ARTIST BIOGRAPHY

ZIO ZIEGLER

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(1987)

Zio has both a studio and street practice where he creates bold paintings and murals with a distinct tribal-like aesthetic. His paintings are often more colorful than his monochromatic murals but in all his work there are the repeated motifs of primitive patterns, gigantism, and distortion. 

His Mill Valley studio is not just a room, but an entire house filled with finished and unfinished paintings. Walking in for the first time is quite the experience; there is so much to look at, and everything is bright and big and, again, demands your attention. 

Graffiti has greatly influenced Zio’s mural work as well as his studio practice, he says he likes the idea of “having the boldest spot, an interesting and provocative surface, the most visual traffic, and the fastest read for a piece while still maintaining complexity…”. Zio’s approach is raw and brazen, intuitive and gestural. But he acknowledges that this approach has its glitches too, one of them being that he finds it difficult to examine and articulate what his work is about, saying, “It often takes me a while to understand why I’ve painted what I painted… To understand their meaning I have to understand the context in which they were created, which often proves hard because it means understanding myself.”

Watch this video of Zio:


ZEPHYR

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(New York, US)

ZEPHYR, born Andrew Witten, is a graffiti artist, lecturer and author from New York City. He began creating graffiti in 1975 and first signed using the name "Zephyr" in 1977. He has been identified as a graffiti "elder", who along with Futura 2000, Blade, PHASE 2, CASH, Lady Pink and TAKI 183 invented styles and standards which are still in use.

His works can be seen in the hip-hop culture documentary Style Wars and he was featured as himself in the landmark hip-hop motion picture Wild Style. He is co-author of a 2001 biography of fellow graffiti artist, Dondi White: Dondi White Style Master General: The Life of Graffiti Artist Dondi White. He is interviewed in the 2005 DIY graffiti video The Art of Storytelling, where he talks about fallen graffiti artist Nace. He was featured in the documentary Bomb It.

His name was inspired by a brand of surfboards and skateboards. Many of his most popular pieces have been done by simply redesigning his trademark name "Zeph" or "Zephyr". Sharp contrast in the edges of the letters are also featured throughout his artwork.

Watch this video by Walrus TV:


WILLIAM ARVIN

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(1985)

William Arvin's work follows the recent tradition of press photos, advertisements and film stills, that are the common targets of appropriation, and have been for decades since the dramatic spike of their ever-growing presence in our daily lives. With immediate access to nearly every possible image and every form of media in the limitless landscape of digital space, the subjects are naturally rather disparate from one another, both in content and source media. Social upheaval, cinematic escape and the authority of advertisement are just a few of the issues that lie beneath the images, although, all politics aside, bringing physical form to these fleeting digital encounters under the umbrella medium of paint on canvas is of primary concern.

The role of text in his work serves multiple purposes; it asserts his own obscure sentiments toward the image in question, creates a familiar visual language that viewers speak fluently, that of the calculated design of advertisement, and drives a wedge between the viewer and the illusionistic space of the image, adhering all forms to the flatness of the canvas. 

Flatness against space is also explored through the pixelation of areas in certain images, offering an automatic and systematic form of abstraction. Relying on the predetermined organization of information in digital images, he is free to focus less on composition and more on the play and exchange between these units of reality. Creating a system of tightly organized units within an image is no stranger to the process of painting, however here the process is laid bare, maintaining the unique character of each unit, as well as directly referring to their digital origins.

WILL BARRAS

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(UK)

Will Barras is an artist, illustrator, and animation director who lives and creates in London.

Barras grew up in Birmingham and moved to Bristol to study graphic design. He became one of a new crop of young artists working in Bristol's renowned street-art scene. He was a founding member of the Scrawl collective, alongside Steff Plaetz and Mr. Jago, thanks to his representations of fluid movement, unique narrative-driven composition, and line work. Scrawl published a seminal book in 1999 to document the new movement. 

As such, Barras traveled extensively, live-painting and exhibiting pieces throughout Europe, the U.S., and Asia. Though Scrawl slowed down, he continued to paint and furthered his technique, collaborating with Stolen Space and the Brussels-based HLP. He currently takes on commercial projects of interest and directs animation at Th1ng studio in central London.

Watch this video of Will in Oslo:


WENDELL MCSHINE

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(Trinidad and Tobago)

Wendell McShine's creates a series of antagonizing situations between the subject and the way in which the imagery seeks to interpret its ideas: animations that conflicts with their sketchbook counterparts. Canvases that are constructed within aspect fine art and then broken down by their illustrative treatment. small installation boxes that seems to be frozen in their melancholic dream state, only to be pulled out of their sadness through the use of intense color placement. Adding to what is a ceremonial dialogue of fantasy and reality as one engages.

Raw, transcendental and overly mystifying it is no surprise that International artist Wendell McShine (aka SHINE) is from the island of “the Carnival” Trinidad and Tobago. Currently based and producing work in Mexico City there’s a lucid cross pollination expressed through stunning iconography.

When one moves full heartedly into the doorway of Wendell’s work, a multi level narrative, which constructs upon itself is discovered. Bandidos, Jewel Stars, King Crows, Nahuales, Humming Birds, mezcal bottles, plantation houses, skulls, towering coconut trees, hibiscus flowers, rubber ‘slippers’, etc., coexist in a world of wooden panels, canvases, organic animations and paper mache masks.

Watch this video of his work:


VITCHE

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(1969, Sao Paulo, Brazil)

Vitche grew up scribing the streets in the city in the early 80's. Specialized himself in urban interventions about environmental themes and general conscience.

Today, he develops expositions, scenography, illustrations, objects made in wood, puppets, iron, mud, canvas and photography with a great variety of influences. Taking his art to countries in Europe, US, and Latin America.

Defining his job as politic, lyric and abstract, tries to show the importance of the forgotten feelings that are swallowed by the big cities which are called by him as the great dragon. Sees in what he does a different way of being alive.

Watch this video of Vitche and Mike Giant by Upperplayground:


USUGROW

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(Japan)

Usugrow began his own artistic activity by creating flyers in underground punk and hard core music scene in early 90's. Since then, he has been involved in various album cover designs for bands and musicians regardless of genre, art directions and merchandises, and also collaborating with lots of skateboarding brands and fashion brands.

Usugrow expanded the range of his activity and done several solo exhibition at art galleries in Japan and overseas since 2005, and published his first monograph. In addition to his solo exhibition, he has been curating the group exhibition and book projects with Japanese artists since 2009.

He currently works on mainly illustration, painting and calligraphy as well as live painting, collaboration project with other artists and three-dimensional artwork.

Watch this video:


TODD KURNAT

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(1973, Great Lakes State)
 

Todd Kurnat grew up tracing Iron Maiden album covers and drawing Jim Phillips graphics on his bedroom wall. Fast forward to the current day and you’ll find that Todd’s visual work is predominantly done using ink and paint on re-purposed materials. Often finding inspiration in nature, wildlife, typography, fantasy and sound.

Todd is a self-taught artist who briefly attended the Rocky Mountain College of Art & Design in the late 90s where he pursued courses in illustration and graphic design. Upon his move to San Francisco in the early 2000s, his art took a back seat to his graphic design successes.

In 2012, wanting more out of life than a paycheck, he began to pursue his art again. Reborn and with intent, Todd’s recent work has been featured in solo and group exhibitions throughout San Francisco.

TODD BRATRUD

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(1975, Minnesota, US)

Todd Bratrud is an illustrator and artist born on the same day as the wreck of the S.S. Edmund Fitzgerald. He is the owner of Send Help skateboards, previously known as The High Five skateboards. 

He is currently living in Grand Forks, North Dakota. He lived in Minneapolis, Minnesota until he moved to Santa Cruz, California in 1999 to become the art director of Consolidated Skateboards. 

He has created hundreds of graphics for skateboards, stickers, advertisements and apparel for companies like Consolidated Skateboards, Flip Skateboards, Birdhouse Skateboards, Enjoi Skateboards, Black Label Skateboards, Creature Skateboards, Real Skateboards and Volcom. He is also an illustrator and blogger for The Skateboard Mag. Examples of his skateboard graphics can be found in the book Disposable, published by Ginkgo Press.

Watch this video of Todd presenting his book:


TIFFANY BOZIC

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(1979, Russellville, US)

Tiffany Bozic is a self-taught artist currently living and working in San Francisco, California. Bozic has spent the majority of her life living with and observing the intricacies of nature. Her work has the traditional air of tightly rendered illustrations with a highly emotional range of surreal metaphorical themes. In her paintings and sketches she presents her vision of life’s struggles and triumphs that are largely autobiographical. Her wide array of subjects are inspired both from her extensive travels to wild places, and the research specimens at the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco, California.

Over the years, Bozic has developed a complex process of masking and staining the maple panels in which she paints on. By doing this, the natural grain can collaborate with each composition using multiple layers of watered down acrylic paint.

She has participated in numerous group shows nationwide. Bozic has spoken at international events such as the 2007 Semi Permanent International Arts and Design Conference in Sydney, Australia. Bozic was also the first Artist in Residency at the California Academy of Sciences whereby she created the “From the Depths” exhibit on the public floor of the museum in November of 2007.

Watch this interview by Walrus TV:


SUE KWON

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(US)

Sue Kwon began her career at The Village Voice, shooting subjects that ranged from runaways to underground Jamaican nightclubs in Queens. Her photographs have since been published in The Source, Vibe, and Paper, and she has become a well-known portrait photographer of hip hop stars. 

Her work has been featured in group shows in New York and Copenhagen and been the subject of solo shows at A Bathing Ape Gallery in Tokyo and Clic  Gallery in New York. Her first monograph, "Street Level: Photographs 1987-2007" featured twenty years of her black and white street photography and was published by Testify Books in 2009.

STEVEN VASQUEZ LOPEZ

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(California, US)

Steven Vasquez Lopez was born in Upland, California and currently lives in San Francisco. Raised in Southern California in a Mexican-American household, Lopez's early obsession with architecture, manual labor and bold fashion continues through his hard-edge graphic acrylic painting and ink drawings. 

Lopez received his BA in Studio Art from UC Santa Barbara in 2000. He was a recipient of the William Dole Memorial Scholarship (1999, 2000), Abrams Prize (2000), Murphy and Cadogan Fellowship (2006), ArtSlant Prize (2012). Since completing his MFA in Painting from the San Francisco Art Institute in 2007, Lopez has exhibited at CES Contemporary, Aqua Art Miami, ArtsPadSF, the San Francisco Art Commission Gallery, Riverside Art Museum, Diego Rivera Gallery, Parklife Gallery, Roll Up Gallery & Root Division Gallery.

STEVE LOPEZ

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(Los Angeles, US)

Born in Los Angeles, Steve Lopez was heavily influenced by hip hop culture and graffiti art. He is a painter who has emerged from the graffiti subculture and academic influence. While attending the University of Oregon Lopez studied under the guidance of master sculptor, Dora Natella and design theorist, Leon Johnson. Lopez absorbed attention to form associated with Natella’s sculptures, while refining his conceptual vocabulary through Johnson’s critique on visual continuity.

In 2000, Lopez Received his B.A. in Fine Art. His work can be found within a myriad of corporate and private art collections both in the United States and abroad. He currently lives and works in the City of Los Angeles.

STANLEY DONWOOD

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(UK)

Stanley Donwood is an enigma. His work on Radiohead's albums and all associated artwork has gained him worldwide recognition. Since 1994, having designed all artwork from the second album ‘The Bends’ onwards, his evocative and haunting imagery has helped to create one of music’s most distinctive brands. In 2006, the release of Thom Yorke’s ‘Eraser’ record brought Donwood’s very distinctive artwork ‘London Views’ into the public eye once again.

As an artist he veers from propagandist graphics to introspective illustrations, but a consistent strength is its combination of deep personal and political emotions with modesty and humor; weighty subjects examined not entirely seriously but certainly respectfully. Notoriously reclusive, Donwood himself doesn't pander to the disingenuous media trend for grandeur, and like many intelligent creatives operating in such a conceited sphere, cannot resist underselling himself.

Stanley Donwood is recognized as one the UK’s ‘popular contemporary’ artists and has exhibited his gallery art to an international fan base, including galleries in London, Tokyo, Amsterdam, Barcelona and Rotterdam.

Watch Stanley explain how he creates art for Radiohead and Thom Yorke's solo album:


SMITHE

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(Mexico City)

Smithe has been making art since he was 12 years old. Born and raised in the streets of Mexico City, he got an appreciation for the street art around his neighborhood and it developed into a full time lifestyle / career. 

Art has opened doors for him and allowed him to travel to different countries and practice his passion. With art shows in England, Belgium and Germany, Smithe has already made quite a name for himself in the international street art and graffiti scene. His talents don’t stop with a spray can either, Smithe is a fantastic illustrator and sculptor and he plays in a band in D.F., “Punto Stendal”.

Watch this video of Smithe's battle for the big apple by All City Cavnvas:

SLICK

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(1961, Meskwaki Nation)

Duane Slick’s work takes the form of books, paintings, and prints. In the early 1990s he worked with colorful abstracts and gradually shifted to work that is nearly monochromatic and figurative. Presently his figures can appear transitory, fragmentary and border on the elusive. The theory of absence and presence can be applied to his work. 

Through the raw shadow of an image, he creates a longing in the viewer to discover, in the hint of it that is left on the surface of the canvas, the actual or absent object. The importance of time, the play between surface and image, are concerns for Slick. The shadow that he captures is the intangible linked to the tangible, as seen in the acrylic-on-linen work White Bird Circuit (2007). Slick is protective of the cultural knowledge acquired from his family; therefore his work can be interpreted as a means to play with reality without specifically naming or giving away information.

Slick confronts issues of materialism; hence he dematerializes by revealing the essential shape ofan object, symbol or person. The figures in his paintings are taken from shadows that he projects and then traces onto the canvas. Through this process he acquires the intangible (the shape or presence of the object), without giving a literal interpretation of the object itself. He creates through the process of addition and subtraction, by layering and erasure, until the work appears to him complete.

Watch this video by NetWorks Project:

 

SILVER WARNER

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(San Francisco, US)

Silver was born and raised in SF and has been a bike messenger since 1991. His photography is often featured in Hamburger Eyes and has been in many publications from Tokion to Nylon. He has also been a part of numerous gallery shows across the U.S. and in Europe and Japan. Aside from the fine art world, Silver has been an icon in underground street art and publishing some of the seminal 'zines to come from the Bay Area over the last 15 years.

SHEPARD FAIREY

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(1970, South Carolina, US)

Frank Shepard Fairey is an American contemporary street artist, graphic designer, activist and illustrator who emerged from the skateboarding scene. He first became known for his "Andre the Giant Has a Posse" (…OBEY…) sticker campaign while attending the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD), which appropriated images from the comedic supermarket tabloid Weekly World News.

Fairey's first art museum exhibition, entitled Supply & Demand (as was his earlier book), was held in Boston at the Institute of Contemporary Art during the summer of 2009. The exhibition featured more than 250 works in a wide variety of media: screen prints, stencils, stickers, rubylith illustrations, collages, and works on wood, metal and canvas.

As a complement to the ICA exhibition, Fairey created public art works around Boston. The artist explains his driving motivation: "The real message behind most of my work is 'question everything'."

In July of 2015, Fairey was arrested and detained at Los Angeles International Airport, after passing through customs, on a warrant for allegedly vandalizing 14 buildings in Detroit. He subsequently turned himself in to Detroit Police.

Watch this video of OBEY:


SASU

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(Tokyo)

Sasu's work fuses natural and urban elements with her graphic yet balanced style. Her sensibilities, rich colors and feminine lines create a unique world never seen before.

Sasu believes that her instinctual sense of balance, as seen in her more characteristic paintings symmetrical, mandara-like shapes and figures truly reflect her personality. Mural being the center of the scene, she pursues new areas of artwork. 

The wishes for the endless glow is created into shapes, and the process is crystalized into fine artwork.

Watch this video: