RENE ALMANZA

(1979, Monterrey, NL, Mexico)

Rene Almanza graduated from the School of Visual Arts of the UANL (Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León). He began working during his adolescence as a visual artist; first in graphic novels, underground fanzines, the newspapers of Monterey, and later in printed media mainly designing signs. In 2000 he joined the editorial or political cartoon department of the group Reforma (which included the newspapers El Norte of Monterrey, Reforma of Mexico City, The Mural of Guadalajara, and Palabra of Saltillo), illustrating various articles in these newspapers.

For two years he was in charge of illustrations in the cultural section of the newspaper El Norte, where he received 6 awards for his work from SND (Society for Newspaper Design) based in New York, which every year rewards the most outstanding international work in photography, design and editorial illustration. After three years with the group Reforma, he joined the “Shinseken” Editorial group of Tokyo, Japan, working in a project which collected folk tales from around the world to condense them into a collection of illustrated books, published in five languages. Once the project was completed he moved to Oaxaca.

He is a founding member of Galería Arte Cocodrilo (Crocodile Art Gallery), and the graphic arts studio Pata de Perro ( Dog’s leg), independent spaces dedicated to the diffusion of emergent visual arts in the Oaxaca area. Currently he is working with the publishing house Sirpus (Barcelona, Spain) in collaboration with linguists from the Colegio de México, illustrating a series of bilingual books on the history of the Zapotec communities of Oaxaca. His work can be found in numerous private collections in Mexico, the United States, Argentina, Chile, Canada, France, Spain, Switzerland, Germany, Italy, Holland, Morocco, Australia, Japan, Bangladesh, China and Vietnam.

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PEAT WOLLAEGER

(St. Louis, MO, US)

Peat 'EYEZ' Wollaeger has been drawing and painting ever since he was a kid. He started doing commercial art in the 90’s and continued for almost a decade, creating urban designs for such clients as Coca-Cola, R. J. Reynolds, M&M Mars, Anheuser Busch and some lesser evils. Burned out with the graphic arts scene and not creating any personal art, he started using stencils and spray enamels to reproduce his illustrations, and now it’s his medium of choice. 

Internationally known for his whimsical, raw, and brightly-colored stenciled characters that include, Mr. Teeth, the Dead Fat Comedians, Albino Alley Cat, and the Luchador series, Peat Wollaeger is one hard-working artist. His work can been seen all over the globe. His Luchador room at Hotel Des Arts in San Francisco, his massive wall tribute to Keith Hairing at Art Basel in Miami, the 700,000 aluminum bottles of Mountain Dew with emblazoned with his original design, his recent exhibit in Melbourne, Australia, Peat Wollaeger's art is everywhere. 

Watch this video of 'Opening Eyez on the Street' by TEDx Talks:

MARCO ZAMORA

(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:

KRUSCH RHOADES

(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.

KAMI

(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:

JOSHUA BLANK

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:

JEREMY SIMMONS

(Los Angeles, US)

Jeremy holds a BFA (2001) and MFA (2003) in Drawing and Painting from the San Francisco Art Institute. He is an interdisciplinary artist who was born and raised in the suburbs of Los Angeles. His most recent work was shown at the Helen Day Art Center in Vermont and Ever Gold Gallery in San Francisco. Jeremy spends his free time with his 5 year-old son, watching 70’s television, and listening to heavy metal.

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.

ANTHONY LISTER

(1979, Brisbane, Australia)

Lister is a painter and Installation artist whoes work presents us with a grimy fusion of high and lowbrow culture with influences from a number of areas and genres, including street art, expressionism, pop art, and contemporary youth culture, often drawing from television and the "misguided role models" that result. Revelling in the "spirituality", and the "heritage" of Western popular culture he takes this joint legacy and remoulds it into something equally alluring and grotesque, a perfect representation of the society he seeks to depict. 

Taking influence from the dirtier and rough techniques of "Bad" Painting and merging it with the spirit and practices of graffiti art Lister has embraced an explosive, scratchy, scrawling form of figurative art using a variety of mediums from painting, drawing and installation to film and music.

Lister uses comic book imagery for his own means, redirecting popular culture for personal expression. Heroes and villains are taken out of the panel and placed in a new space, devoid of the usual storyline, dialogue and scenery. His paintings are not controlled by cartoon contexts. Rather, the figures in these portraits are reinvented through the artist’s hand. His mixed media technique, involving layers of ink, spray and brushwork, allow his paintings to simultaneously have soft ethereality and a garish, raw energy.

Watch his interview by We Love Street-Art:

ALA EBTEKAR

(1978, Berkeley, US)

Through a steady career that has incorporated sculpture, photography and installation, Ala Ebtekar has continually returned to his initial passion of drawing and painting. The artist’s practice is informed by history, Persian mythology, science and philosophy, which he juxtaposes with contemporary and pop-culture elements – the works eventually exhibiting a collision of the past and present in a deconstruction/reconstruction of time and space.

He created his work with neither external themes nor the attention to proper anatomy and perspective. Ebtekar works entirely from his imagination and creative ability. It’s entirely fitting that Ebtekar found early artistic inspiration from the worlds of graffiti and the modern tradition of qahveh khanehei painting, as his work has encompassed comparable populist sensibilities spanning continents, celebrating the stories and lives of heroic everyday people across time.

Watch Ala Ebtekar's interview by KQED:

AKIRA BEARD

(1976, Tokyo, Japan)

Akira is an artist living and working in San Francisco, CA. When not creating in the studio, his professional time is spent between exhibiting artwork and teaching painting/drawing. He is a faculty member at the Academy of Art University in San Francisco, where he has taught Fine Art Anatomy and Fashion Illustration. Akira has shown at a variety of venues, mainly in the San Francisco Bay Area, including pop-up shows at the Academy of Science, live painting at the West Inn’s New Year Gala and other similar forms of contemporary exhibition.

Like the art itself, his professional practice stems from his ideas, beliefs and values. Akira's paintings are like tomes for the great spiritual teachers of the past, and also cleverly link contemporary culture with beautiful skills in portraiture. His work is relevant, moving, and powerful – truly spiritual, not upholding any outrageous or inhuman experiences but rather honoring the timeless power of what is here and now.

Watch Akira's Art Opening at The Emerald Tablet: