Seattle-based artists Moses Sun, and barry johnson, recently wrapped up their two-month tandem residency at The Understory. The public exhibit space, situated at the base of the Amazon Spheres, invited Moses and Barry to hold studio hours as part of Amazon's latest efforts to uplift the local arts community. Vivid Matter Collective Co-founder and Queen of Converge Takiyah Ward caught up with the duo to discuss their experience at Understory, their collaborative process, and the reception of their art.

"A lot of artists throughout history kind of work in caves. And a lot of people think about, particularly painting is like magic, because they're always wanting to get so close to it and say, like, 'how did you do that?' And to be able to be in this space daily, and get a couple 100 people that walk through Spheres, it's more than any show I've ever held in my life." He continued to say, "So it's great to be able to have work that I'm making [in] real time and to be able to have people from everywhere that kind of stumble into this place that are able to walk up and say, 'What are you doing?' 'Why are you doing it?' 'And can you tell me about like you?' " Said johnson

When asked what it's been like working together, Moses Sun said, "This time here with Barry has been very cool because Barry and I, are we're the art brothers." He continued to say, "We all came together [in] 2020 for the Black Lives Matter protests mural. And then we've just taken off ever since being within here in the Understory right below the Amazon spheres, where there's this living, breathing plants and people populating going in and out. Some people wander in here thinking they're going to the Amazon Spheres. And then they're delighted to see there's something going on here."

To learn more about Moses Sun and barry johnson, you can headover to mosessun.studio to learn more about Moses, visit barryjohnson.com to learn more about barry, and head over to VividMatterCollective.com to learn more about VMC.

Tune into #Back2Besa on FOX 13 Seattle for more interviews like this every Saturday at 10:30 pm, with a replay on Sundays at 10 am on FOX 13+

Photos taken by Seattle Photographer Breeze on behalf of Converge Media