PARTICIPATING ARTISTS AND BIOS

Andy Biersack: Born on December 26, 1990. Lead Singer/Founder of Black Veil Brides. Andy started the band when he was about fourteen and is originally from the Cincinnati area.

Black Veil Brides is an American rock band based out of Hollywood, California. The group is composed of Andrew Biersack (lead vocals), Ashley Purdy (bass, backing vocals), Jake Pitts (lead guitar), Jinxx (guitar, violin), and Christian “CC” Coma (drums). Black Veil Brides are known for their distinct appearance, mainly being inspired by Kiss’ stage persona as well as numerous 1980s metal acts.

Their freshman album, We Stitch These Wounds released on Stand By Records sold nearly 11,000 copies in its first week, reaching the position of #36 of the Chart Billboard 200 and #1 Independent Release, following their major release Set The World On Fire on Major Label Lava Music/Universal Republic Records.   The song, Set the World on Fire was featured in the Transformers: Dark of the Moon movie soundtrack. The album debuted at number 17 on the Billboard 200 albums chart. The album reached #73 on the Canadian Albums Chart.^[14] It also achieved moderate success in the United Kingdom by reaching number 3 in the UK Rock Chart.

 

 

Gail Potocki: born 1961, in Detroit, Michigan, U.S.) is an award-winning Symbolist artist utilizing the skills and techniques of the Old Masters in the 21st century. Gail Potocki chose an arcane path of study, training intensely to learn to wield oil on canvas. Influenced by the elegant strength of Anthony Van Dyck and the melancholic mystery of the late 19th century French and Belgian Symbolists artists like Fernand Khnopff, Jean Delville, and Dante Gabriel Rossetti. This blending of inspiration and technical ability creates a method of expression rooted in compelling realism, branching both seductively and effortlessly into the realms of possibility. Potocki’s first monograph, The Union of Hope and Sadness: The Art of Gail Potocki was released in the Summer of 2006, a hardcover book from Olympian Publishing thoroughly examining the first six years of her career and features text by Thomas Negovan, Richard Metzger and Jim Rose of the Jim Rose Circus. Gail was the First Place winner of the First International Online Symbolist Art Exhibition, and has exhibited worldwide, sharing wall space with Gustav Klimt, Egon Schiele, H. R. Giger, Salvador Dalí, and Ernst Fuchs. Gail potocki currently lives and works in Chicago. Source: www.gailpotocki.com (official site)

Paul Chatem: Paul Chatem was born in 1974 in Bellevue, Washington, but grew up in La Crescenta on the outskirts of Los Angeles. He spent most of his time hunting snakes and scorpions in the Tujunga Wash, exploring ruins of forgotten ranches, shantytowns, and asylums, and ducking punches at punk shows with his friends. Growing up in an environment where nature, history, and the impoverished were constantly being pushed aside to make room for golf courses and mini-malls, Paul developed a keen talent for representing the rift between rich and poor, the working man and the boss man, in his surreal, often nightmarish, narrative paintings.

Chatem’s folksy, yet modern illustration style is deeply rooted in vintage advertising, comic books, and animation. His finished pieces are subtly aged and worn, creating the sense that they could have just as easily been constructed in the 1920s as much as they are very characteristic of the times we live in now. is current works focus on a series of large- and small- scale kinetic pieces that invite curiosity and interaction. By simply turning a crank, Chatem’s hand-cut wooden gears spring to life, and the viewer is able to manipulate the composition and create movement within his vivid, carefully painted scenes.

Chatem’s folksy, yet modern illustration style is deeply rooted in vintage advertising, comic books, and animation. His finished pieces are subtly aged and worn, creating the sense that they could have just as easily been constructed in the 1920s as much as they are very characteristic of the times we live in now. is current works focus on a series of large- and small- scale kinetic pieces that invite curiosity and interaction. By simply turning a crank, Chatem’s hand-cut wooden gears spring to life, and the viewer is able to manipulate the composition and create movement within his vivid, carefully painted scenes.

Major influences in his creative life include Max Fleischer, E.C. Segar, Tom Waits, Charlie patton, The Cramps, and a host of early advertising illustrators. He has been honored to show his works at the Shooting Gallery, SF; Copro, Black maria, C.A.V.E., and Dialect Galleries in Los Angeles; Feinkunst-Krueger Gallery, Hamburg, Mondo Pop and Dorothy Circus, Rome; as well as numerous group shows in Europe and North America. Paul is currently hiding out in the fog-bound sierra foothills with his tortoises, the mud, and the bugs. Source: www.paulchatem.com (official site)

Kaves: Michael McLeer a/k/a Mr. Kaves’ life up to this point represents all that is amazing, albeit and tumultuous about growing up as a street kid in Brooklyn, NY. Rising up from a loving, yet chaotic family life, Kaves began flexing his artistic urges in the tunnels of the NYC transit system at the ridiculously young age of 10. These activities were well documented in Henry Chalfant’s (Style Wars) pioneering book in 1984 titled, SprayCan Art. While these endeavors secured him a spot in the graffiti hall-of-fame, they almost landed him a rap sheet.

Realizing that his creativity could be applied in more productive areas, Kaves utilized his boundless energy and well-oiled savvy to knock down the doors of several major corporations and became their go-to street artist and trend forecaster. Kaves has designed exclusive material for NIKE, Rockstar Games, WWE, PONY, MTV, RECON, ADIDAS, Van’s Warped Tour and many others. Kaves has also designed logos and various graphics for world- renowned artists such as Beastie Boys and Everlast. Additionally, Kaves’ has been commissioned to do paintings by various musicians, entertainers and athletes. His work has been displayed in magazines and at various art shows and events. He has been published in books including SprayCan Art, Burning New York, Mascots & Mugs: The Characters and Cartoons of Subway Graffiti, Fresh Paint NYC, Graffiti Planet 2 and Piecebook: The Secret Drawings of Graffiti Writers. Most recently, Kaves was commissioned to contribute paintings to the MTV Real World Brooklyn loft, as well as, contributing works to the permanent installation in the Gunter Sachs Museum of Fine Arts in Germany, The Blackstone Hotel in Chicago, Illinois and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, Ohio.

Mr. Kaves also holds title as co-creator and producer of the JAM Awards, a tribute concert and award show benefiting the Jam Master Jay Foundation for Music, which raises money for public school music programs. The event was sponsored by Adidas and Current TV among others. Some of the performers included Snoop Dogg, Everlast, DMC, LL Cool Jay, Mobb Deep, De La Soul and others.

Another huge piece of Mr. Kaves’ life has been spent as a rap pioneer. His hip-hop group formed in the early 90′s, Lordz of Brooklyn, left a substantial impact on the music business worldwide for over a decade. Today, Kaves continues rocking the mic as the co-frontman of the punk/rap group, simply titled The Lordz. The band’s debut album The Brooklyn Way was recently released via Warner Music Group.

Branching out to television, Kaves co-created and produced The Brooklyn Way, a multi- episode docu-series about life as The Lordz, which premiered last year on Fuse TV. The show incited a remarkable regional groundswell during its first season on Madison Square Garden’s MSG network and was then picked up by nationally by Fuse. As a result of the tremendously received album and TV show, the group’s music has been heard recently on The

Ellen DeGeneres Show, Good Day New York, New York Knicks, Giants and Mets games, CBS TV’s CSI: New York MTV Real World: Brooklyn and a performance on NBC’s Late Night with Conan O’Brien.

In addition, Mr. Kaves owns and operates a successful art, apparel and tattoo shop, called Brooklyn Made Tattoo which also serves as the hub for all his creative endeavors. Source: www.mrkaves.com (official site)

Sylvia Ji: Possessing an artistic voice as unique as the times we live in, Sylvia Ji is at once contemplative, spiritual, enigmatic, and yet whimsically funny. Above all else, it is perhaps beauty that emerges as her defining characteristic, and her art reflects this: an extension of herself; a passionate appreciation of simple aesthetic pleasure fused with intimately complex subject matter.

Make no mistake – Sylvia Ji is the real deal: an artist of genuine, sometimes brutal, sincerity in a world of swirling uncertainty and constant change. Yet, she does more than consistently adjust to the change that life brings, she thrives on it; taking life as it is, content to simply “be”. Using the simplest of materials to create her work….she would say “letting it magically happen”… the results obliterate the antiquated lines between ostensibly “high brow” and “low brow” art. A self-professed lover of travel and life long student of international culture and art, Sylvia’s experiences and relationships continue to shape her exploration of indefinable human emotion. And while the future remains as mysterious to her as she may be to her audience, Sylvia stands confidently poised to continue to surprise. Now, and in the years to come, her life’s journey is more than the sum of its parts – drawn from her past, built on the present and beyond fascinating expressions of love and lust, beauty and decay, delicacy and passion.

Born In 1982 BFA Illustration ‘05, Academy of Art, San Francisco Currently resides in Los Angeles, CA Source: www.sylviaji.com (official site)

Shawn Barber: body of work focuses primarily on painting, portraiture, and documenting contemporary tattoo culture. Barber’s intimate renditions of tattooed individuals balance both meticulous brush strokes and loose energy. Figurative in nature, these large paintings take on abstractions with explosive colors, meandering lines and paint dripping down the canvas.

Barber earned his B.F.A from Ringling College of Art in 1999 and has paintings held in private collections throughout the United States, Canada, Asia, Europe and Australia. His paintings have been exhibited in diverse solo and group venues including: Joshua Liner Gallery, NYC, NY; Billy Shire Fine Arts, Los Angeles, CA; The Shooting Gallery, San Francisco, CA; Mesa Contemporary Arts Center, Mesa, AZ; Yves Laroche Gallery, Montreal, Canada; FFDG, San Francisco, CA; University of Houston, Houston TX.

His first published book of art titled ‘Tattooed Portraits’ was published by 9mm Books In 2006, followed by his tome, ‘Forever and Ever’, a 256 page hardcover book dedicated to the Tattooed Portraits Series. Shawn is currently working on a third book in the Tattooed Portraits Series with Last Gasp Books to be released in July 2012.Among his extensive achievements, he has taught drawing, painting and the business of art for 10 years at various art schools throughout the country. After years of documenting the art of tattoo, it was a logical progression to pick up the tattoo machine and add tattooist to his resume. When he is not traveling or painting, he can be found working at Memoir Tattoo in Los Angeles, CA. Source: www.sdbarber.com (official site)

Kim Saigh: tattoo career began the day she received her first tattoo at the age of 16. She remembers wanting to take the machine out of the guy’s hand & do it herself, but instead she kept trying to backseat drive the tattoo- ‘I would’ve hated myself if I was him’, recalling that day. Two years later, her hopes of holding the machine in her own hand became a reality when she was offered an apprenticeship based on a drawing for a friend’s tattoo. She relocated to Chicago in 1994 & a year later was offered the humbling experience of working next to Guy Aitchison at Guilty & Innocent Productions-the person who is solely responsible for melting my brain when it came to tattoos. Several years later, she opened Cherry Bomb Tattoo & worked alongside her friend Patrick Cornolo for 10 plus years & simultaneously cultivated a deep love for yoga. The idea of living in California had haunted me since her teens, and when she had just about resigned the idea of doing so, she got a call to join LA Ink…..and so she did, for 3 seasons. Aside from whisking me away to Los Angeles, the experience introduced her to many inspiring new artists & friends, and has re-acquainted her with old friends from the tattoo community.‘it’s been the best move of my life to date’ she says. her life in tattooing has been no less than serendipitous, and 18 years later, is still privileged to do what she loves to do- ‘and I love it more than ever!’ Source: www.kimsaigh.com (official site)

Shepard Fairey: Born Frank Shepard Fairey, February 15, 1970, in Charleston, South Carolina. In 1992, while still an illustration student at RISD, Fairey started his first business venture, Alternate Graphics, to showcase his emerging design and silkscreen printing talents. He created stickers, t-shirts, skateboards, and posters which were all available via black and white mail order catalogs that he distributed. He also did small commercial printing jobs for clients to help cover some of his expenses. In 1994, Helen Stickler created a documentary

film, Andre the Giant Has a Posse, that focused on Fairey and the growing phenomenon of his subversive stickers and posters. By 1995, Fairey had two or three full time employees, two of whom were long time friends from Charleston, whom he had known through his many years of skateboarding. During this time, he also created a small sister brand, Subliminal Projects, with Blaize Blouin, and released several skateboard and poster designs using this moniker. Fairey created a skateboard video, ADD (Attention Deficit Disorder), that showcased the small group of skateboarders that he sponsored via Alternate Graphics.

In 1996, Fairey moved from Providence, RI, to San Diego, CA, to partner with Andy Howell in Giant Distribution. Shortly thereafter, Fairey partnered up with Dave Kinsey, Phillip De Wolff, and Howell to form First Bureau of Imagery, FBI, a branding, marketing and design firm targeting the emerging action sports market. In 1999, FBI was dissolved and Fairey, Kinsey, and De Wolff formed BLK/MRKT, another branding, marketing, and design firm. During this time, Fairey met his future wife, Amanda Ayala, who began working with him. In 2001, the BLK/ MRKT offices were moved from San Diego to Los Angeles and expanded to include a small

art gallery. De Wolff’s partnership was purchased by Fairey and Kinsey, who became the sole propietors of the operation, now doing business from an office in the historic Wiltern building located in Koreatown. In 2003, Fairey and Kinsey decided to make a professional split; Fairey kept the location and most of the employees, renamed his agency Studio Number One [1], and renamed the art gallery Subliminal Projects [2]. Kinsey took the name BLK/MRKT and its gallery, and relocated it to Culver City, CA, where it is still in operation. In 2004, Fairey teamed up with long time friend Roger Gastman to create a quarterly publication, Swindle. The magazine documents pop culture, fashion, and music, and each issue is released in both soft cover and hard cover. In 2006, Fairey released a comprehensive, hard cover monograph, Supply and Demand, that documents much of his personal and professional design work. The entire book was designed in-house at Studio Number One and it is published by Ginko Press. It is currently in its third edition. Source: www.thegiant.org (official site)

Usugrow: A skull, flower, horror character, delicate line drawn by black ink on white paper in a pointillist, and complete commitment to the detail. Whether its motif is negative or positive, what you will feel consistently from his piece is the dignified beauty. He came accross a hardcore music when he was a teenager, and he found a path to go by experiencing not only its sound and attitude but also a lot of artworks there. Then, he got himself involved in skateboard, graffiti, hiphop, tattoo, anything that was related to hardcore music. He was deeply in the style wars revolving around the underground. He started his activity by making a flyer art at a local hardcore scene in Sendai which is his hometown Fukushima in early 1990. Since he loved drawing from the beginning, it was natural for him to set up his stage of creation there, as he said. And his artwork got gradually spread to the hardcore scene through the network of underground by word of mouth. Around the same time, he also established his own clothing line and it did not take long for his artwork to become popular besides the hardcore scene. Usugrow’s activity has been supported by a broad range of people, such as bands and kids from underground harcore and metal scene, skaters, hip hop heads, kids bombing streets. And it’s none other than the proof that his inquisitiveness towards music and art has been reflected to his art piece. Right now, he is working based in Tokyo, doing album covers and merchandises for foreign hardcore and metal bands and hip hop groups as well as domestic bands. He’s been also working on artworks for several clothing brands and skateboard companies, and trying some paintings instead of using an ink and some experimental artworks by using organic materials such as wood for several years now. White and black, in other words, light and dark sides of life. Since most of his current artworks have been created for clients, it’s hard to state positively that his own message is fully contained in an art piece.

However, he’s got the simplest and minimal methodology of black ink on white paper and hand- drawing and his stoic attitude that he has never catered to insubstantial media’s propaganda and continued to be supported by the network which was developed by word of mouth, and these might be representing his own style, message and identity as Japanese. Source: www.usugrow.com (official site)

Chloe Trujillo: Chloe was born and raised in Paris ,France around a true creative artistic energy :her parents were successfull fashion designers,her grandfather was a baritone at the Opera,her grandmother a pianist. Their place was a constant gathering of artists and personalities from all over the world.

As a Scorpio, Chloé is a tied to her passions, needing to create and create endlessly, but she is also very secretive and rebellious. So as a young shy child, she started using art to express herself and get people’s attention. The oldest of 3 siblings, Chloé felt like an observer of the life around her, she developed a

taste for danger, a craving for experimenting life at its fullest to prove to herself that she really exists… Going from one extreme to the next, she uncovered some of her inner truths ,encountered new ways of expression in music-through her voice and through street culture (hanging out with punks in squatts, spending nights in the catacombs,etc..), she also enriched herself finding humanity’s soul starvation could be her own…

Having another passion in abstract mathematics, she received a degree in science and matter structure, and while in University, one of her drawings was picked to promote a little art exhibit there. So she submitted her artwork and was accepted in different art schools, one of which was the “Ecole du Louvre.” She discovered all new spectrum of expressions through a lot of different mediums and techniques, widened her artistic horizon and knowledge. She continued to practice music, solfeggio and singing. Meanwhile, she also appeared in a few Parisian theatres performing. It was all fun in appearance… Until she felt a void… Something was missing, she began to feel doubt, questioning the meaning of it all. A shift occurred when she was assaulted by a serial rapist and murderer, she fought for a life that she previously thought had lost its value. More than ever, she needed to exorcise some emotions . The incident triggered a rise of consciousness in her. She had made that event happen in her own unconscious mind to open herself up to the different realms of reality and truth. She discovered meditation,studied works of great spiritual masters and began utilizing the connection between the “Source” and her work. She became a Reiki practitioner and a channeler and the connection became even be stronger. The purpose of her work switched, it became an alley for spiritual liberation. She found she could heal herself and others through images, colors, sounds-vibrations – Shortly after, following her passion for performing, she entered the American Musical Academy of New York City and played in a few off-Broadway productions. She then moved to Los Angeles, continued her exploration of vocal work, sang anywhere she could, from underground rock bands, operas to a gospel choir, started writing, connecting lyrics with images and sounds. She soon married her true soulmate Robert and gave birth to a boy and a girl. Motherhood added a new dimension in her previous knowledge of Love and Share.

Passionate about life’s mysteries and fascinated by our dormant human potential, she still continues the search through her multi-sensorial work … After so many years of performing, one night she experienced the ultimate, magical Oneness!!! And that’s what she unknowingly starved for….

We are One, all connected, all energy, bringing the scientific and the spiritual worlds together again for good! Source: www.chloeinart.com (official site)

Robert Trujillo: Born October 23, 1964 in Santa Monica, California. He’s got rhythm, and he’s most certainly got music. Now Robert Trujillo’s also got the job of being Metallica’s new bassist and family member…one that will doubtless fit this most righteous and cheerful of Southern Californians like a glove.

Although he sometimes does use a pick, Trujillo is best known as a baaaad motherplucker, a finger-playin’ bass monster who’s dexterity, tones and attitude have seen him grace the bass of Suicidal Tendencies, Infectious Grooves and Ozzy Osbourne’s band since his first professional work with Suicidal in 1989. It all stems back to a childhood filled with variety and spice. Growing up in Venice Beach “Dog Town”, Trujillo heard everything, from Led Zeppelin to Motown with a chunk of funk in between. Joined with a young love of surfing, Trujillo developed a rhythm and a vibe that saw him play with a variety of local bands through his early 20s until he met Mike Muir of Suicidal Tendencies via his High School buddy, Suicidal guitarist Rocky George. the two got on infamously well, and thus began a rich and fruitful relationship which saw Rob establish himself as one of the most exciting bass talents in the rock world.

In the early ’90s, he and Muir formed the experimental funk-rockers Infectious Grooves, and then in the mid-’90s Trujillo joined up with Ozzy Osbourne. Together with drummer Mike Bordin, Trujillo formed one of rock music’s most soild and reliable rhythm units. Rob’s name first floated by the Metallicamp during Suicidal’s supporting role on the Summer Shed tour of ’94, when all the band noted his enthusiastic style and performances. Thus when it was time to consider who could step up and take the bass full-time in Metallica, Rob’s name was an obvious choice. By all accounts, Trujillo’s audition dared the band NOT to give him the job, and even producer Bob Rock was heard saying how complete and unequivocally whole the band sounded with Rob playing. And so it was that on Thursday, February 24th 2003, Robert Trujillo walked in to the HQ and saw Ulrich, Hammett and Hetfield immediately start applauding him. Again, Rob is the perfect fit, a calm, even-keeled man with experience and full bass props…and genuinely one of the nicest guys around. It all adds up to the 4th member, an equal part of the Metallica family and an exciting new stage in Metallihistory. Source: www.metallica.com (official site)

Lauren Bergman: Lauren Bergman grew up in Washington, D.C., before relocating to Manhattan in 1987 to study painting and design at Parson’s School of Design and The Art Students League in New York. Influenced strongly as a young woman by her mother, a model and activist, Bergman began her quest to explore and discover the complexities of female identity and relationships. Bergman grew up observing her mother’s revolutionary disposition, reacting against cultural expectations of the times, an environment that encouraged Bergman to become an accomplished artist.

As a high school student Bergman was involved in art courses at the Corcoran School of Art . Her exceptional talents and mature narratives quickly landed her gallery exhibitions in Washington, D.C., exhibiting among renowned American realists, including Burton Silverman and Sondra Freckelton. Lauren Bergman is now regarded as a preeminent female contemporary artist emerging in the 21st Century, respected for her contributions to feminist- inspired art. Select solo exhibitions in New York City include New Works at O.K. Harris Gallery, and American Dream at Makor Gallery. Group shows include Charity By Numbers and ?The War: The Anti-War Show at Corey Helford Gallery, All About Women at Carl Hammer Gallery in Chicago, and Innocence and Insight at Claire Oliver Fine Art in New York City. Bergman has been published in The New York Times, Xlr8r, Boing Boing, Fecal Face, Juxtapoz, Absolute Arts, Glasstire, and Vinyl Pulse. Bergman currently lives and works in Manhattan. Source: www.laurenbergman.net (official site)

Per Øyvind Haagensen: “I’m a concept artist and freelance illustrator producing art for books, film and games. Working mainly for US clients through my New York based agency, I live in my home country of Norway. At present I’m continuing my work for Warner Bros. as a style guide artist on the latest Batman film by Christopher Nolan, The Dark Knight Rises, having previously created art for the Green Lantern movie.

Although I’ve always had a deep passion and inherent need to express myself through visual media I didn’t really pursue an artistic career until my mid twenties. Having been born and raised in a small village up by the Arctic Circle in Norway I looked upon my creative aspirations little more than a dream without solid ground. I chose to go for a more practical education within electronics and computers. I realised early on this wasn’t something I’d necessarily want to do for the rest of my life, but it did also open my eyes to the many creative possibilities the computer can offer.

I went on to spend many years experimenting with 3d animation, sculpting and even music before settling with digital painting as the preferred medium of choice. This background has been invaluable in the development of my current aesthetics. It has also made me more open to continue expand my toolset in whatever way to help bring my visions to life.

In 2005 I moved to England to get an art degree at the University of Lincoln. While still finishing my degree I got connected with the agency Shannon Associates, and was fortunate enough to start my career pre-graduation, creating illustrations for magazines, books and advertisements. One of my paintings from this period, ‘Satan I’, also ended up being used as cover art for Heaven and Hell’s album ‘The Devil You Know’.

I received my Bachelor of Arts in 2008 and landed a job as a concept artist for Age of Conan, the MMORPG computer game. After a couple of years designing ancient monsters, weapons, armors and temples with the other amazing artists at the Funcom studio in Oslo I went on to freelance for Warner Bros. Parallell to this I have also been involved in many other great projects, producing art for franchises like The Lord of the Rings, World of Warcraft and The Walking Dead.” (Per Haagensen)

Nate Van Dyke: Nate (N8) Van Dyke is a prolific artist and illustrator who began drawing at the age of two and has yet to stop. N8′s medium of choice ranges from: pencil, ink, marker, watercolor, gauche, acrylic and oils. Regardless of what medium N8 picks up, his signature style can be seen in the contrast of his thin and thick lines in his pen and ink work and the high sheen contrast in his mixed media pieces. N8′s heavily detailed illustrations feature his heavy metal humans and his well-known future primitive apes with dark menacing personalities. His color work features studies of animals (apes, elephants, giraffes) against lustrous backdrops.

N8 is a full time illustrator and artist. His former job was as a senior concept artist at NCsoft working on City of Hereos. Prior to that, he finished creating concept art and storyboards for the Sega video game, Iron Man. His work has also been featured in several magazines such as JUXTAPOZ, XBox, PlayStation and Heavy Metal. Over the years N8 has attracted clients such as Converse, Levi Strauss, Scion, EMI Records, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Burton Snowboards, Slayer and Wired.

N8’s work has been commissioned and showcased internationally. In 2008, he had two gallery shows: London and Portland, Oregon. In February 2009, he won a Silver Award in the Editorial category of Spectrum 16. Source: www.n8vandyke.com (official site)

David Stoupakis: Born David Michael Stoupakis on the 26th of July, 1974, in Brighton, Massachusetts, to Greek-Italian, first generation American construction foreman George Stoupakis and his Cape-Briton Island Nova Scotia wife Anne, a hard working woman to say the least at everything she does. Both of them being artists themselves they would go on to push and encourage David to become an Artist.

David was born premature with numerous complications at birth and many thought he would not make it home from the hospital. Mother Anne knew she had to set strength in her new little one and so she gave him the name David and believed with this name little David would be able to beat the giant complications. Just one month later, David left the hospital to see his new home and two older siblings, brother Alex and sister Laura.

Within the first grade of school David was found to have a severe learning disability and his Doctors informed that David would develop more on the artistic side and that he may have the ability to become a great artist. So when the talents in David truly started to shine. His parents were proud and very supportive however his newfound artistic ability concerned his teachers. On several occasions David’ s “gloomy” drawings were the subject at teacher parent meetings. A few years later a wild art teacher entered David’ s life and encouraged him, opened his mind and drove him to experiment. Within that year David made the choice to dedicate himself to his artwork.

In 1992 David gave the Art Institute of Boston a one year try and quickly found that being schooled was not for him. In 1993 he began his road to developing himself and became a self- taught Artist. It was around 1995 when the first painting sold and by 1996 David was working as a contract 2 D / 3D Animator Artist for a game company. Then in 1999 David left the gaming industry and refocused his talents to painting full time. Also, that year he met his companion Aprella, and the two became muses for each other. David lives and works in New York with Aprella and their lovely rescued cat. He continues his dedication to painting and his remarkable works continue to grow. Source: www.davidstoupakis.com (official site)

Joe Petagno: (born January 1, 1948) is an artist primarily known for creating images used on heavy metal album covers. His work has graced covers for bands such as Motörhead, Marduk, Nightshade, and Illdisposed. Petagno was born in Portland, Maine and left the United States in 1972. He worked with Hipgnosis before meeting Motörhead’s Lemmy Kilmister. In 1975, he designed “Snaggletooth” for the band’s Motörhead album and has continued to design the majority of the album and single sleeve covers for the band.

In 1979, Petagno went with a travelling exhibition, sponsored by the Shah of Iran. During this time, he visited France and met his partner, Sanne, in Denmark, where he has lived ever since.

It has been said that Joe Petagno’s paintings never fail to smash the retina like a broad sword to the skull. Petagno’s unmistakeable art has spanned several generations and crept into the very sinews of the contemporary counter – cultural media. His work appears worldwide on Posters, Record and CD covers, Collectable card games, Comic- and Sci-fi book covers, Magazines, Merchandise, Advertising campaigns, videos and Film. Source: www.petagno.dk (official site)

Tony Alva: Tony Alva was born in 1957, in Santa Monica California. In 1968, Alva got his first surfboard and skateboard and developed a passion for surfing, skateboarding and rock-n-roll. In 1972, he joined the legendary Z-Boys skateboard team along with Jay Adams and Stacy Peralta. Alva later went on to win the Men’s World Overall Professional Skateboard Championship in 1977. In the 1980s, Tony formed the infamous “Alva Posse” and sponsors innovative skaters including: Christian Hosoi, Ray Barbee, Mark Gonzalez, Dave Duncan, Eddie Reategui, Chris Cook, John Thomas, Jeff Hartsel, Craig Johnson, John Gibson, Bill Danforth, Fred Smith III, and Jim Murphy.

In 1999, he was presented the X Games Life Time Achievement Award from Tony Hawk, and in 2000, he received the Legend Award from Transworld Skateboard Magazine.

Recently he was featured in the Sundance and Independent Spirit award-winning documentary “Dogtown and Z-Boys” (2002). Tony Alva was an authenticity consultant and stunt coordinator on the upcoming Sony feature film, “Lords Of Dogtown” (2005), based on his life with the Z-Boys. Source: www.alvaskates.com (official site)

Brian M. Viveros: Celebrated fetish artist Brian M. Viveros is internationally embraced for his erotic paintings of doe-eyed beauties with Marlboros dangling seductively from their lips and has also recently been utilizing the medium of film to capture the dark and evocative debris that radiates from his mind. His paintings are a drunken mix of oil, airbrush, acrylic, and ink. In his work Viveros shines a light on his own inner world and society at large and aims to captivate even the most jaded eyes.

Viveros’ recognition accelerated with his participation in ‘The Art of Porn’ exhibition held in Switzerland (1997), where he exhibited alongside H.R. Giger. Since then Viveros’ work has been exhibited extensively in North America and Europe in numerous gallery shows and at Aqua Art Miami (2009) and GenArt’s Vanguard Fair (2008). His work has also been featured in numerous books including Les Barany’s ‘Carnivora: The Dark Art Of Automobiles’, Harry Saylor and Carolyn Frisch’s ‘Edgy Cute: From Neo-Pop to Low Brow and Back Again’, Matt Jordan’s ‘Weirdo Noir’, and Erotic Signature’s ‘The World’s Greatest Erotic Art of Today – Vol. 1 and Vol. II’.

His work has also been featured in the pages of Juxtapoz (no. 118), Secret Magazine, In the Flesh, Skin Two, Drawing Blood, Darks Art, Joia Magazine, Tattoo Extreme, XFUNS Magazine, Let’s Motive, Truce, Digital Temple, Riviera Magazine, Uce Magazine, Ego Magazine, Real Detroit Weekly, .ISM Quarterly, Tattoo Society, Dark Art’s Parlour Magazine, Revolution Art, Iniciativa Colectiva, Fetish Magazine, and was also recently featured on the TV show ‘LA Ink’ (where artist Nikko Hurtado tattooed one of Viveros’ paintings onto a client).

Viveros made his directing debut in 2005 with his quietly eerie, boldly stylized short film Dislandia, a psycho-drama revolving around a young girl who exists in a desolate world full of dreamlike images that range from bizarre to symbolic and erotic. Southern, his latest surreal film, returns cinema to the unclean. Southern is an experience of primordial sights, sounds, and sentiment, blanketed by a fog of troubling eroticism and violence. Viveros was also recently featured on the Sundance Channel’s ‘Pleasure for Sale’ where they featured a behind the scenes look at the artist and the dislandic crew that helped him to create his film Southern. Source: www.brianmviveros.com (official site)

Victor Castillo: Victor Castillo is a Chilean painter currently residing in Los Angeles, California. He was born in Santiago in 1973, the year of Chile’s military coup.

He began drawing obsessively at the age of five, inspired by the animations he saw on television, science fiction movies, and the illustrations on his family’s record covers such as Pink Floyd’s “The Wall”.

Following a disillusive experience with art school, from 1995, he participated in an independent experimental art collective in Santiago, creating mixed media sculpture and video installations.

Victor travelled to Barcelona, Spain in 2004, where he established his painting style with references to comics. After seeing the Prado Museum in Madrid, particularly Goya’s Black Paintings, he adopted aspects of classical painting in his work.

Today Victor Castillo is represented internationally by Merry. Source: www.victor-castillo.com (official site)

Robert Hardgrave: Robert Hardgrave, a Seattle resident for the past 18 years, is an improvisational painter and mixed media enthusiast. He lives with his lovely wife Stephanie and two sweet dogs, a Beagle and a Pug. Robert was recently featured in “Further”, a book featuring 7 artists with their varied takes on contemporary abstraction, mysticism, futurism, and surrealism, “The Upset Young Contemporary Art”, a current survey of contemporary artists and “Magic Beans” , a small monograph of his work, published through ROJO Magazine. He is represented by David B Smith Gallery in Denver, Joshua Liner Gallery in New York, EC Gallery in Chicago and Fetherston Gallery in Seattle. Source: www.roberthardgrave.com (official site)

NAZRN: Naserin Nancy “NAZRN” Bogado, born and raised in Los Angeles, CA. NAZRN has always had a passion for expression. Her artwork is a sci-fi adventure through her head. Packed with the visions of death, love, the nostalgia of youth, survival and the question “who are we really?”. NAZRN is inspired by her youth, own spirituality, the future, the universe and its “aliens”. (NAZRN)

 

Travis Louie: Travis Louie was born in Queens, New York, about a mile from the site of the 1964 World’s Fair. His early childhood was spent making drawings and watching “Atomic Age” Sci-Fi and Horror movies. There were many Saturday afternoon trips to the local comics shop and noon matinees at the RKO Keith’s cinema on Northern Blvd. , where he marveled at the 1950’s memorabilia: the rocket ships, the superheroes, the giant monsters, and old pulp art covers. He did thousands of sketches of genre characters like Godzilla, King Kong, and a host of creatures from Ray Harryhausen movies.

After high school, he went to Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, New York, and graduated with a degree from the communication design dept. with the intent on pursuing a freelance illustration career. The work wasn’t as rewarding as he had anticipated. After a few years freelancing, he created a body of paintings and began showing them in local art galleries. The response was very encouraging. He stopped actively pursuing illustration work and began taking on more private commissions and concentrating his efforts on gallery shows.

The visual style of his work is mostly influenced by the lighting and atmosphere of German Expressionist and Film Noir motion pictures from the Silent Era to the late 1950’s. Films from directors like F W Murnau, Fritz Lang, Orson Welles, Robert Siodmak, Robert Aldrich, Jacque Tourneur, and cinematographer, Greg Toland, had a great effect on the way he wanted his paintings to look.

To achieve the dramatic “mood” in his paintings, they are produced primarily in black and white or limited color. He uses acrylic paints over tight graphite drawings on smooth grounds, like “plate” finish illustration board or finely sanded, primed wood panels. When he is not painting, his time is spent writing in his notebooks and journals. Many little drawings and sketches are made from those writings, most of which are less than 10 centimeters square.

The influences for his work are many; the genre films, his fascination with human oddities, circus sideshows, old Vaudeville magic acts, Victorian portraits, and things otherworldly, are all blended together to enable him to bring life to the characters and stories he writes in his journals. Source: www.travislouie.com (official site)

 

Dan May: Dan May was born and raised in the suburbs of Rochester, NY. He attended Syracuse University, where he received a BFA in illustration. Dan spends his days (and nights) painting dreamlike environments that transcend space and time. These delightfully haunting images are often based in personal observations of both human’s and nature’s relationships with each other. His artwork has been exhibited in galleries throughout the US and abroad. Dan has collaborated with numerous publications, design firms, advertising agencies and publishing houses. Some of his clients include WIRED, St. Louis Magazine, The San Francisco Chronicle, Aspen Magazine, Village Voice Media, AOL Productions, 20th Century FOX and VIZ Media. Source: www.danmay.net (official site)