POTES

(1977)

Dave Potes' primary aesthetic is in documentary photography, focusing on people and landscapes. In 2001, after many years of producing small, limited edition zines, David, his brother Ray Potes and Stefan Simikich began publishing a quarterly black and white photography magazine called Hamburger Eyes.

Alongside his work as a commercial, editorial, and art photographer, David continues to focus his attentions on publishing limited edition zines and books. He is currently based in New York.

Watch this video about Dave Potes self-portraits by Dominick Volini:

MARS-1

MARS-1 (aka Mario Martinez) is an artist who spends most of his time in the right side of his brain, communicating through a visual language. His unique imagery explores possibilities of otherworldly existence through highly developed, multi-layered landscapes. Often employing a fuzzy-logic aesthetic, Mars-1’s artwork has a sentient appearance, like a tulpa—which in mysticism, is the concept of a materialized thought that manifests into physical form. His unique style has been described as urban-Gothic, sci-fi abstracted, quasi-organic form.

Early inspirations include: graffiti, animation, comic book characters, ufology, extraterrestrials, unexplored life, mysteries of the universe, alternate realities and the abstract quality of existence. At the age of 13, Mars-1 began writing graffiti in his hometown of Fresno. He later attended Academy of Art in San Francisco, where he currently lives and works, remaining heavily active in the city’s contemporary art scene.

The true meaning of Mars-1’s imagery is ultimately left to the viewer’s interpretation. The artist feels this brings his creations full-circle, encouraging his audience not only to decipher the messages he wishes to convey but to receive thoughts and ideas of their own, as well.

Watch this video of his studio visit in San Francisco by Friends We Love:

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:

ADAM CURRY

(Vancouver, Canada)

Curry works exclusively with oil-based paints and varnishes on wood, classical tools and methods chosen for their proven stability over hundreds of years of art history. His paintings reveal his preoccupation with concepts related to disorder and change, especially the ever present relationship between the cityscape and the unpredictable forest.

Adam has been painting since 1985, after graduating with a Diploma of Fine Arts from Emily Carr College of Art and Design. His practice incorporates a wide range of available technology: digital photography, the world wide web, as source materials, having them reproduced electronically, and then applying Dammar Varnish layered oil  – sometimes 20 layers deep – painting techniques to create optical effects. Images are captured with a cell phone camera, then printed in large-scale format by a shop specializing in blueprints.

Layers of tinted varnish serve to gorgeously illustrate Curry’s concept that the conquered forests of Vancouver, are continually returning, threatening to blur the clean lines of the human landscape, even in the midst of the concrete jungle. His work references the past while challenging our notions of modern painting. Adam moves the viewer on a cinematically inspired narrative sometimes historical, sometimes fantastic or experimental in theme. The paintings in a series engage the viewer with wit and humour to reveal linear and nonlinear patterns.

Watch Adam Curry at Polychrome Fine Art: