Articles from December 2009

Lindsey Kuhn has been screen printing since 1984. For the past 18 years he has been creating posters for shows around the world. Keeping his Do-It-Yourself ethic alive by printing and selling his own work as well as other artists through his print company called SWAMP.







“If there is one thing that makes America great, it’s a special type of self made pioneer, the true D.I.Y… The Trailblazer! That unique person that grabs a hold of his world and his culture and molds it into energy and momentum. There’s an old term for it, STOKED. And Lindsey is a being, STOKED to the fullest!” -Kozik 2009







“Lure of The Swamp” is his first book featuring over 100 color pages of pure rock poster art. It chronicles 26 years of Lindsey’s printing history through vivid imagery and interviews. If you like rock posters this is the book to get!


Get yours now at swampco.com !!!

Rob Schwager


Born in Chicago and currently residing in Florida, Rob Schwager is the second child of hard working European immigrant parents. Often left in the care of relatives while his parents worked, Rob’s daily life consisted of an escapist’s steady diet of comic books, endless hours of cartoons and movies, MAD magazine and ABC television Afterschool Specials. Always drawing and doodling to keep himself occupied, subject matter such as superheroes, hot rods, monsters, and submarines, were fodder to his mind and his pencil.


After discovering punk rock during the early 80’s, Rob designed album covers, t-shirts and flyers for various punk bands in Chicago. This led to abundant work as a silkscreen concert poster artist, supplying hand crafted promotional posters to bands and venues across the country. In the late 80’s / early 90’s, Rob fulfilled a childhood dream and became an artist working on mainstream comic books. He’s spent the last 20 years of his life working on such classic icons as Spiderman, Superman, Batman, and the X-men, and his work has helped shape comic book pop-culture as we know it today. For the past 7 years, Rob has been exhibiting his fine art and faux bomber panels in numerous galleries and group shows all across the US.


Just like the comic book stories that occupied him as a youth, Rob views the shrinking world and the society around him as an ever-growing battle between good and evil. He creates imagery that encompasses his own journey of faith while enabling him to take a break from the turmoil of day-to-day life and reconnect with the dreamer and cartoon & comic book fanatic he was as a child.







Check out Rob Schwager’s website at: http://robschwager.com/

Chris Hamer


Chris Hamer is an imaginative illustrator, painter, and sculptor who is driven by an incredible passion for self-expression through art. His works are often noted for their unique style. Chris has developed an innovative style that blends Modern Street art with Comic Books and Cartoons. His use of vibrant colors and strong lines make her work an excellent choice for a wide range of projects and purposes. Chris is accomplished in using traditional methods as well as modern technique. His sculptures have been featured in galleries, and Comic book Conventions across the nation.







Check out Chris Hamer’s website at: http://site.urbnpop.com/

Vance Kelly is an artist from New Orleans.

Check out Vance Kelly’s website at: http://www.vancekelly.com/

David K. Rose


DKR (David K. Rose) has been around for a while. His years of gallery shows, freelance illustration work, and game production have kept him quite the busy fellow. DKR’s paintings and custom toys have appeared in places as diverse as his characters. Shows in London, New York, Los Angeles, Atlanta, Chicago, Canada, Portland, Florida, Oklahoma City, and North Carolina have featured his personal work. His commercial work has appeared in many AAA video games, and his illustration work has appeared in many a publication. He has been interviewed in Clutter magazine for his painting and custom toy work and featured in DK publishing’s book “Ultimate Robot” by Robert Malone. Not only has he produced tons of artwork, but he has also produced/directed a comedy-driven wrestling show, as well as other comedy theatre ventures. Dave currently resides in Los Angeles where he continues his freelance work as well as working in the game industry.







Check out David K Rose’s website at: http://www.grfxmonkey.com/

Tanner Goldbeck


Born on the 4th of July… Baltimore, Maryland… 1970. That makes me old enough to remember life before the Macintosh revolution. I started off shooting halftones on stat cameras, cutting layers of rubylith and changing chemicals for diffusion transfer machines. Spending entire days hand drawing type to the get the dope three dimensional layouts that press type couldn’t provide. How about Photoshop before layers and saving everything on SyQuest disks? Old school…


In 1992, I graduated from The Maryland Institute College of Art with a BFA. Spent several years working in different shirt shops and picking up freelance jobs around the east coast. In 1996 I moved to New Jersey to attend The Joe Kubert School of Cartoon and Graphic Art. That period of time allowed me to dig into New York City and open up to the idea of larger markets.


Shortly afterwards, in 1998 I relocated to the west coast and worked for Powell Skateboards in Santa Barbara, California. Southern California has been a huge catalyst in helping me to develop the fine art end of my work. Along the way, I’ve also fed a nasty habit for photography and anything related to old cars. I was lucky enough to meet other like minded creative types and we began to put together our own group shows and events. At the same time, started working freelance for Icon Motosports doing helmet and jacket work.


In early 2006, I moved to Los Angeles and set up shop downtown. I landed a job working for West Coast Choppers in Long Beach and took my place in L.A. traffic. In January of this year, I returned to full time freelance work. I currently work the home office and do whatever it takes to make the landlord happy. In between the paychecks, I paint and get in on shows around town. Everything is a work in progress.







Check out Tanner Goldbeck’s website at: http://www.racecar13.com/

Chloe Woodgate (aka Bunny Lebowski)


“Chloe is a figurative painter using the unconventional method of felt-tip pens to depict romantic, lone females. Inspired by film-makers like Alfred Hitchcock, David Lynch, and other cult-status directors,the figures employ a nostalgic, cinematic stillness, and appear aware of their audience.Also reminiscent of pre-raphaelite or renaissance painting, their faces are rendered realistically and slightly faded. However, the rest of the space features deliberately expressive mark-making using modelling pastes, gels and dripping paint. The poised, realistic figures therefore appear aware of the demise of their surroundings, trapped within the confines of the painting and gazing outwards. There is juxtaposition between the fantasy nature of the girls and the reality of the physicality of paint.


The contrasts in the work follow into its subtext. The filmic influence and kitsch colour palette produce highly stylized models. Pink hair, retro aspirations and tattoos also reference a very current strain of pop-culture which embraces harmonious gothic/kitsch romanticism. Self-promoting teen websites provide a window for young ‘emo’ girls to dress up and play celebrity. Websites like ‘Suicide Girls’ showcase heavily tattooed and pierced models. Self-destructive women like Amy Winehouse and Kate Moss are idolized and the pseudo-gothic icon of the skull has been commercialized into oblivion. Also highly influenced by the kitsch art of the 70s, the work has softness,tackiness, and the same sense of contrived melancholy.


Behind this mass-produced creepy/cute culture lies something more sinister. The work is also subconsciously aware of the constant media coverage of young girls in particular falling foul of abductors. The girls seem to be ominously watching something that we cannot see, and with their vulnerability and doll-like youthfulness, the viewer almost becomes the sadistic voyeur, allowing the portraits to function like trophies.”







Visit Chloe Woodgate’s website at: http://www.bunnylebowski.co.uk/

Sean Tidy – Tidy Ink Design


Tidy Ink Design is a graphic design and illustration company, based in
Greater London, UK, creating T-shirt, CD & logo designs for bands and
clothing companies worldwide. I love drawing skulls and anything skull related, and this seems to be my main theme in my work. Sometimes, though, I’d just like to draw a pretty flower or a bunny wabbit to make people smile.







Check out Sean Tidy’s website at: http://www.tidyink.com/

Craww


Graphic designer by day, illustrator by night, Craww plies his trade from the fair city of Sheffield.


Craww likes ambiguity. Pretty things in dark places, nasty things masquerading in beauty, Hidden stories and happy accidents. He likes skulls, tattoos, crows and melancholic girls with big hands.


Combining photoshop with pencil, paint, way too much spilt ink and whatever else is at hand, he aims to bring his stream of consciousness doodlings to life with a mix of elegance, balance and disciplined chaos.







Check out Craww’s website at: http://www.craww.com/

Since founding GIGART in 1996, Gregg Gordon’s artwork has been seen on TV, featured in magazines and newspaper publications, and utilized as an integral part of a number of national ad campaigns and concert merchandising efforts. Corporate clients repeatedly turn to GIGART for their poster, logo, album cover and package design needs. In addition, Gregg Gordon’s designs are consistently among the most popular pieces featured in art shows and festivals around the country.







You can check out Gigart’s website at: http://www.gigart.com/