- I think the most important step in changing
the negativity around you,
is to stop playing the victim.
Take advantage of the many options that we have here
to become whatever we want to become.
(slow emotional music)
I love lowriders because as a kid,
I used to have a neighbor that had a '63 Impala
'76 Glasshouse and I'd help him wash it
and he'd be so proud of it, go cruisin'.
Fun guy to hang around with and he had a bunch of girls, so.
(laughs)
(upbeat music)
I have a 1964 Chevy Impala Hardtop.
It's a sky blue in color, original interior.
It's sitting on fourteen by seven
Zenith wire wheels.
It's lifted, with four batteries, two dumps.
It's got a 350 motor with a Powerglide.
Originally, it was featured in Lowrider Magazine.
It was fully restored.
It's what you call a daily cruiser
because it's set up to get up, turn on
and go for a cruise and enjoy a nice drive.
I also have a silver 1960 Impala convertible.
It was a project car, it had a little bit of rust.
The interior was shot, replace the whole undercarriage.
Basically do the whole car all over again.
It's taken me about 11 years to restore.
Sometimes it's a little bit of a headache
trying to find the right person to work on it.
It's been a long, long time coming,
and I'm finally excited to see it at this stage.
I was born in the state of San Luis Potosi,
which is Central Mexico.
I was born in an adobe house
with tin roof and dirt floor.
Things got a little tough for my mom to support us.
I think I was like, eight, or seven,
when she decided to bring myself and my other brother.
I remember we went to the coyotas house,
and late at night, they came and picked us up,
and we had to sneak across and go through a tunnel.
They brought us to ...
We ended up in Compton, at first, and that was where
I first saw my dad.
I think my dad is a great man, and he's an honest,
trustworthy, hardworking, intelligent man.
Being that my dad had that problem with
alcoholism, and coming home
and doing what he did,
it kind of pushed the boys away.
Being that I was the oldest, I think,
I felt it was more my responsibility to set an example
and try to help them out.
When you live in an area, like South Central,
with those types of surroundings,
you learn to put up a front.
You put up a wall.
You learn not to back down and defend yourself.
My little brother, he was a good kid.
He was second youngest, good heart, took care of my mom.
And he went out and got some mail for my mom.
Then he went to a friend's house.
It got a little late.
I think they went into a store.
They got into an argument and they left the store.
They went to that friend's house and he was sitting
with his back to the window and somebody shot him.
That friend said that he told his friend
to take care of his mom.
I was 24 years old at the time.
He was 15 when he got killed.
He was an up-and-coming artist as well.
He had a bright future ahead of him
and it was just taken from him, just like that.
It's just a lot of anger and things you don't understand.
You just, all you think about is getting back.
I needed to do something and take my head off of it.
I went to LA Trade Tech and just like that
all that negativity started turning positive.
My father always told me that artists die broke
and artists don't make any money.
Their artwork makes money after they're gone.
But I knew that I enjoyed just getting into it
and seeing what I could do with a pencil,
and likewise, on a wall.
The graffiti, the Djing, rapping, breakdancing.
It was fairly new.
It was a time where you had hiphop.
It was an escape from reality I think.
And it gave us a sort of freedom from
all the issues and problems that we had.
(upbeat music)
I'm Abel, I'm the artist behind OGAbel Collection.
OGAbel is a lifestyle brand. We do accessories,
we do from wallets, to belts, to hats.
A brand that's well known throughout the world:
Canada, Australia,
Europe, South America.
I've collaborated with a big brand, and we just did
a licensing deal with the Rockstar Games,
so you can actually play Grand Theft Auto,
and add some of my tattoos to your character.
I've collaborated with Coca-Cola, with Sony,
with commercials, with Sprite, done shoes,
and we've sold hundreds and thousands of shoes.
And we have a pretty good following and people
that look forward to seeing the new designs
that we come up with.
(upbeat hiphop music)
To describe my art, it's actually a little edgy.
You got to relate to a struggle,
to something that moves you.
Something that somewhat offends you,
something that makes you happy.
I think, with all of my art, there's a balance.
What I value the most is the opportunity
to share with people my art.
What inspires me
is life,
things that have gone on in my past.
I get hit with an image, I see it in my head already done.
So what I do is actually like a printer.
Ideas come at me and I just print them with my hand.
The creative process from concept to completion
is somewhat different from one piece of art,
or one idea, to the other.
What I do is I jot it down, even if it's a quick thumbnail.
Once it's in my sketchbook, I can never forget it.
As soon as I look at 'em, I know exactly
what I was thinking and where I can go from there.
What makes us different and separates us
from other companies is that my heart and soul
goes into every design.
I care about my art, how my artwork looks,
and the quality of it.
It's more about creating a following as a person,
it's more personable.
That's what separates us from most other companies.
There's a reason why so many people choose
to migrate to the U.S. is because it's known
as the land of opportunity.
Being brought here to the U.S., I didn't like it,
I wanted to go back.
But, everything that I've done,
and everything that I've gone through.
It wouldn't ever been possible if had I stayed,
or had I been left behind.
I'm thankful for my mom to have made that decision
a very long time ago.
Some people look at lowrider owners as gangsters
or cholos, or ...
It's something that's worldwide.
There's lowriders in South America, Australia,
Europe, all over the world.
It depends on what you love to do.
I like to draw.
Some people, their passion, is restoring cars.
It's as if they were artists
and they're working on their masterpiece.
What you have at the end, is their work of art.
So it's probably the equivalent of what I do
when I draw or when I paint.
I love life, I love traveling,
I love experiencing new things, I love building.
Like I've done all my life, roll with the punches
and just go with the flow and have fun.
I think that's what life is all about.
My name is OGAbel, I'm an artist.
And I'm a Lowrider Roll Model.