Derek Shields is an painter, designer and creative director, who originally hails from New York City’s historic legacy of world-renowned creativity, Harlem, but is now based in yet another hub of creativity, Los Angeles. 

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As a youth, Shields expressed his creative talents as a popular street graffiti artist and painter. Now, after over 25 years as a theatrical creative advertising executive, he has returned to traditional painting, with aluminum cans as his canvas.

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Shields says that he enjoys using a medium, such aluminum soft drink cans, because it allows him to upcycle commercial materials—to create something different and even more impactful.

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His current creative focus is on iconic historical figures, including:  Rosa Parks, David Bowie, Tupac, Biggie Smalls, James Baldwin, Harriet Tubman, Maya Angelou and Jimi Hendrix.  And it’s no surprise that among that list are several groundbreaking musicians, because Shields has also been a multidisciplinary performance artist—including as an invited artist to Santa Monica’s famed Highways Performance Space—who compellingly merges his visual arts gift with his original music acumen.

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His multidisciplinary work will be on display once again at Highways on October 11, with one of his multimedia music projects being screened, and his art exhibited in their Gallery.  Shields’ work is also shown in DTLA’s Monthly Art Walk.