Andy Mueller was raised in the midwest on a healthy diet of BMX, skateboarding, music and magazines. At an early age, Andy became addicted to the art of image making and photo taking. In 1993, Mueller founded OhioGirl, a small design/photo/film studio. After relocating to Chicago in 1994, OhioGirl's client list grew to include companies like Burton Snowboards, RCA Records, Capitol Records, Jade Tree and Thrill Jockey Records. In 1999, Andy relocated again, this time to California to become art director for Girl Skateboard's new shoe company, Lakai Limited Footwear.
Andy continues to work full time for Girl Skateboards/Lakai Limited Footwear and is a member of the infamous Art Dump. In his free time he continues to do freelance projects under the name OhioGirl, runs a t-shirt line called The Quiet Life, and is spending more and more time on his personal photography and art work. Much of Mueller’s work has appeared in graphic design annuals and design books, as well as aired on MTV, and published in numerous magazines; he has also shown his artwork in the U.S., Europe, U.S.Japan, Australia, and Canada.
Andy Mueller currently lives in Los Angeles with his wife, son, two cats, a bird and a ping pong habit.
Angela Boatwright. Hailing from Columbus, Ohio where she attended the same high school as Patrick O'Dell, Angela moved to New York City in June of 1993 to follow her dreams to become a photographer. Fast-forward thirteen years and Angela is now blissfully devoid of free time and has shot for almost every reputable magazine in the rack, from "Nylon" to "Vibe" to "Guitar World" to "W." She then took a turn as a photo editor herself at "Mass Appeal."
Not content with just one full-time job, she kept moonlighting, getting a multi-page feature in "Arktip" and shooting an ad campaign for the Truth anti-tobacco campaign that allowed her to work with several of her favorite graffiti artists like Espo and Dave Kinsey. She then went from being the photo editor at "Mass Appeal" to their Special Projects Editor, which means that she contributes story ideas, finds writers, pitches stories, and has input in every aspect of the magazine short of the paper it's printed on.
While she's been involved with "Mass Appeal" for an impressive 9 years altogether, she continues to freelance commercially. She's also shown her work all over the globe, from Texas to Tokyo. "Sorcerers," a collection of metal-related photos, debuted in L.A. in March of 2006, and was featured in the magazine "Dazed and Confused." Part of that show continued on to Max Fish in June, and was shown alongside photos from fellow esteemed NYC photographer Patrick O'Dell. The whole collection then crossed the ocean in August for a show at the 96 Gillespie Gallery in London.
To fill the odd moments between working for clients, Angela created her own company to work for; Killer of Giants which allows her to showcase her work with “Mass Appeal” as well as art shows she curates and produces as well as other projects that she creative directs.
Dalek. For many artists, inspiration comes from experiences they had when they were young children. For DALEK, these experiences were nothing short of traumatic. "When I was in second grade, these workers were building a deck on the back of our house. There were lots of wooden stakes being used as markers with very sharp points. I saw the workers throwing lots of wood out of the back of their truck. Being a kid, I tried to imitate them. But I was a dumb kid and I threw one of the wooden stakes straight up in the air. It came down and planted its self right in my skull. It did a good job of sitting in there for a few seconds. It bled a lot and was a very messy scene. My mom was pretty stressed."
This painful experience could have something to do with the amount of decapitations and puncture wounds often present in DALEK's Space Monkey pieces. These creatures have become a calling card for the artist, and continue to evolve in scope. "The Space Monkeys are human representations for me. They are self-portraits in a lot of ways, and also portraits of humanity. They are floating in nothingness. I didn't want it to be a cartoon strip, like a Space Monkey in a house, then a Space Monkey in a car, so I avoided all of that. I didn't want to develop scenery like a house and trees. Once you put Space Monkeys in that kind of context it looses any kind of fine art quality to me."
Somewhere between head injuries and Space Monkeys, DALEK found time to become a respected graffiti artist and work extensively in the skateboard industry. As for his future with the Space Monkeys, nothing is certain. "That's kind of the beauty of it. I don't have a clue. They always transform rapidly from me drawing the same thing repeatedly. They switch up in undetermined ways. Where it goes depends on a lot of things, but as long as people are interested in seeing them I'll be able to pursue them, grow them out and work with them. Obviously, I would love to be 90 years old and cranking out some form of the Space Monkeys.
David Choe is one of the most diverse and prolific artists working today. He is one of the youngest artists to ever have solo show at the MOCA. He has had his art shown on every surface from canvases to human bodies to third world ,war torn walls, it can be found in every facet of society, from fancy galleries, museums, t-shirts, shoes, movies, billboards, cars, murals, buildings, from New York City to the Congo, Africa to everywhere in between.
David has spoken and lectured at Princeton, DUKE, Dartmouth and other art colleges, he works in every medium, and can paint anything and everything as well as on anything and everything. He has designed and created fine art, murals, movie sets, movie posters, album covers, shoes, t-shirts, toys, calendars, commercials, cars, magazines, books, illustrations for porn and children’s story books, comics, animation, curated art shows, art directed books and magazines. As well as self-publishing all his own books which have all won numerous awards and are sold out.
He has traveled, train hopped and hitchhiked all over the world many times over spreading his art. He’s been homeless, he still sells art out of his parents garage and his beat up mini van.
And our boy from San Fran, Mike Giant.
Labels: Andy Mueller, Angela Boatwright, Dalek, David Choe, Mike Giant
