ComplexCon made its return to Long Beach. The curated festival features hot fashion collaborations, celebrity guest appearances, and live performances. The two-day fair included unique consumer experiences from Adidas, CoinBase, Netflix, and Hypland. With performances from ASAP Rocky, Lil Yachty, and a Rihanna sighting. In addition, the event offers panel discussions, NFT battles, and other unique merch.
2021 marked Ford’s debut as an auto sponsor for ComplexCon. In addition to introducing their all-new 2022 electric hybrid truck, the Ford Maverick, they also brought in acclaimed artist David (Big Sleeps) Cavazos, known all over for his tattoo work and unique lettering style. Big Sleeps is a Los Angeles native from the Pico-Union area of L.A. Early in life, he fell victim to gang culture, spending time in juvenile hall, youth authority, and state prison. Nevertheless, Cavazos practiced and perfected his hieroglyphics style, which has evolved his lettering into another realm of self-expression in murals and painting.
Jill Munroe spoke with him about what it means to display his art and collaborate with Ford just a few miles south of where he grew up. For Cavazos, hope and inspiration weren’t something that was in abundance. However, he hopes that his story can serve as inspiration for kids coming up in similar circumstances. The last time he was featured at ComplexCon was about six years ago. Then it was for his tattoo work; now, it’s for his artwork. In that time, he’s had the opportunity to work with several world-renowned brands as his talents have shifted into the world of fine art.
Cavazos considers himself a Maverick and felt the unexpected collab was a great one to come together on because of Ford’s involvement in reaching into the community. He went on to explain, “the Make it with Maverick mantra fits me because I’m always trying to do it, trying to get it, build myself up into a brand -I own a clothing company, tattoo pigment, my gallery, constantly evolving. So working with Ford, it was an opportunity to do something special and bring it into a city with a brand that represents that too.”
Another new brand making its debut at ComplexCon was UPS. The event found a way to help you buy more stuff and not have to carry it around with you all day. As the official shipping partner, UPS set up four curated shipping stations throughout the venue. They also partnered with Kids of Immigrants, an LA-based, minority-owned fashion brand that used their ComplexCon space to feature 13 emerging minority-owned small businesses.
In an effort to inspire the next generation of small business owners, UPS gave each one of the 13 businesses a $5000 grant to help fuel their mission and success moving forward.
In addition to all that, there was the “First We Feast” lagoon that featured food from some of our favorite spots in L.A. including Sweet Chick,” “Milk Bar,” and “All Flavor No Grease.”
