EL MAC

(Los Angeles, US)

El Mac is an artistic historian in his own right, capturing the influence of his culture within his works of art. The influence of El Mac's Mexican and Chicano culture is written all throughout his creations. The use of both bright and dark colors gives him the ability to capture the true essence of the individual he is portraying. By incorporating additional methods such as acrylics and brush on canvas, he masterfully delves into his preferred technique of black and white photorealism to convey the human subject he is studying.

Undeniably, the subjects of his everyday life is what El Mac turns to in his art,  capturing the true essence of the individual through the candid moments he is successfully able to convey. The utilization of sepia hues along with a darker color palette gives his work a true human-like quality while also incorporating white hues to give light to certain aspects of the human face. Furthermore, precise shading by El Mac gives life to his subjects, ultimately transmitting an palpable energy through his work that is unlike no other. 

What makes El Mac's works so memorable is his ability to put a modern spin on the conventionality of the human portrait by incorporating his detailed line work. This brings an almost distorted, fragmented accompaniment to his creations, opening the doors for varying interpretation. The importance of street culture is evident as well, providing his audience with an open book as to what life must be like around El Mac. Nevertheless, whether it be through his magazine features, indoor works, illegal and legal works, or solo exhibitions, the translation of the life-like qualities of his human subjects on such a large-scale is remarkable. El Mac's purpose is simply extraordinary: painting a picture of the simple, beautiful world that is El Mac's life.

Watch this video about El Mac making a large scale mural by Rapt Studio:

EINE

(1970, London, UK)

The prolific street artist Ben Eine (Ben Flynn) is best known his series of spray-painted letter murals on storefront shutters along London’s Middlesex Street, or “Alphabet Street”, as it has become known. Eine’s trademark colorful typography adorns streets in cities all over the world, including LA, Mexico City, and Tokyo, and the artist also creates indoor installations and produces works on canvas in spray paint, acrylic, and glitter. Eine gained worldwide recognition when British Prime Minister David Cameron presented one of his works to President Obama during a state visit. He was also invited to participate in Banksy’s 2008 “Cans Festival” in London.

Watch this documentary:

DYLAN MADDUX

(Los Angeles, US)

Dylan dove into the world of photography in 1999 when he moved to San Francisco where he spent the next 12 years perfecting his craft. Most of his time was spent in Lower Haight, a district that would ultimately shape his signature style. He began working with the newly established clothing company/gallery Upper Playground and shot the works of artists the company represented at the time. His other early works consisted mainly of hip-hop editorials and advertising in the skateboard industry. From there he moved onto street photography shooting portraits of street hustlers, gang members, and “the sexy girls next door”.

His photography has been published in both domestic and international publications including Intersection (UK), Warp (Japan), Slap, Thrasher, Juxtapoz, Mass Appeal, and Swindle. He was also one of ten photographers to be published in Juxtapoz Photo, the book.He has shown at many galleries including YBCA (SF), FTC (Japan), Known Gallery (LA), BACC (Bangkok), 1AM (SF), and Cassel Gallery (SF). 

Always in need of a challenge, Maddux has stepped into the world of directing and shooting videos. To date, he’s done numerous video works in Kingston, Jamaica, Hawaii, Bangkok, Hong Kong, and San Francisco.

He has been in Southeast Asia for the last year and a half. Of that time, he spent over a year in Bangkok photographing fashion, red light, and street culture. He has recently moved to Phnom Penh, Cambodia where he is currently working on completing his first book.

Watch this video about his exhibition in Cambodia:

DUG-1

Doug Cunningham 'Dug-1' and Jason Noto form Morning Breath. In 1996, the two worked together as the in-house design department at Think Skateboards in San Francisco. There, they began a style of collaborating that would take them into the next decade.

In 2002, Cunningham and Noto formalized their partnership with the creation of Morning Breath, Inc, a boutique studio located in Brooklyn, NY. Since Then, their collaborations have grown beyond skateboard/snowboard graphics to include, music packaging, apparel, advertising, poster design and more. The two have also been part of many showings of their personal work.

Today, Doug and Jason split their creative energies and time between commercial and personal work. Over the last decade the two have been nominated for a grammy, showcased in numerous design books/publications, and have been invited to speak about, and show  their work around the globe.

Watch this Morning Breath video by offthewalltv:

DOZE GREEN

(1964, New York, US)

Doze Green translates complex metaphysical concepts through his paintings, such as the possible manipulation of energy and matter to create a timeless space. He explores meditations on matter and anti-matter, layers of consciousness, and different possibilities based on cosmology.
 

Through stream-of-consciousness painting, Doze Green creates fractured imagery to convey infinite possibilities. His intention is to reveal works with an ever-changing narrative. Multi-dimensional planes and illusion of time are presented through fragmented, incomplete figures. He believes by depicting beings that are not fully materialized, these beings are not of this realm. He presents possibilities of immortality through paintings where narratives are interminable. His collection of paintings is an extension of this metaphysical concept.
 

Cubist influences include ascending and descending planes and repetitive, overlapping, and concentric lines in an otherwise undefined landscape. For Doze Green, this energy and motion of created forms exist in a visual meeting place of ideas. Influenced by Edo period paintings, Doze Green mixes black gesso with Sumi ink and applies “creatively chaotic, and intuitive brushstrokes,” in a calligraphy-inspired and graffiti aesthetic. Doze Green translates these primitive markings as “biological entities, a swarm of arrows coming in from infinite perspective.”

Watch this interview by Walrus TV:

DORA DRIMALAS

(Athens, Greece)

Dora Drimalas is a San Francisco based designer and artist. She was born in Athens, Greece, but grew up in Houston, Texas with her large Greek family.

Dora is a formally trained graphic designer who has worked at Nike's Brand Design Group in Portland, Oregon and Tolleson Design in San Francisco, California. She is currently a principal of Hybrid Design in San Francisco, along with her husband Brian Flynn.

She has taught Communication Design and Branding at the California College of Arts and at the Academy of Art University in San Francisco. Her work has been nationally recognized by design publications such as Communication Arts, Print and How, as well as several design books. Her artwork has been exhibited in San Francisco, Portland, New York and Malaga, Spain.

DIXON

(Caracas, Venezuela)

A confluence of cultures and contradictions, Juan Carlos Noria 'Dixon' is a painter for our times. As a teen growing up in Ottawa, Canada, he became an accomplished figure skater. Grace and lines were an obsession. So, too were his ideas of subversion. He fell out of skating after hitting the rigid class structure of the sport, finding comfort (and discomfort) in visual art, on the streets with a paint can, postering, skateboarding, fleeing police. 

A strange opportunity then came. A world tour with Disney on Ice. It heightened his sense of absurdity, humour and anger, sharpened his visual and social awareness. Arriving back in Ottawa, he hung up the skates and his career took flight with live painting performances. So proficient from his days of graffiti, he quickly earned a reputation for highly resolved canvases produced in front of appreciative crowds. Through these events in various venues, Juan Carlos also ensured a showcase for other young Ottawa artists, raising the bar and pushing them to achieve with him. 

Juan always with an eye on pop culture and current events, found himself painting with increasing anger. He needed to change the channel. In November 2004, he moved to Barcelona, Spain to find a new view of the world and new audiences.

He sometimes works under the pseudonyms of royal or dixon. He has been infuenced by his contemporaries Mark Marsters, Pat Thompson and Dave Cooper. Yet he is without pretense, full of concern for others, quick to laugh and quicker to paint something ripe.

Watch this video about Dixon by DevotionBCN:

DIET

(San Francisco, US)

Tim Diet began painting in the 80's, sneaking out of his parents' house at night to "tag" alongside his older brother. The graffiti lifestyle immediately drew him in and influenced not only his craft, but his persona and idea factory as well. Diet has traveled across the US, Europe and Japan, just to paint. His recognizable work can be found on streets across the globe, in numerous books and publications, and now in galleries as his unique style continues to develop.

With childhood icons and trademarks representative of current day urban experiences, Tim Diet creates colorfully striking narratives through his juxtaposition of nostalgic imagery. His paintings are cleverly playful, evoking a non-judgmental yet multidimensional perspective of varied modern lifestyles. 

Drawing inspiration from his extensive collection of iconic relics from days past, his work communicates through fresh visual language that vividly connects to a broad audience. 

DIE ANTWOORD

(Cape Town, South Africa)

Die Antwoord is a South African rap-rave group formed in Cape Town in 2008. The group's members are rappers Ninja and Yolandi Visser (often stylized as Vi$er) and DJ Hi-Tek. Their image involves a counterculture movement called zef and the influence of photographer Roger Ballen.

Watch this video of Ninja of Die Antwoord while he paints the walls at FIFTY24SF gallery by Walrus TV:

DETH P. SUN

(San Diego, California, US)

Deth P. Sun is a painter/illustrator currently residing in Berkeley, California. He studied for two years at San Francisco State University, until he transferred to the California College of Arts and Crafts, where he received his BFA in 2002 in Painting and Drawing. 

He exhibits his work about ten to twelve times a year, usually in group shows, but sometimes he takes up a solo exhibition. His work has shown throughout the U.S. and abroad (Los Angeles, San Francisco, Austin, Seattle, Detroit, Portland, New York) for the past few years and he's done illustrations or have contributed stuff to (among other things): Chronicle Books, Giant Robot, Tiny Showcase, Urban Outfitters, Fantagraphics, Poketo, Park Life, The Exploratorium, The Howard Hugh's Medical Institute, The LA Weekly, and Nylon Magazine.

Watch this video of Deth P. Sun's studio in Oakland by Bay Area Vintage Base Ball:

DERRICK SNODGRASS

(Kentucky, US)

Derrick Snodgrass is a self taught artist and tattoo-artist. His work has been exhibited in San Francisco, London and Mexico City. He enjoys drawing and painting surreal kaleidoscopic landscapes, as if seen from the passenger window on a trip to a fantasy world of somnambulation.

For the past 3-4 years Derrick has been best known for his artistic talent, but for years before then he was extremely active in the local music scene. After completing his apprenticeship at Louisville finest shopAcme Ink, he moved to San Francisco to push his skills and become a better tattooist. He currently works atTemple Tattoo in Oakland, CA.

DENNIS MCNULTY

1981. Inauguration and attempted assassination of Ronald Reagan. Worst recession since the 30s. Emergence of AIDS. Launch of MTV, the IBM PC, Tattoo You , and the De Lorean. Keith Haring sprays subways, Guernica returns to Madrid, Ali loses his last bout, Sandra Day O'Connor is the first woman appointed to the U.S. Supreme Court, and Dennis McNulty, age 6, develops an intense fascination with the patterns, palettes, and compositions of the pinup illustrations, car ads, and images of menswear featured in his father's collection of Playboy. 

Twenty-eight years later, McNulty re-engages the colors, shapes, and layouts of early 1980s men's magazine design, zeroing in on the genre's own re-engagement of the pinup icons of the 1940s and 1950s. Mindful of the broader definitions of "pervert" as both noun and verb, McNulty distorts the quasi-underground tradition of pinup art, presenting it not as nostalgia or historical quotation, but as a subjective, personal aesthetic interpretation. The results are provocative, infused with a disquieting sexual force that is by turns amusing and unsettling.

DENNIS MCNETT

(1972, Virginia, US)

Dennis McNett has been carving surly block prints for over 18 years. His encouragement as a kid came from his blind grandfather, who told him over and over again that his drawings were good. Later influences came from the raw high-energy imagery pouring out of the early 80's skateboard and punk rock scene.

His graphic aesthetic and love for narrative work has been translated in many ways. His work ranges from larger than life Viking ship performances and parades in Philly, resurrecting Nordic giants on West Broadway in Manhattan, Dragon slayings in Oklahoma, masks, installations and sculptures to unique hand-carved wood cut pieces, traditional relief prints, and graphics. 
 

Participating in both the fine art and design worlds, Dennis has been fortunate enough to create series’ for Anti-Hero skateboards, design shoes for Vans, have work fill the windows of Barneys, NY, and participate in the Deitch Artparade. His work has been featured in The New York Times, Juxtapoz magazine, Thrasher and Complex Magazine. 

Watch Dennis in his studio by Vans:

DEB

(Melbourne, Australia)

Deb's females and characters dominate the streets of Melbourne. She paints huge walls, and morphs her creations into species that wow you. And, she does it all in heels. 

Her dolls appeal to men and women alike. They're not brash or conflicting, but easy to embrace, fun, exotic and entertaining to comprehend and toy with. She tackles walls and fine art pieces with an attention to detail and creativeness that we can all admire. 

DAVID ELLIS

(1971, North Carolina, US)

David Ellis is an artist born into a family immersed in music. In his youth Ellis had little patience with piano lessons or reading sheet music. Instead he absorbed everything on The Super Mix, a Saturday night radio program broadcast from the nearby Fort Bragg military base. Each week a new cassette tape of emerging New York hip-hop found its way into the life of a child growing up in a log house in North Carolina. By the time Grandmaster Flash and the Furious 5 released The Message, Ellis was writing rhymes and banging out beats with his friends on the desks at school. Things have since become much louder.

Ellis' work continues to interpret music and sound. His paintings are often recorded in a form of digital time-lapse animation Ellis calls motion painting. Like jazz, these works provide Ellis with an opportunity to combine ideas with collaborators or work solo within a form that promotes improvisation and spontaneity. For a recent commission the artist painted a truck from sunup to sundown over five consecutive days. Ellis often stages events when exhibiting his motion paintings, inviting musicians, performers, and sound artists to interpret the work live. His motion painting, Paint on Trucks in a World in Need of Love was recently exhibited at MoMA.

His paintings are frequently improvised. He works directly on the walls of spaces that remain open to the public during installation and shares the making of the work with viewers. The experience is much like a band playing in front of a passing audience.

Ellis further explores sound with kinetic installations that produce analogue sequences in rhythm.

DAVID CHOE

(1976, Los Angeles, US)

David Choe is an American figure painter, muralist, graffiti artist and graphic novelist of Korean descent. His figure paintings, which explore themes of desire, degradation, and exaltation, are characterized by a raw, frenetic tone that he has termed "dirty style". In the graffiti world, he is identified with the bucktoothed whale he has been spray-painting on the streets since he was in his teens.

Choe wanted to be a comic book creator. In a single night in 1996, he wrote a 35-page book of violent sexual obsession which, coupled with drawings and paintings that he created over the next couple of years, eventually became the graphic novel Slow Jams. Choe initially made about 200 copies of Slow Jams on a photocopier and gave them away at Comic-Con in 1998, hoping to interest a publisher.

In late 2003, Choe arrived in Tokyo. In his first 24 hours he punched an undercover security guard due to a misunderstanding resulting from the language barrier. He was arrested and sentenced to three months in prison for violent assault. During that time, he suffered from loneliness, anxiety and a lack of access to art materials. With small pieces of paper and the one pen his cell was allowed, he made over 600 drawings from prison, including portraits of his Japanese cellmates. He also executed a series of erotic paintings using soy sauce, tea, blood and urine for color. After three months, he was released on the condition that he leave Japan immediately and not return.

Watch the documentary "Dirty Hands The Art & Crimes of David Choe": 

DATE FARMERS

(California, US)

The Date Farmers are Armando Lerma and Carlos Ramírez. The artwork by The Date Farmers echoes Mexican-American heritage rooted in California pop culture. Their paintings, collages and three-dimensional sculptures contain elements influenced by graffiti, Mexican street murals, traditional revolutionary posters, sign painting, prison art and tattoos. Living in the peaceful seclusion of the desert, the artists often travel across the border, into Mexicali and Oaxaca to scavenge for materials. With traces of ancient indigenous art, mushrooms, and mescal, the Date Farmers combine familiar pop iconography and corporate logos with figures from comics, folklore and Catholicism. Desert creatures such as coyotes, snakes, and scorpions appear frequently in their works as well as found materials like stamps, bottle caps, hand painted or collaged lettering.

The Date Farmers have a history that is just as compelling as their artwork. Originally from Indio, California, they met at an art gallery in Coachella Valley ten years ago. Marsea Goldberg of New Image Art gave them their first show, naming them The Date Farmers because Armando’s father owned a Date Farm in Coachella where Carlos worked, picking dates. Carlos’ mother was a migrant who once worked with civil rights leader Cesar Chavez -American activist and co-founder of the United Farm Workers- during the grape boycott of the 1970s. Through their unique perspective as American-born Chicanos, The Date Farmers explore topical subjects with a profound simplicity.

Watch this video by alf alpha:

DALEK

(1968, Connecticut, US)

Dalek is an American artist and designer based in Raleigh, North Carolina. He has published two books featuring his artwork, as well as being included in many other books and magazines.

Merging animation, Japanese pop art, and an urban aesthetic, James Marshall 'Dalek' is best known for his Space Monkey character -a strange, vaguely humanoid mouse that he would depict in an array of bright colors and twisted circumstances, often wielding a butcher’s cleaver. Working under the name Dalek, Marshall expressed his ideas through the Space Monkey character until 2007, when he began working in a purely abstract style. 

He has always been engaged in skateboard and graffiti subcultures, and Marshall cites his two-year assistantship in the studio of controversial Japanese artist Takashi Murakami as a formative experience.

Watch a timelapse video by Hurley here:

D*FACE

(England)

D*Face is a London-based sculptor and stencil artist, who uses the city as his own personal gallery sticking, pasting and drawing on any wall or space available. Known for its subversive nature, his work challenges our expectations by overturning iconic imagery and introducing us to his own bizarre characters and creations.

Growing up in London, D*Face had a childhood interest in graffiti, and as a teenager was drawn to the street culture and imagery associated with skateboarding. Following a degree in Illustration and Design, D*Face went to work at creative agency, but was disillusioned with it and continued to pursue his own work on the side. Eventually his personal work eclipsed his paid work and he left his job to concentrate on his artistic ambitions.

His characters, such as "D*Dog" are vehicles for which the viewer questions their relationship with the work, it aims to encourage the public to not just see but to look at their surroundings. An associate of Banksy, he has shown works at the world famous Santa's Ghetto and recently had his own solo exhibition at the Stolen Space gallery in East London.

Watch this interview by Walrus TV:

CUM*

These guys are a anonymous art collective from Belgium. The following are pictures from "Letters to the Editor" featuring the work of Cum*, Eine, Brent McHugh, Ryan Jacob Smith, and Mario Wagner.