Zack Federbush & Kiaam James

A reception will be held on Friday, 8/21 from 5:30-7:30pm Zachary (Zach) Eric Federbush and Kiaam Kalief (Kiza Wiza) are showing their unique artwork at the Cunneen-Hackett Art Center, 12 Vassar Street in Poughkeepsie now through September.Zack was born in Manhattan and grew up in Greenwich, CT, but went to high school in Poughkeepsie. Wild and creative, Zack has been making art since he was young, but got serious during the end of high school and majored in art in college. He is now living in Savannah getting his Masters of Fine Arts in Painting at Savannah College of Art and Design. He is known to have a wild imagination and always constantly creating things. Zack works mostly in acrylic and oil and also has done a lot of drawings. He has participated in several shows in Savannah, Poughkeepsie, and New York City.Zach says about his creative process, “When I was younger as an only child, I was alone a lot. So that I would not get bored, I had to create my own imaginary friends. I always gave them interesting features, and unique personalities, so that they would be fun to be with. As I got older, my imaginary friends ceased, however I did keep creating characters in my paintings and thinking of them as my friends. Any character that I made whether in a large portrait or small within a scene have a name and personality. So some of those paintings are of imaginary childhood friends and some are my real friends now, they are all done with a childlike wonder which for me has never gone away.”Kiaam Kalief (Kiza Wiza) raps, dances, writes comic books and poetry, designs clothes and paints. He explains his name, “Wiza is like, he’s all of the inspiration. He’s the giant of all the things I can do. He has no limits, he has no failures. WizaWorld is my inspiration. And Kiza is just like me.” Kiaam studied art in college, specializing in oil and watercolor and started writing “to explain what I was drawing.” He came to Poughkeepsie in 1994 with his ailing mother who died in April, 2004. “Everything I do is gonna be dedicated to my mother, you know? She wanted to see this more than anything. I’m just anxious to get up there and show them, they’re not gonna know what is gonna hit them.”Place: CHAC, 12 Vassar St.,Poughkeepsie, NY