July 6, 2003
AIRBRUSH ARTIST HAD TO WORK "2 FAST"
Author: CHRISTOPHER SANDERS, Special to The Herald
Edition: Final Section: Neighbors NC Page: 3NCChip Kaegi was relaxing in his airbrush studio when he received what he thought was a prank phone call. "The guy asked me did I air-brush, I said yes, and then he said he was with The Fast and the Furious movie and asked if I could meet with them,'' Kaegi recalled. "I said, 'Sure I can meet with you.' The guy told me he would call me back with the specifics. After I hung up the phone, my friend and I starting laughing and trying to figure out which of my friends was playing a prank on me.'' It was no prank. Within days of the call in October, Kaegi said, he was working on the custom paint jobs on all the silver Nissan Skylines used in the movie 2 Fast 2 Furious, which is now playing in theaters. The filmmakers told him they obtained his name from an inquiry they made at a local art supplies store and were eager for him to get started on the job. "They wanted! me to start that night, but I told them I had to buy materials and get my crew together,'' Kaegi said. After assembling crew and materials, Kaegi gave all five of the silver Skylines used in the film their sporty paint jobs. "They need multiple cars so when they scratch one or wreck one, they have another waiting to replace it,'' Kaegi said in an interview at his North Miami-Dade studio. "They kept bringing them back to me wrecked and so I found myself having to touch them up and repaint parts constantly.'' Kaegi and his team airbrushed the Skylines with blue metallic stripes running the length of the car that began light and grew darker toward the back. The Skylines that Kaegi worked on were driven by 2 Fast 2 Furious star Paul Walker. Satisfied with Kaegi's work and finding themselves one detailed Honda S2000 short of the five they needed, the filmmakers once again called on his talents. They asked him to detail a fifth car to appear exactly like the four they already had. "It was an emergency an d they called me because the guy who originally did it was in California. They asked me if I could match his work and I said sure. They asked if I could match it in less than 24 hours and I said sure,'' Kaegi said with a laugh. Under considerable pressure, Kaegi was able to reproduce the Japanese animated character that appears on the door paneling of the pink S2000 driven by actress Devon Aoki. He did it with such accuracy that there was no noticeable difference. The filmmakers also used Kaegi's talents to give all the cars used in the movie's demolition scene their look. "Some of them just had numbers on them, some had flames, some had water splashes. It just really depended on what actor was driving the car,'' he said. Kaegi also did touch-up work on the Mitsubishi Eclipse Spyder driven by actor and R&B star Tyrese. A piece of the car's paneling hangs on the wall of Kaegi's studio. Kaegi, who was born and raised in North Miami-Dade, sees his work in 2 Fast 2 Furious as a way to showcase and promote his artistic work. "I'm starting to do a lot more underwater canvases,'' he said, pointing to a serene underwater depiction of boldly colored fish against a brilliant blue sea that is displayed in his modest studio at 20340 NE 15th Ct. off Ives Dairy Road. ``It's like having a fish tank on your wall without ever having to feed them or clean their tank.'' Kaegi creates the images using acrylic on canvas and adding a clear varnish for durability. "My stuff is very brilliant and that doesn't fit in every home or every office. But black-and-white with just a touch of color, that's more versatile, it's classy and artistic,'' he said. Kaegi has been painting since he was a student at Hibiscus Elementary School in North Miami-Dade and took up airbrushing and hand-painting while attending Miami Norland High. He spent a year at the Art Institute of Fort Lauderdale but feels he learned more about art outside the classroom. Despite his love for art, it was a while before Kaegi took up painting full time. He said he did everything from cleaning pools to driving limousines to supplement his income from freelance airbrushing jobs and painting murals in Weston. Then, in 1999, he decided to devote himself to art. Kaegi counts 2002 as his best year as an artist and he anticipates this year will be even better. He has been in art shows in Key West, Fort Lauderdale and Coral Gables that were "pretty successful'' in getting him acquainted with the art scene and in selling some of his work. "I have a feeling that this year is going to blow last year completely away,'' he said. NORTH MIAMI-DADE Copyright (c) 2003 The Miami Herald |