collaboration like this versus your own project? Any dream collaborations you’d like to tackle in the future?
It’s not something that I have sought after in the last few years, especially if we’re talking about working with another painter. Working with other painters isn’t really something I’m all that interested in but I would love to cross paths and do some work with other types of artists. An album cover would be a dream project.

You can get your hands on the Devin Reynolds edition of The Hundreds Artist Series Bandanas tonight at 9 PM PST on The Hundreds App and Online Shop.