Darius B’Alexander is one of downtown San Jose’s most visible street artists. You’ll find him at SubZERO Festivals, SoFA Street Fairs, art gallery openings, South First Fridays Art Walks, and on the VTA buses that he takes to work. B’Alexander looks larger than life because he’s a big man and wears the clothes of time travelers and adventurers. He’s from a family of artists and adventurers who have lived and worked around the world—B’Alexander’s mother teaches pottery, and his artist father worked for UNESCO and entertained his family with his hand-drawn cartoons and storytelling. Although B’Alexander was born in San Jose, he was raised in Trinidad and Tobago. He finished high school in Santa Cruz and studied art at Cabrillo College. He’s been folding paper since he was eight years old. After discovering the magician Harry Houdini’s book Houdini’s Paper Magic, B’Alexander began making more complicated origami forms. Today he teaches laser cutting at the School of Visual Philosophy. His art practice is yarn bombing, origami corrugations, and the paper constructions that he calls “sticker critters.”

“I just like making things and giving them to people and making them smile. Yarn bombing makes people do a double take and then smile. The paper folding? It just amazes people when you make a bracelet out of paper that squishes down into a flat piece that fits around their wrist. I like making and giving the sticker critters to kids and making them smile. It’s an interesting way to meet people.”

Written by Diane Solomon