ARTIST BIOGRAPHY

MARIO WAGNER

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(1974)

Mario Wagner lives and works as an artist and illustrator in Berkeley, USA.

His work has been published in renowned anthologies, including 3x3 Magazine and Illustration Now! He also contributed work to advertising campaigns for clients such as ABSOLUT VODKA, Cheerios, IKEA and his work regularly appears in publications such as the New York Times Magazine, Wall Street Journal and WIRED Magazine. His fine art has been shown in numerous exhibitions in Berlin, Los Angeles, San Francisco and London, on art fairs like SCOPE, NADA and Art Basel Miami.

Watch this video of Mario Wagner making an art installation:

MARCO ZAMORA

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(1981, California, US)

Marco Zamora received a BFA from California Institute of the Arts in 2004. His work is inspired by the working class, the chaos of city life, and personal discomfort.

He uses photographic reference for the landscape in his paintings and afterwards improvises figures. The desired result is ‘a beautiful and complex tension between humankind and the urban landscape,’ he says.

Zamora currently lives and works in Los Angeles California. His work has been exhibited across the west coast and in Barcelona, Miami, and Copenhagen.

Watch this video by Converse:


LUCY MCLAUCHLAN

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(1978, Birmingham, England)

Lucy Mclauchlan is a contemporary artist from Birmingham, England. She is part of the "Beat 13!" collective.

In the era of extensive preparation using digital tools, Lucy is noted for her use of permanent materials and a one-take philosophy. In her deft hands this unedited process still results in considered and surprisingly slick executions. While working mainly in black and white she creatures a world rich in experience, and ruled by a passionate instinct.

Lucy's art combines ancient, almost prehistorical influences with a graphic modernist sensibility. The creative epoxy that binds these two disparate references together is Lucy's clear personal vision, resulting in the immediately recognizable style that is a hallmark of many memorable artists. A diaspora of other influences including art deco, psychedelia, naturalism and contemporary female figurative work consolidate its spellbinding charm. Four artworks from Lucy are featured in the permanent collection of the Victoria and Albert museum.

Watch this video by Walrus TV:


LUCIANO DURAN

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(Kansas, US)

A graphic designer by trade, the well-traveled and always mysterious Duran was born in Kansas, raised in Mexico, and spent time living in Japan before landing at the California College of Arts in San Francisco in 1995, but if you ask him where he’s from, he won’t hesitate to tell you, “Planet Dyatron”. 

In 1983, he got his start spinning records for teenagers at his uncle’s club in Mexico, and has now been on the scene in California for over a decade blowing people’s minds with his massive, rare collection of electronic vinyl, and his equally extensive and arguably outrageous, eclectic cache of vintage eyewear.  He spins with Miami bass champions Soundchasers, has played with Tokyo’s AE35 and Dutch electro’s Legowelt & TLR, and this summer, he will be opening for minimal wave heroes Xeno & Oaklander in Los Angeles before heading back to perform in Japan later this year.

LONDON POLICE

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(1998)

The London Police started in 1998 when big English geezers headed to Amsterdam to rejuvenate the visually disappointing streets of the drug capital of the world.

The motive was to combine travelling and making art to create an amazing way of life not seen since the days of King Solomon. From 2002 onward TLP started sending missionaries into all corners of the globe. Known for their iconic LADS characters and precision marking TLP have recently celebrated 10 strong years in the art world and their work has graced streets and galleries in 35 countries during this time.

London policemen have come and gone but founding members are still known to walk the streets of every city in the world spreading love with pens and stickers.

Watch this video of The London Police painting a mural at Art Basel 2007:

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LOGAN HICKS

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Logan Hicks is a New York-based stencil artist whose work explores the dynamics of the urban environment. Originally a screenprinter, Logan's work has gained notoriety due to his ability to capture the sometimes mundane cycle of city life in a haunting, yet refined way with his hand-sprayed stencils.

Stenciling started as a substitution for screenprinting, but quickly morphed into Logan's medium of choice. A perfect union was conceived by spraypaintingstencils his subjects: the dirty and gritty nature of the spraypaint thoroughly depicted the decay of the city while the muted shine of metallic paint mirrored the faint glimmer of hope and life within it. It is this symbiotic relationship with the city that fuels his work.

With his photorealistic style, Logan draws a parallel between the cold, harsh city and a warm, vibrant organism. It is alive; a breathing creature where the ebb and flow of people washing over its sidewalks act as cells circulating through its veins. Buildings block passageways, walls block views, doors hide openings. The outside world is effectively shut out while the city creates its own reality. Confined spaces on subways, honeycomb living structures; it is a labyrinth of working systems limited only by its border, its 'skin'.

Logan uses his art to explore the microcosm in which he is a cell, just part of a whole. The nuances of city life that epitomize the urban existence are what he dwells upon.

Watch this video of Logan Hicks exploring the nautical in his latest stencil paintings:


LISEL ASHLOCK

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(Northern California, US)

After graduating with a BFA from California College of the Arts in 2002, Lisel Jane Ashlock exchanged West for East, moving to Brooklyn, New York where she currently lives and works as an illustrator & designer. 

Painting on birch panel, drawing with pencil and watercolor or working digitally, each project is executed with a sensitivity and celebration of the natural world. When she's not busy on an illustration project, Lisel can be found designing, photographing, styling, hand-crafting and creative directing for Moomah the Magazine. 

Lisel has received several illustration awards and accolades and her work can be seen in various national publications, books & advertising projects. She received her MFA from School of Visual Arts in 2009.

LAUREN YS

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(Colorado, US)

Lauren YS' work seeks to translate chaos into visual terms, combining graphic and painterly styles to populate various dream-worlds of her making. After receiving her BA from Stanford in English and Art Practice, Lauren moved to San Francisco to become a freelance illustrator, muralist and artist. Her work has been exhibited throughout the Bay Area and in Europe, including a solo show and artist residency in Vienna, Austria.

Watch her paint a mural in this video by Street Candy:

LANCE DE LOS REYES

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(1977, Texas, US)

Lance De Los Reyes was born in Texas and studied painting, performance, sculpture and video at the San Francisco Art Institute. After moving to New York City he assisted artist Donald Baechler and has exhibited with The Journal Gallery and Peter Makebish

De Los Reyes is a believer, for what it’s worth, and believes that painting can communicate sacred truths, powerful ideas or important complexities. The artworks feature symbolic imagery, inventive forms, color patterns derived from alchemical tables and beliefs. Many works feature archetypes or concepts that have a pan-global mythological inspiration and take from many archaic belief systems to imbue meaning. Like Julian Schnabel he believes in man, myth and magic in painting and has the power, energy and almost manic intensity to create with similar ambition. Though an emerging artist, he is unafraid to try to “stand on the shoulders of giants” to stretch himself to new heights.

KRUSCH RHOADES

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(1982, US)

Krusch Rhoades spent the formative years of his youth in the “armpit of New York, the shoulders of New England and on the polluted teat of New Jersey.” Since then, Rhoades has travelled all over the country, and currently calls Santa Cruz his home. He has painted, drawn, molded, and scrawled for as long as he can remember.

Rhoades enjoys large scale work, especially when working with spray paint, which he calls the “closest synthesis of dance and paint.” That being said, the artist produces work of all scales regularly, and even paints bicycle frames.

“Paint and bicycles have been the most consistent relationships in my life and have therefore becomes the pillars of my existence,” said Rhoades.

KOZYNDAN

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(Los Angeles, US)

Kozyndan are husband-and-wife artists who work collaboratively to create highly detailed paintings and drawings for both illustration and fine art. 

The pair met while majoring in illustration at California State University, Fullerton. Since then, their projects have included CD covers for bands such as Weezer and The Postal Service, clothing (including lines of illustrated shoes), and posters for companies such as Nike, Inc.

Kozyndan care deeply about the topic of shark finning. In December 2012, Dan Kitchens posted a controversial statement about finning to accompany an Instagram photo of shark fins for sale. He referred to those who engage in the practice of finning as "Chinks" due to Chinese consumption of the shark dorsal fin.

Watch this timelapse video of them painting:


KORALIE

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(1977, Montpellier, France)

Koralie belongs to a new generation of boundary-breaking French artists that has emerged since the turn of the millennium and is now carving its mark on the global scene of street art.

Koralie—originally spelt with a “c”—did not plan to become a street artist. She graduated with a degree in architecture and worked for advertising agencies. But when she moved to Toulouse, in southwest France, graffiti was part of the local landscape and she began mingling with emerging street artists. “They told me: ‘You paint on canvas. You should paint on walls.’” At 22, she traded the canvas for the wall. “I used to think that street art was a lack of modesty: Why should I force people to see my art? Who am I to do that?” she recalls. “But then I thought: Architects do the same thing. They create buildings without asking anyone.”

She went on to become one of the most promising artists of her generation, also dabbling in graphic design and recently creating a highly prized Dunny, an action figure made of soft, smooth vinyl released last year. Her work has been seen on the streets and galleries of Tokyo, Paris, Rome, Munich, Barcelona, San Diego, and San Francisco to name a few. In New York, her work is showcased at the Joshua Liner Gallery in Manhattan. She has collaborated on numerous projects with clothing brands like Billabong, Etnies, Upper Playground, and Carhartt, In addition she has done illustrations for magazines and CD covers.

Watch this video of Koraline and Supakitch:

KOFIE ONE

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(1973, Los Angeles, US)

Augustin Kofie, or KofieOne, grew up in and has made Los Angeles his lifetime home. He has been active in the LA Graffiti community since the mid-nineties. Many of his murals and productions are still on view. As he has developed over the year, his work reflects his wide range of interests: architectural templates, deconstructed lettering, vintage collage paper, contemporary music, and 1960's-70's iconography. 

Recently he became a member of the Agents of Change, a tight crew of progressive graffiti artists, which also includes Jaybo Monk and Derm from this exhibition as well. He also is a member of the Transcend Collective with Joker, Poesia and more.

With a deep interest in process and structure, Kofie creates works of intense detail centered on the order of balance. The precision of Kofie’s “drafted” art is strongly inspired by modern architecture as well as the form and shape of deconstructed typography.  In his quest for balance, Kofie harmonizes opposing and contradictory dynamics in his work by setting futuristic compositions against vintage earth-toned palettes and collaged graphics, creating organically complex formations through meticulously structured line-work and layering. His style has been dubbed Vintage Futurism.

Watch this video about Kofie One by All City Canvas:


KMNDZ

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(Los Angeles, US)

KMNDZ, aka Johnny Rodriguez, is a Los Angeles artist who paints weatherbeaten, suffering steampunk robots and mysterious mechanical devices with street-art style and masterly technique.

A successful leader in the graphic design community, this Los Angeles based artist, has worked for some of the world’s premier design agencies and top entertainment companies. With brands like MTV Networks, Universal Pictures, Microsoft, Lexus, Disney, and Activision populating his resume, Johnny has built an impressive portfolio of both artistic and technological accomplishments in the world of graphic design and new-media. However, first and foremost, Johnny is an artist. He attributes his success in commercial design as a direct result of his passion for art. KMDNZ is about both the past and the future.

Rodriguez’s personal work is quite different from his commercial endeavors. When he sits down to paint, he puts aside the pressures of mass appeal and commercial accessibility, and instead focuses on creating art for himself. Drawing from his own life, his paintings are filled with memories of family and friends, religious undertones, and iconic elements. A recent piece features a drawing of an audio cassette embedded into a hand grenade. This represents a tough look back at the time when his father left their family to fight a war in Nicaragua, and left only an audio recording to explain his actions. 

Watch Johnny painting in his studio:

KAMI

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(1999)

Known for their large murals and installations that draw upon their personal inspirations, Kami and Sasu collaborate to build stunning iconographies. Drawing from traditional Japanese Calligraphy and sprawling patterns, they create new sensual forms in bold colors that represent their signature style. As a duo, their work is recognized by Kami’s strong line work and Sasu’s distinctive patterns.

Watch this video of Hitotzuki by Giant Robot:


JUSTIN GABBARD

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(California, US)

Justin Gabbard is an illustrator and letterer working out of his east bay studio.  His editorial client list includes The New Yorker, New York Times, New York Magazine, Wired, Afar, Scientific American, and many others. His work was most recently featured in Taschen’s Illustration Now volume 5. His works blends both hand drawn and digital media, including animation for such clients as Emirates Airlines and Microsoft. 

Justin Earned his MFA from the School of Visual art in New York in the MFA Illustration as Visual Essay program and his work has been recognized by American Illustration, 3x3, and Communication Arts.

JOSHUA BLANK

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During the turn of the century Joshua Blank was attending San Francisco Art Institute studying painting and film when he dropped out of school to move to Paris for six months to live in an abandoned building. When he returned to the US he began teaching himself photography and was reunited with Pez who he had met many years before in NYC. 

In 2004 Joshua moved back to New York City where his focus shifted to youth and street fashion photography. He also worked for Smack Mellon Gallery and began to do art handling for galleries and museums around New York and attended the Photography Program at Parsons the New School for Design where he received his BFA. During this time he continued to draw but kept his work private and would never show it to anyone. 

In late 2009, he moved back to San Francisco to photograph his friends and embark on new projects that seemed impossible in NYC. He has worked as a photo journalist and news writer in the Bronx and has shot assignments for Time Out New York, Toast Magazine, and has  contributed photos to several issues of Vice. He also worked as a product and party photographer. He has exhibited his work in New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Miami, Austin and in Paris.

Watch this video by Walrus TV: