Andrew Pommier
Andrew Pommier’s work is a mixture of the cute and the “it’s funny because it is
sad.” It’s work that speaks about the outsider: a lone figure that has chosen to
remove himself from the day-to-day, by outwardly displaying his inner thoughts of
detachment and singularity. People that spend their days in costumes that once
made sense in their lives, as if mascots for disbanded sports teams, now refusing
to return the outfits and no longer sure how to live without them.
Pommier uses very graphic inspired techniques. Bold lines, which are informed by
a youth spent watching cartoons and reading comic books. Pommier mines the
world of his youth much like the Japanese artists Yoshimoto Nara and Aya
Takano but he also finds inspiration in classic works such as Manet’s “The Fifer”
and his Beggar-Philosopher series.
Most of his creative output begins within the pages of a sketchbook. In the past
few years he has started to introduce more drawing elements into both his
watercolors and also in his larger paintings. The pencil line within the completed
pieces translates an energy and an honesty of construction. The viewer can see
the process involved in getting to a completed painting and this is laid bare in his
recent work.
Pommier has crissed crossed from commercial work for such companies as Virgin
Mobile and Toy Machine Skateboards to the gallery world were he has shown in
far afield places such as Australia and Germany to much closer locations such as
Toronto and Denver as well as LA and New York.
For almost three years Andrew Pommier has found himself living and working on
the west coast of Canada. He moved to the west coast for no other reason that
he needed a change of scenery after living in Toronto his home after graduating in
1996 from the Ontario College of Art and Design.
Andy Mueller (b. 1971) Los Angeles
Andy Mueller was raised in the midwest on a healthy diet of BMX, skateboarding,
music and magazines. At an early age, Andy became addicted to the art of image
making and photo taking. In 1993, Mueller founded OhioGirl, a small
design/photo/film studio. After relocating to Chicago in 1994, OhioGirl's client list
grew to include companies like Burton Snowboards, RCA Records, Capitol
Records, Jade Tree and Thrill Jockey Records. In 1999, Andy relocated again, this
time to California to become art director for Girl Skateboard's new shoe
company, Lakai Limited Footwear.
Andy continues to work full time for Girl Skateboards/Lakai Limited Footwear
and is a member of the infamous Art Dump. In his free time he continues to do
freelance projects under the name OhioGirl, runs a t-shirt line called The Quiet
Life, and is spending more and more time on his personal photography and art
work. Much of Mueller’s work has appeared in graphic design annuals and design
books, as well as aired on MTV, and published in numerous magazines; he has also
shown his artwork in the U.S., Europe, U.S.Japan, Australia, and Canada.
Andy Mueller currently lives in Los Angeles with his wife, son, two cats, a bird and
a ping pong habit.
Angela Boatwright
Hailing from Columbus, Ohio where she attended the same high school as Patrick
O’Dell, Angela moved to New York City in June of 1993 to follow her dreams to
become a photographer. Fast-forward thirteen years and Angela is now blissfully
devoid of free time and has shot for almost every reputable magazine in the rack,
from "Nylon" to "Vibe" to "Guitar World" to "W." She then took a turn
as a photo editor herself at "Mass Appeal."
Not content with just one full-time job, she kept moonlighting, getting a multi-
page feature in "Arktip" and shooting an ad campaign for the Truth antitobacco campaign that allowed her to work with several of her favorite graffiti artists like Espo and Dave Kinsey. She then went from being the photo
editor at "Mass Appeal" to their Special Projects Editor, which means that she
contributes story ideas, finds writers, pitches stories, and has input in every
aspect of the magazine short of the paper it's printed on.
While she's been involved with "Mass Appeal" for an impressive 9 years
altogether, she continues to freelance commercially. She's also shown her work
all over the globe, from Texas to Tokyo. "Sorcerers," a collection of metal-
related photos, debuted in L.A. in March of 2006, and was featured in the
magazine "Dazed and Confused." Part of that show continued on to Max
Fish in June, and was shown alongside photos from fellow esteemed NYC
photographer Patrick O'Dell. The whole collection then crossed the ocean in
August for a show at the 96 Gillespie Gallery in London.
To fill the odd moments between working for clients, Angela created her own
company to work for; Killer of Giants which allows her to showcase her work
with “Mass Appeal” as well as art shows she curates and produces as well as
other projects that she creative directs.
Blaine Fontana
Born in Seattle, WA and raised on Bainbridge Is. (a small and private artistic
community west of Seattle), Blaine began his interest in art at a young age. Always
encouraged to use his imagination, he continued to study and practice the arts
whenever available. During his teens he commuted to two High Schools in order
to study graphic design, photography, sculpture and life drawing. After graduating
in 1994, he pursued his education of life in the streets of Seattle and Portland as a
Writer (Graffiti Artist).
After about 4 years of being in and out of towns and community colleges, Blaine
and his younger brother decided to put their talents in the professional arena.
Both choose to attend Otis College of Art and Design in Los Angeles. Four years
later Blaine left with a BFA in Communication Art/Design at the top of his class
with the “Best in Show” award that is presented upon Graduation in 2002. During
School he worked as an Art Director at a cutting edge design firm (Abound LLC.)
and also as an Art Director at a Fashion/Lifestyle Magazine (Metro.Pop). Recently
Blaine had worked as an Art Director at a young men’s apparel company
(Drifter), but in January of 2003 he decided to leave the 9-5 world and be self-
employed as a fine artist and designer. Since then he hasn’t looked back. Blaine
has been doing paintings, licensing, graphics and shows for Lineage Gallery,
Limited Addiction Gallery, Scribble Theory, Upper Playground, Don O’Melveny
Gallery, Pr1mary Space, The Lab 101, Distinction Gallery, Keep A Breast, Pacific
Sunwear, Ocean Pacific, Sessions, SCION Installation Art Tour, KID ROBOT,
NIKE, Ubiquity Recordings, LRG, Volcom, Metro.Pop, Liquid Force, FLIP, FELT
racing & Morey Boards. He keeps busy with commissioned paintings and is
represented in numerous galleries across the United States.
Currently Blaine relocated back to Bainbridge Island, WA USA after living in
Long Beach, CA for 10 years with his creative partner and girlfriend Eugenie
Jolivett, a photographer and designer along with his dogs “Zeus” & "Athena" as a
full time fine artist and designer. He shows frequently all across America and
keeps busy with commissioned paintings, and high profile company licensing of his
artwork and design.
Blek le Rat
Xavier Prou aka Blek Le Rat
Born on the 15th November 1951. Paris France.
Live and work in Paris, France.
1971-1976 Studied Etching, Lithography and Painting at the “Ecole nationale
superieure des Beaux-arts de Paris”.
1976-1982 Studied Architecture at “United pedagogiqued’architecture No6”
Paris, France.
From 1981 to 2005 his work has focused on urban art in different cities of the
world. He is the pioneer of stencil graffiti art, introducing the technique into
graffiti in Paris in 1081 and now followed by many artists across the world. He
introduced to the urban art landscape the concept of creating life size figures of
people.
Selected Exhibitions
1985
-Pierre Lescot Gallery, Paris, France “Les artistes au telephone”
-Saint Claude Gallery, Paris, Frnace “Peinture Sauvage”
-Fresco in the University of Nanterre Paris, France
-National center of contemporary art of Paris Gallery, “Affiches detrounees”
-French Ministry of culture “Frescoes on walls”
1986
-Agnes B Gallery, Paris, France. “Pochoirs”
-Ministry of culture, Saint Quentin, France. “Emotion”
-Peuple et culture, Tulle, France “Stencil graffiti in Tulle”
-Forum of Rock, Montreuil, France
-Frasso Telessino, Napoli, Italy.
-Palais des Papes, Avignon, France “In between out”
-CNAP, Nice, France “Verbes d’Etats”
-Gallery Loft, Paris, France “Group Show”
-Jean Marc Patras Gallery, Paris, France. “Urban art show”
-Transmusicales de Rennes FNAC, Rennes, France.
1987
-Gallery Loft, Paris
-L’autre rive Gallery, Paris France “International museum of graf”
-French Institude of Oslo and Stockholm.
-Salon du Livre Saint – Etienne, France “Performance”
-Gallery Loft, Paris
1988
-Graffiti the Christ in NYC
-French Institute of Napoli, Italy. “Graffiti in the street, exhibition in the Institute”
-La Villette, Paris, “Histoire des Rockers”
-French Institute of Mainz, Germany. “Exhibition”
-Nuit du Palace, Le Palace, Paris, France. “Performance”
-Lara Vinci Gallery, Paris “Shadow and Light”
-T-shirt for Kenzo
1989
-French Institure of Marrakech, Maroco. “Les rencontres de Marrakech”
-Kunstverein Wiesbaden, Germany, “And der wand”
-Kunstverein Heildelberg, German. “Schablonen Graffiti”
-Gemeentemuseum Helmond, Nederland “Schablonen Graffiti”
-Palais des Festivals Cannes, France. “Exposition Biennale”
-Hotel de ville Buffemont, Val d’Oise, France. “Art Urbain”
-Huber Volker gallery Lisboa Portugal
1990
-Christophe Gallery, Avenue Matignon, Paris “Permanent exhibition”
-Parick Riquelme Gallery, Vannes France
1991
-Takarashi Gallery, Tokyo, “Blek le rat From Paris to Tokyo”
-Christophe Gallery, Avenue Matignon, Paris “Stencils on wood”
-Salon de l’Ephemere Ville de Fontenay sous bois France.
-Ephemere gallery, Leipzig, Germany “Exhibition Schabonen graffiti Blek le rat”
-Globus Gallery, Leipzig, Germany “Street art”
-University of Leipzig, Germany.
-Concert hall of Elysee Montmartre France “Performance”
1992
-Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, France, “Lart vif, la revue parlee
-Espace Carnot, Lille, France “L’art vif”
-Creusot museum, France “Un regard sur l’art”
-Espace Belleville CFDT, Paris “Fin de Millenaire”
-Le Cailar Gallery le Cailar France “graffiti in cavern”
1993
-Paul Ricard Gallery castle Paul Ricard, France “graffiti in the castle”
-Arnaud Brument Gallery Paris France “La belle et la bete”
1994
-After being arrested by the police in Paris fro graffiti, Blek stopped working
in galleries and began creating exhibitions in the streets up until 2002. In
direct opposition to the confines of the establishment.
-1000 self portrait on posters in serigraphy were pasted up in the streets of Paris. 1995
-1000 varied posters in serigraphy were pasted up in the streets of Paris. 1997
-500 posters in serigraphy were pasted up in Napoli, Itally. 1998
-500 posters printed in serigraphy were pasted up in Leipzig, Germany. 2000
-100 posters printed in serigraphy were pasted up in Barcelona, Spain. 2001
-French institute of Maroco Volubilis – 100 posters stencil on paper were pated up in the archeological site of Volubilis.
2002
-Urban Art Gallery Berlin “Blek was here” first exhibition since 1993
-Workshop in Kokerei Essen Germany.
-Exhibition at the Teitschule with Lee Quineones (USA) Bern, Switzaerland.
Blek shows his work in the streets of cities like Buenos Aires, Argentina, London,
England, Paris, France, Berlin, Germany, Florence, Italy, Madrid, Spain, Prague,
Czech Republic, New York, USA.
Literature
1985 Conte Richard “L’ordre du graffiti” ed Tribu, France
1986 Deville et Masee “vite fait bien fait” ed Alternatives, France
1985 Denys Ryout “Le livre du Graffiti” ed Alternative, France
1986 Huber “Paris Graffiti” ed Thames and Hudson, England
1987 Mattei “Pochoirs a la une” ed Parrallele, France
1989 Stahl “And der wand” ed Dumont, Germany
1991 Tessier “Paris art libre dans la ville” ed Herscher Paris, France
1995 Bernhard van Treeck “Die Graffiti Lexikon” ed Schwarzkopf und
Schwarzkopf, Berlin Germany
Books llll
One thing about BooksIIII is that he does not like writing of himself in third
person or over sensationalizing his position. Therefore, my greatest influence
over the years has been my family’s history and collections. As more and more of
my family members die, more pictures, art, scrapbooks, and vintage books /
periodicals are sent my way. There is nothing more important to me than to be
surrounded by my family’s vast history.
Never the less, graffiti is a huge influence, but what has become my greatest
interest are the most rotten get ups, beautiful hand styles, and the aging process.
The layering the streets attain reminds me of my grandmother’s scrap booking
and these simple methods are what I have taken for myself as style.
The greatest project I have embarked on has been Blackbooks, A contemporary
laser fabrication company that is partnered up with Andrew Black. Blackbooks
has recently become represented artists over at Miami’s infamous Spinello
Gallery. Through this outlet, Black and myself showcase our private works and
installations. This year’s submission for scion installation 4 is heavily based on the
beauties of the hand style and is a direct influence from our work together as
Blackbooks.
For more info :
www.blackbookstencils.com
www.spinellogallery.com
Caia Koopman
Caia Koopman was born in 1968 and raised in Livermore, California, just
outside San Francisco. She majored in fine art and earned a B.A. at UCSC in
Santa Cruz, California. While in Santa Cruz she was seduced by the local
skateboarding scene and rounded out her formal education by skating ramps,
street, pools and Derby Park. She instinctively started creating skateboard
graphics and soon became equally entranced with snowboarding. Her interest
in board-sports and the art the flourishes in and around these scenes
inspired her to strive for a career creating snowboard graphics. She has
become not only a successful commercial artist but also a fine artist. Caia
explains her addiction to art, "I've always been an artist-as a kid I would
draw to escape, to travel, to explore...and I still do"
Her artwork has been featured in numerous national and international print
media including Surfing Girl, Mademoiselle, Details, Girls' Life,
Snowboarder Magazine, Teen, Teen Style, Teen people, J-14, Fine and others.
Caia has also been featured on MTV, "mtv sports" as an athlete/artist for
her snowboarding and painting. She has shown her paintings in a number of
galleries around the world and most recently at La Luz de Jesus in L.A. She
is currently working as a freelance illustrator and painter in Oceanside,
California. There's a political and environmental undercurrent in much of
her work, she is an environmentalist at heart so she often paints an
interaction between humans, flora and fauna. Caia is inspired by color,
dreams, politics, and life.
For more information: http://www.caiakoopman.com
Chris Yormick
Chris Yormick lives and works in New York City. Growing up, he bounced
around coasts and settled his teen years outside of Washington D.C. In the
nations capitol is where he cut his teeth on an unhealthy diet of skateboarding,
graffiti, and harDCore music. A self taught artist and designer, he was also the art
director for Skateboarder Magazine, éS skateboard footwear and worked for such
clients as Def Jam and Comme De Garcons. The past four years Chris has
weaned away from design and concentrated his time purely on art away from the
computer. Chris has shown his work across the globe and is constantly working
in ways to expand his vision and voice in the art world.
www.chrisyormick.com
Cody Hudson
Cody Hudson, who works under the name Struggle Inc., is a Chicago based
commercial artist and painter. He is known for work that has a bold, organic and
modern feel to it. He has worked on everything from skateboard graphics to
national billboard campaigns to mixtape covers. His paintings have been exhibited
throughout the US, Europe & Japan. He enjoys ice fishing, sleeping, reading and
things made of wood.
www.struggleinc.com
Dalek
For many artists, inspiration comes from experiences they had when they were
young children. For DALEK, these experiences were nothing short of
traumatic. “When I was in second grade, these workers were building a deck
on the back of our house. There were lots of wooden stakes being used as
markers with very sharp points. I saw the workers throwing lots of wood out
of the back of their truck. Being a kid, I tried to imitate them. But I
was a dumb kid and I threw one of the wooden stakes straight up in the air.
It came down and planted its self right in my skull. It did a good job of
sitting in there for a few seconds. It bled a lot and was a very messy
scene. My mom was pretty stressed.”
This painful experience could have something to do with the amount of
decapitations and puncture wounds often present in DALEK’s Space Monkey
pieces. These creatures have become a calling card for the artist, and
continue to evolve in scope. “The Space Monkeys are human representations
for me. They are self-portraits in a lot of ways, and also portraits of
humanity. They are floating in nothingness. I didn’t want it to be a
cartoon strip, like a Space Monkey in a house, then a Space Monkey in a car,
so I avoided all of that. I didn’t want to develop scenery like a house and
trees. Once you put Space Monkeys in that kind of context it looses any
kind of fine art quality to me.”
Somewhere between head injuries and Space Monkeys, DALEK found time to
become a respected graffiti artist and work extensively in the skateboard
industry. As for his future with the Space Monkeys, nothing is certain.
“That’s kind of the beauty of it. I don’t have a clue. They always
transform rapidly from me drawing the same thing repeatedly. They switch up
in undetermined ways. Where it goes depends on a lot of things, but as long
as people are interested in seeing them I’ll be able to pursue them, grow
them out and work with them. Obviously, I would love to be 90 years old and
cranking out some form of the Space Monkeys.”
www.dalekart.com
David Choe
David Choe is one of the most diverse and prolific artists working today. He is
one of the youngest artists to ever have solo show at the MOCA. He has had his
art shown on every surface from canvases to human bodies to third world ,war
torn walls, it can be found in every facet of society, from fancy galleries,
museums, t-shirts, shoes, movies, billboards, cars, murals, buildings, from New
York City to the Congo, Africa to everywhere in between.
David has spoken and lectured at Princeton, DUKE, Dartmouth and other art
colleges, he works in every medium, and can paint anything and everything as well
as on anything and everything. He has designed and created fine art, murals, movie
sets, movie posters, album covers, shoes, t-shirts, toys, calendars, commercials,
cars, magazines, books, illustrations for porn and children’s story books, comics,
animation, curated art shows, art directed books and magazines. As well as self-
publishing all his own books which have all won numerous awards and are sold
out. He has traveled, train hopped and hitchhiked all over the world many times
over spreading his art. He’s been homeless, he still sells art out of his parents
garage and his beat up mini van david choe art can be found at
http://davechoe.blogspot.com//
http://www.dirtyhandsmovie.com
http://www.davidchoe.com/
http://www.tinyvices.com/david_choe.html
David Ellis
"I am an artist from a family of musicians. My uncle plays and restores pianos and my brother travels the world playing tenor saxophone. As a kid I had no patience with piano lessons and learning to read music but absorbed everything I heard on the "Super Mix", a Saturday night radio program that was broadcast from the Fort Bragg military base near where I grew up. It was just far enough away that reception required one hand on the pause button and the other on an elaborate assembly of coat hangers, duct tape and tin foil jammed into the hole that was once an antenna on my boom box. I recorded the show every week with the volume low so not to disturb my mother’s ultra sonic night hearing which would result in radio confiscation. Each week a new style of early New York hip hop found its way into the mind of a 12 year old boy living in the attic of a log cabin in rural North Carolina. By the time Grandmaster Flash and the Furious 5 dropped "The Message," I was writing my own rhymes and banging out beats on the desks at school. Those beats have been in the back of my mind all my life."
David Ellis lives and works in Brooklyn; where his "motion paintings" travel through time like music, where beats are orchestrated and performed on "drum paintings" stretched and tuned to bass, snare, etc. and played via analog drum machines propelled by air, where player pianos meet SP1200s meet improvisational wild style sign painting.
See more of his work at Jessica Murray Projects and with the barnstormers at bstormers.com and spreadtheknow.com.
Eye One
Born in Mexico City, Eyeone was exported to Los Angeles at the age of 6. He
forms part of the Seeking Heaven and Second to None graffiti crews. Eyeone
is responsible for the zine "Lost | Graffiti in the City of Angels," which
can sometimes be found (if you're looking.)
www.eyelost.com
Francesco LoCastro
For the last ten years, Francesco LoCastro has been South Florida's thoroughfare
to the national Lowbrow art scene, as both a respected artist and as the curator
of intrepid art exhibitions. LoCastro was born in Catania, Italy in 1976, raised
in Germany, and transplanted to sunny-yet-strange Ft. Lauderdale during high
school. His collegiate employment at a commercial art studio opened his mind to
art as a life-long career, as well as being the place of introduction to fellow artists
and Europeans, Colin and Sas Christian.
As a painter, LoCastro's works are bound together by a hallucinatory surreality,
and along the way have featured appearances by pop culture icons such as Tom
Waits, controversial figures like Charlton Heston, and a motley assortment of
unearthly creatures affected by intensely earthly afflictions and dispositions. His
stylistic influences are widely varied – from Sebastian Krueger's exaggerated pop
portraiture, Alfonse Mucha's ornate art nouveau illustrations, Chuck Jones to
Chuck Close, and beyond. LoCastro's current series of portraits depict a more
human identity, but his scintillating touch of the surreal remains. He has shown in
numerous galleries all over America, including Copro Nason Gallery in Culver
City, Lineage Gallery in Philadelphia, Perihelion Arts in Phoenix, The Shooting
Gallery in San Francisco, L'Art Noir Gallery in New Orleans, Fuse Gallery in New
York City and Thinkspace Gallery in Los Angeles.
As a curator, Francesco LoCastro’s electrifying shows in Miami's Design District
and Wynwood Arts District have ushered in a caliber of Lowbrow art previously
unseen in South Florida. "Parallel Universe", "Culture Shock" and "Monsters of
Lowbrow" delighted local and national audiences with their vibrant colors, hand-
painted and silk-screened mural backdrops, and eye-catching works by many of
the biggest luminaries of the movement. LoCastro's curatorial series culminated
with "We'll Make a Lover of You" during Art Basel Miami Beach 2006.
LoCastro is featured as one of the distinguished artists who have forged the New
Miami Art Movement in the upcoming book
“Miami Contemporary Artists” to be released in Spring of 2007 by Schiffer
Publishing.
Freddi C
Freddi C is originally from London, England but has made Los Angeles her
home for the past seven years. Before moving to L.A., she lived in NYC for
eight years, where she worked as an art director for a textile design
company. It was in New York that she also started painting. After exhibiting
in NYC, she took a break from painting completely and moved to Los
Angeles. In August 1999 she started painting a series of paintings entitled
‘Flyer Miles’. Following the success of this series, she has been working full-
time as an artist, graphic designer and curator - founding ‘STREETWISE’. In
2003 she opened her own gallery in Los Angeles - The Lab 101 Gallery. For
more information please visit:
http://freddicart.blogspot.com
http://freddic.imeem.com
http://www.thelab101.com
J Shea
born and raised in Boston ,Ma…. J.Shea was influenced at an early age by the art
of the catholic church………..classic sci-fi film………the pride of the Boston
Celtics……and the music and posters of punk rock…………..
while attending art school…….Shea created hand bills and posters for rock shows
in Boston……….later…….after relocating to the westcoast to design
sneakers……..Shea began creating color posters for shows up and down the
California coast………
it was around this time that Shea began exhibiting his personal art in many
forms……..
painting……sculpure……..assemblege…….and collage……while building a career
as
a sneaker designer…….a poster artist…….a puppet fabricator……..an
illustrator…….
and a muralist…………..
Shea works in narritve/surreal themes……..in all media…..all by hand…the work
is more a folk art meets decrative art style then a traditional art style….his work
is exhibited all over the country………and he currently works out of his studio in
downtown Los Angeles………….
www.jshea9.com
James Jean
James Jean was born in Taiwan in 1979, raised in New Jersey, and educated at the
School of Visual Arts in New York City. Upon graduating in 2001, he quickly
became an acclaimed cover artist for DC Comics, garnering three consecutive
Eisner awards, two Harvey awards, two gold medals and a silver from the Society
of Illustrators of LA, and a gold medal from the Society of Illustrators of NY. He
has also contributed to many national and international publications. His clients
include Time Magazine, The New York Times, Rolling Stone, Spin, ESPN, Atlantic
Records, Target, Playboy, Knopf, among others. A book of his work entitled
Process Recess was published in 2005, and a second book of his art entitled PR2:
Portfolio will be released in the fall of 2007.
Jeff Soto
Through striking visual imagery, Jeff Soto communicates profound visions and
fears, nostalgia of his youth, and themes of love, lust, and hope. Soto’s distinct
color palette, subject matter, technique and bold themes resonate with a growing
audience. Inspired by childhood toys, the colorful lifestyle of skateboarding and
graffiti, hip-hop and popular culture, Soto’s representational work is
simultaneously accessible and stimulating.
Environmental issues also take precedent for Soto, who is concerned with conflict
of humans trying to harness, or take advantage of nature. His paintings exude this
tension, as robotic creatures duel, organic tentacles and flower bouquets thrive,
and black smog looms amidst floating, ominous skulls.
In 2002, Soto graduated with Distinction from Art Center College of Design in
Pasadena, California. He currently lives in Southern California, with his wife
Jennifer and daughter Shannon.
Joshua Krause
Even as a little boy, artist Joshua Krause (b.1977, NYC) found great pleasure in
picking up the tiny pieces of trash that littered New York City, and was constantly
reprimanded by his folks for picking things up with his hands. But one day, Joshua
dropped down to his hands and knees on the sidewalk, lowered his head, and
picked up a piece of gum with his mouth. It was this genius rationale that
unquestionably pushed little Joshua in the direction of artist. Joshua lives in San
Diego, and he uses paintbrushes, sandpaper, his hands, and yes, sometimes even
his mouth.
His paintings and sculptures are manifestations of an obsession, humor, and hope
in finding his individual path in a world that seems to be on another page. These
"new relics" exist as both objects/ideas that take themselves too seriously on one
end, and tongue-in-cheek on the other, created in a world that is simultaneously
absurd and reasonable. Their meanings and symbols, explained through poetic
titling, are to be studied and decoded as an archeologist or art historian would.
They can also be viewed as the inside jokes and observations of a comedian
piecing together his act. Joshua's work questions the status of the permanent and
impermanent, and the fleeting and flowing nature of life, death, and the eternal.
Kelsey Brookes
Kelsey Brookes was born in 1978. A formally trained scientist he now lives and
works in San Diego as an illustrator and painter.
His art is an unrefined and some say unskilled mix of sex, comedy and
animals…born from a true passion for all three (not always at the same time). He
blames this raw, anxious form of art on the U.S. University system which refuses
to teach its scientists how to draw.
His art can be found broadly throughout the US and Europe on a veriety of media
including for RVCA’s Artist Network Program, prints for Pictures On Walls and
within his hand made zines he always caries in his back pocket. Kelsey’s art is
represented internationally by the Lazarides gallery (London).
He has also been featured in many pop culture and design publications such as
Blood Wars, Happy, Re:Up Mag, Design Is Kinky and Beautiful Decay.
Kenton Parker
Los Angeles based Kenton Parker is an artist and designer. Gathering
inspiration from popular culture and everyday life, Parker draws and
paints a rich vocabulary of icons and motifs. He has maintained both a
progressive edge and timeless style in all his work. Producing both
design and fine art, Parker maintains a constant, provoking
communication with his viewers.
Kofie
Kofie'One | Draftsmen | TPS/RF | UTI | WCA
Kofie'One is a self taught freelance Illustrator, Painter & Mix-Media artisan born &
raised in the City of Angles. After being lured into the colorful & clandestine
world of West LA Graffiti Art in his teens, Kof has maintained a steady,
progressive fixture & a respected contributer to the Historic LA Movement. In
the late 90's his work began to focus on exaggerating elements of his developing
letter-forms & structures, quickly locking down his own architect like demeanor
in his line works. These days Kof can be found at his East Los Angeles studio
producing assemblage works, watercolors, mural installations & still finds time to
manage his own personal clothing collection 'Draftsmen'. Distributed domestically
& overseas since 2001, they incorporate his unique hand assembled cut & paste
designs & a non-trend riding asthetic.
Recent clients Include Juxtapoz, Stussy, A+D Museum-LA, Parco-JP,
Tronic Studios-NY, Frank 151 & Endeavor Snowboards.
Keepdrafting.com
blog.myspace.com/draftsmen
Mel Kadel
Mel Kadel is an artist from the Pennsylvania suburbs, living in Los Angeles for the
last 8 years. Mel creates loosely narrative ink drawings using found paper, tiny
pens, q-tips and glue. Her drawings have been exhibited widely across the U.S.
and abroad. Mel has also been involved in commercial projects for Volcom,
Foundation Skateboards, and various bands including Silversun Pickups "Pikul"
album. She is represented by the Richard Heller Gallery. www.melkadel.com
Michael Sieben
Fueled by nostalgia, Michael Sieben's work deals primarily with a loss of
innocence. Combining the aesthetic languages of skateboard graphic design and
children's book illustrations, Sieben works in a style he refers to as "soft-core
gore." Monsters tread a fine line between sweet and grotesque and serve as a
friendly reminder that everybody has problems, but that's no reason not to smile.
Michael Sieben lives and works in Austin, Texas with his wife Allison and their
two cats Nathan and Josie. He spends his days designing skateboards for Bueno
(The Good Company), writing and illustrating articles for Thrasher Magazine (The
Bible), collaborating on projects with the Volcom Art Loft, operating Okay
Mountain Gallery with his fellow mountaineers, and riding his skateboard on his
backyard ramp.
More at: msieben.com, buenoskateboards.com, okaymountain.com
Mike Giant
Birth. Upstate New York. Drawing. New Mexico. BMX bikes. Heavy Metal.
Skateboarding. Punk rock. Hip-hop. Thailand. College. Dishwasher. Raves.
Lorelei. First tattoo. San Francisco. Dharma. Think Skateboards. Angi.
London. Adult bookstore. Computer animation. Tattooing. New York City.
Newskool. Skullz Press. Everlasting. Track bikes. Brooke and Leia. Tokyo.
Tattoo 13. Plum Village. Albuquerque. Stay Gold. Rebel8. Manifestations.
Penny farthings. Ordination. Megan. 35. Right here. Right now.
Mikegiant.com
Rebel8.com
Rammellzee
“Chimer” performance
P erformance artist RAMMELLZEE ( pronounced RAM-EL-ZEE) personifies your
gothic futures. The equation was born in 1979.
GOTHIC FUTURISM
A n artform based upon the study of the dictionary's language tree combined
with "Grimm's Law." Through the form of "INTELLECTUAL HORRORS", it
describes prophecies of the "Microcosmic" and
"Macrocosmic", in addition to
"Ikonoklast Letter Racerism", (TANKS) which are illuminations that aeronautically
and aerodynamically weapon-slave the alphabet. The alternative flying of the
letter, as opposed to a traditional phonetic utility, renders its neutral essence
rather than the common usage as an accessory to human existence, whereas
speech is not accessorial to the basic human passion for conception.
Other Experience
T he RAMM:ELL:ZEE, through various mediums, such as paints on canvas, resin
frescoes, drawings, sculptures, carpet and performance art, including literature,
lectures, poetry and music, maintains his intellectual factory as a stable foundation
for this artistic expression that encompasses "mannerism" and
"chiaroscuro".
The raw urbanism portrayed through these disciplines, in conjunction with his
mythology, transcends and ascends all eras that have indulged and performed
"FUTURES". In other words, this "MECHANIC", (THE RAMM:ELL:ZEE)
constructs art in formation of his own government and coverment. Each work of
art expressed hereafter is to be recognized as currency, issued and signed by the
artist to be evidence of his own Treasury's. As such, said currency maintains a
war department for its own protection.
The artist has remained non-emotional throughout the description of this
mythology and/or "STOCK" FUTURES due to the apparent militancy of the
subject and its potential not in contradiction, but rather as an offering to the
futurists and you, a horrific scientific view of the Transverses (universe) reversed
from micro to macro. The multiple personalities of the equation, THE
RAM:ELL:ZEE performs for science. If this knowledge scared you, the equation is
working.
Solo Exhibition
2007 RAMMELLZEE & DEATH COMET CREW SERRALVES IN LISBON PORTUGAL,
SCENE MUSIQUES ACTUELLES BOURGOIN-JALLIEU, WORM IN ROTTERDAM
2007 LECTURE AT SERRALVES MUSEUM IN PORTO, PORTUGAL
2005 LECTURE AND PERFORMANCE AT VENICE BIANALE, VENICE ITALY
2006 Live music performance at UNIT in Tokyo, Japan
2 001 Completion of 5 master manuals and "gothicfuturism.com" web site
2001, May Live Music performance featuring "Crux" the Monk - Scala Club, London with
"New Flesh" Big Dada recordings
2001, April Live music performance featuring "Barshaw Gangstarr" the duck - "Hip Hop Logique Marseilles, France with "New Flesh" and Rock Steady Crew
1999, July Live music performance featuring "Barshaw Gangstarr" the duck Knitting Factory, New York City, with "Praxis"
1999 Completion of 6" - 13" Monster Models and Garbage Gods dolls
1998 - 2000 Completion of the 20 major markets of paintings
1998, November Live music performance featuring "Chaser" the eraser - Hip Hop festival, Eindhoven, Holland with Afrika Bambaataa, Grand Master Flash, Soul Sonic Force, and Rock Steady Crew
1998, October Live music performance featuring "Chaser" the eraser and "Duchess" - Osaka and Tokyo, Japan "ill centrik funk" File Records, Japan
1998 Live music performance featuring "Traxx" - Knitting Factory, New York City
1998, June Live music performance featuring "Chaser" the eraser - Wetlands, New York City
1996 Live music performance featuring "Duchess" - Performance Space, Mercer Street, New York City, for Squat Theater
1995 - 1999 "ALPHA'S BET" script and mythology - RAMMELLZEE, author and performer
1994 - 2001 Construction of MONSTER MODELS & GARBAGE GODS (20 masks and constumes)
1994 - 1997 Construction of Comic Book called "Alpha's last bet", RAMMELLZEE, author and collagist.
1993 - 2000 Construction of the "LETTER RACERS" in 3D (3 complete alphabets)
1993 "Dragstrip Warlords" Eigen+Art Gallery New York City
1992 "Knotted Minds", New York Galerie Yaki Kornblit, Amsterdam, Holland
1991 "Gulf War Retrospective", New York "Gargolian Books of Stock", New York Wilhemina Modeling Agency, New York
1990 Galerie Yaki Kornblit, Amsterdam, Holland
1988 Barbara Braathen Gallery, New York
1987 Vincent Steinmetz Gallery, Amsterdam, Holland Yaki Kornblit, Milan, Italy Studio Carrieri, Rome, Italy Groninger Museum, Groningen, Holland (Retrospective)
1986-87 Hellmond Museum, Hellmond, Holland (Retrospective) Barbara Braathen Gallery, New York
1986 Gabrielle Bryers Gallery, New York Studio Carrieri, Rome, Italy (Retrospective)
1985 Galerie Zeigler, Zurich, Switzerland Galerie Yaki Kornblit, Amsterdam, Holland Studio Carrieri, Martina Franca, Italy
1984 Galerie Yaki Kornblit, Amsterdam, Holland Gallozzi-LaPlaca Gallery, New York Stellweg-Seguy Gallery, New York Studio Carrieri, Martina Franca, Italy
1983 Galerie Sylvia Menzel, Berlin, West Germany Galerie Yaki Kornblit, Amsterdam Holland Bonlow Gallery, New York Studio Carrieri, Martina Franca, Italy
Group Exhibition
Night Lines Utrecht Museum, Utrecht, Holland 2006 – 2007 ‘Music is a Better Noise” P.S.1- MoMA
Scion Instillation Tour Miami Art Basel Fair for Scion (a division of Toyota)
2006 “WORD” Deborah Colton Gallery
1993 "Coming From the Subways:", Groninger Museum
1990 "Hard Corps", Bullet Gallery
1989 "Hip Hop 'til You Drop", Whitney Museum of American Art (Performance with costume)
1987 "Real Paint", Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson "Fresh", DiLaurentis Gallery, New York
"Crazy Icons", Institute of Contemporary Art, London
1986 "Surrealismo", Barbara Braathen Gallery, curated by Leo Castelli, Patti Astor Hugh Piney Gallery
Gabrielle Bryars Gallery, New York
1985-86 "New York Subways:", Gemeentemuseum Helmond,
Holland and Leopold-Hoesch Museum, Duren, Holland His site www.gothicfuturism.com
R. Grimes
R. Grimes was born in 1974 in Columbia, South Carolina. He spent his childhood
in the Florida Keys. During his teen years, Grimes got into skateboarding.
Through the skateboard culture R. Grimes was introduced to new art and music.
During that time he was influenced by the strong visual language of the
skateboard and punk rock community. These influences are apparent in his work
today. Later, R. Grimes taught himself how to silk screen. In his late teens early
twenties Grimes was simply producing punk rock patches and t-shirts for his
friends and their bands. During this time R. Grimes developed a strong Do-It
Yourself ethic. R. Grimes is a self taught artist whose methods of producing work
would seem archaic to most people. He avoids the use of presses and other
machines to produce his art and various projects. By minimizing the use of
machinery Grimes preserves the human element in the art of creating. He also
believes the more expensive it becomes to produce a piece of work the less
personal it becomes. To this day, he uses the same method to produce his silk
screens though other expedient and technologically advanced methods are
available. The imagery R. Grimes produces in his work are strong, unapologetic
and are aimed to speak to our time. His work speaks to a wide audience of
various socioeconomic and demographic back grounds.
R. Grimes was late to begin showing his work in galleries. In 2002 he got his start
in Objex Art Space once located in Miami, Fl. Since then Grimes has shown work
abroad and across the country including, the Museum of Contemporary Art
(Miami), Scion Space, Think Space, The Autopsy (Melbourne, Australia). His work
has also been shown by some of the most respected curators including Roger
Gastman and Francesco LoCastro. Recently, Grimes worked next to LoCastro
during art Basel in Miami Beach to transform the South Florida Art Center into
one of the most talked about art exhibits of the world’s biggest art fair.
Furthermore, work by R. Grimes has been published in prominent publications
such as Swindle magazine and Juxtapoz magazine.
Grimes is also known for his live performance where he brings his screen printing
before an audience in an interactive environment. He started printing live in
Miami, Fl in small clubs and various local events. Recently he has taken his version
of live screen printing beyond the boundaries of his hometown. He has printed
live at events including some for Swindle Magazine, Museum of Contemporary Art
(Miami), and Juxtapoz Magazine. His performance has been seen in many cities,
including, New York City, Los Angeles, Las Vegas and Miami.
Besides being involved in showing his art in galleries and printing live, R. Grimes
operates a project he calls Faction. With Faction, Grimes defies the standards that
have been set forth by the paradigm of mass production. All items produced
under Faction are hand printed without the use of presses or machines. Most
recently his project has been available in Urban Outfitters thus, making his work
available to thousands of people.
Currently, R. Grimes resides in southern Florida with his wife and three year old
son.
www.printdamaged.com
Ron English
Ron English, a New York-based painter, billboard liberator, and toy designer has
exhibited in galleries and museums worldwide for over twenty years his unique
sensibility, in which the familiar is reflected through funhouse mirrors into
something startlingly new. Recently his commentary and art were featured in the
hit movie “Supersize Me,” widening his audience beyond the boundaries of
intrepid art seekers, and he has appeared on television in the US, Canada, Europe,
and Japan. He is also the subject of an award-winning documentary, “POPaganda,
the Art and Crimes of Ron English.”
In addition to painting, Ron English is widely considered to be one of the seminal
figures in the culture jamming movement, in which artists and activists subvert
existing advertisements to encourage free thought. He has pirated more than a
thousand billboards over the last twenty years, replacing existing advertisements
with his own "subvertisements," ranging from his “Cancer Kids" campaign
featuring preadolescent camels hawking cigarettes to children, to Apple
computer's "Think Different" campaign, where Ron added such 20th Century
luminaries as Charles Manson to Apple’s roster of spokesmen. Most recently
Ron staged an elaborate “tribute” to Ronald McDonald in San Francisco, in
collaboration with the Billboard Liberation Front, featuring animatronic sculpture,
billboard art and the spontaneous performance of fifty-odd Ronalds, Hamburglars,
and assorted clowns.
In July of 2006, Ron premiered his 12 x 27-foot interpretation of “Guernica” at
the Station Museum in Houston. Ron’s painting, Grade School Guernica, is one
foot longer and one foot taller than Picasso’s original, featuring a psychodrama
acted out by his children, and viewed from the point of view of the bomber
airplane. In 2007 the artist celebrates the 70th anniversary of Guernica with a
series of billboard installations in Spain depicting modern variations of Picasso’s
classic painting.
Sage Vaughn
born 1976
an hour and a quarter after the bicentennial
in Jacksonville Oregon.
lives and works in Los Angeles.
has a wife and four cats.
The London Police
The London Police started when big English geezers headed to Amsterdam in
1998 and started rejuvenating the visually disappointing streets of the drug capital
of the world.
The characters known simply as "LADS" soon held an iconic presence in the city.
From 2002 onward TLP started sending missionaries into all corners of the globe
and soon there were LADS on the streets and in shows in many World cities.
LONDON, MANCHESTER, BRUSSELS, BARCELONA, BERLIN, MUNICH,
MILANO, TORINO, COPENHAGEN, NEW YORK, L.A, TOKYO and beyond
have all seen a Lad or two. London Policeman have come and gone but founding
members are still known to walk the streets of every city in the world spreading
love through pens and stickers.
Never be scared. Don't be a hero.
Tim McCormick
(Born in Los Angeles California USA 1969. lives and works in San Diego,
California. USA.)
Tim McCormick brings to his work a unique perspective on issues of fame, pop
culture, and self. Perceptions of suburban banality set against the surreal backdrop
of Hollywood as well as the influence of San Diego's early surf and skateboard
subculture. With a self-taught methodology McCormick currently exhibits in Los
Angeles, San Francisco, New York, and throughout the greater U.S.
"My life is an experiment, and my paintings a journal of my daily life. In Spirit my
work is a combination of surrealism and figurative expressionism, through those
core principles, honest introspection, and an improvisational working process, I
paint the images that tug at my subconscious, Each finished painting adds a small
part to the whole, and slowly I attempt make sense of the world to myself.
Through endless painting, I let these bits and pieces of myself grind and churn
against each other, swaying in and out off focus until the message becomes visible.
I then can step back and observe myself and those moments of my internal life.
This simple reason is why I started painting and will continue to paint for the rest
of my life".
Travis Millard
Travis Millard is responsible for the Fudge Factory Comics operation
headquartered in Los Angeles. The former weight-lifting prodigy found refuge in
drawing after splitting his neck in a nasty competitive flexing accident as a child.
Since then, his work has been exhibited in the US and internationally, and has
been published in numerous books and magazines. Recent books by Travis Millard
include the collaborative with Michael Sieben, "Hitten' Switches"; and the recent
"Hey Fudge", a 240 page solo release with Narrow Books. His drawings are
represented by the Richard Heller Gallery. www.fudgefactorycomics.com
Yoskay Yamamoto
Born and raised in Toba, Japan, Yoskay Yamamoto moved to the United States at
the age of 15. A self-trained illustrator, Yamamoto’s artistic tastes expanded as
he fell in love with the urban culture of the West coast. Yamamoto discovered a
way to fuse the two different cultural backgrounds together into his work.
Yamamoto nostalgically blends pop iconic characters from his new Western
home with traditional and mythical Japanese elements, balancing his Asian heritage
with urban pop art. He has sold out his work recently at shows in San Francisco,
Boston and Los Angeles.