Calgary artist unveils homage to Snoop Dogg

Calgary — Snoop Dogg is back in Calgary. Or at least a life-sized commissioned art piece of him, created by Calgary artist Tyler Lemermeyer, is.

Starting Friday, a seven-foot artist rendition of the famous rapper Snoop Dogg was installed at an unusual art gallery: a  Liquor Depot on Brentwood N.W.

Pictures and selfies are permitted - and expected.

The art piece was created and installed by local artist Tyler Lemermeyer​, who says a curator from Snoop's branding team chose three Canadian artists -  in Toronto, one in Vancouver and Lemermeyer here in Calgary - because of his style which the branding team thought was a great match of the sensibility presented by those brands.

“They just liked how my style has a playful and kind of a bold nature," Lemermeyer said, "which matches seamlessly with the brands of Snoop Dogg and 19 Crimes.”

Lemermeyer added that  the curator wanted to partner with different artists to have different interpretations of the celebrations of Snoop and 19 Crimes for this new wine.

“The company wanted to have different interpretations of the same kind of theme,” he said.

Fast turnaround

Lemermeyer said the company contacted him in the beginning of August and says that there was a fast turnaround from the idea, to the process to installation.

“I got final design approvals probably sometime around last week, since last Thursday I’ve just been building this nonstop for the whole week," he said.

He added that he was so excited to be a part of this project and he went through a lot of ideas and sketches trying to combine them - with an assist from his wife Melissa, who helped bounce ideas back and forth.

“The wine and the speakers, she coined the marriage of ideas.” He said. “She definitely helps me push the boundaries a little bit further.”

The art piece consists of abstract shapes which represent waves. The speakers are in the shape of grapes, which merge the two together. There's an image of a wine glass tipped over and spilling and a  larger than life interpretation of Snoop Dogg standing on a platform  the shape of t California. there's a couple hundred corks underneath - and of course the emblazoned trademark signature of Snoop Dogg.

19 Crimes is a California red wine, created in collaboration with Snoop Dogg. 19 Crimes is the first California wine produced by the Australian winemaker.

To see more of Lemermeyer’s art, go here or his Instagram page here.

The art piece is on display for a limited time at Liquor Depot Brentwood, 3630 Brentwood Road N.W.

19 Crimes wine can be found at your local Liquor Depot.