Angel Ortiz AKA LA2 LAII or LA Rock which stands for “Little Angel” was born in 1967 in the lower east side of New York. Ortiz discovered his passion for art at the budding age of 10 during which time he spent his days tagging the streets as if it was his canvas.
In the 1980’s when Ortiz was 13, he met Keith Haring and the two became very good friends and collaborators, influencing each other’s styles and techniques.
Ortiz dropped out of school to follow his dreams of becoming an artist and travelled the world with Haring acting as his assistant and contributing to many of the famous works created by them both in the 80’s
Since the untimely death of Haring from AIDS at the age of 31. Ortiz has continued on his own career path despite being over looked within the art world and the history books of Haring’s legacy in particular
Ortiz is now considered as one of the most iconic graffiti artists and one of the last true remaining survivors of the 80’s art movement.
Ortiz is for Haring what Jean-Michel Basquiat was for Andy Warhol.
Today, Ortiz’s works are in the collections of Pepperdine University in Malibu, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York, the Museum at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis and the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York among others.
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Banksy is an anonymous England-based street artist believed to have been born in Bristol in 1974. His works of political and social commentary have been featured on streets, walls and bridges of cities across the world.
Though Banksy’s identity remains well guarded, he came to notice as a freehand graffiti artist in 1993. Using stencils since 2000 to enhance his speed, he developed a distinctive iconography of highly recognizable images, such as rats and policeman, that communicated his antiauthoritarian message.
Banksy’s work has continued to increase in popularity for many years and also in price. Most resent in late 2018 Girl with Balloon (2006), a canvas version of one of his most popular murals, alarmed onlookers at an auction with Sotheby’s when the work seemingly self-destructed by partly shredding just after selling for a whopping $1.4 million. It was soon later revealed that the piece was to completely shred but the shredder hidden in the frame had malfunctioned. Pest control, Banksy’s authentication bureau, also issued a certificate acknowledging that the destroyed work had become a new piece of art with a new name, Love Is in the Bin.
Banksy has remained committed to the street art, declaring that life in a city in which graffiti was legal would be “.like a party where everyone was invited.” The question is, will Bnaksy reveal his true identity and how will this influence his market in the future.
Stay tuned.
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Jean-Michel Basquiat born in Broklyn, New York, on December 22nd 1960 was an American painter known for his raw gestural style of painting with graffiti-like images and scrawled text.
He first attracted attention for his graffiti under the name of "SAMO" in New York City. He was one of the first African American artists to reach international stature and wealth in the art world. His rise to fame came quickly, as he was celebrated for his fusion of multicultural symbols, biting social commentary, and distinctive graphic style. He became one of the most celebrated, and possibly most commercially exploited American "naif" painters of the widely celebrated Neo-Expressionism art movement. Basquiat was befriended by many celebrities and artists, including Andy Warhol, with whom he made several collaborative works.
At only 27, his troubles with fame and drug addiction led to his tragic death from an overdose in New York. Today, his works are held in the collections of The Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Rubell Family Collection in Miami, and the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles, amongst others.
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Keith Haring is an American artist from a small town. As a child he was heavily influenced by the drawings of Walt Disney and Dr. Seuss, and as a teen by the beat writings of William S. Burroughs. He was enrolled in the Ivy School of Professional Art in Pittsburgh shortly after graduating from high school, dropping out after two semesters to move to New York City. There he became associated with the thriving alternative art community developing outside the commercial art world.
He first received public attention with his public art in the subway, and by the 1980s was organizing exhibitions at the arts nightclub Club 57. Propelled to quick success with the help of influential figures such as Andy Warhol, Madonna and Jean-Michel Basquiat, Haring’s work nonetheless expressed pertinent social and political themes at the time. Openly gay, his work was heavily impacted by the AIDS epidemic and the underground street culture of New York City in the 1980s, with sexuality, death and war being central themes to his oeuvre. Haring died at age 31 of AIDS-related complications.
Since his death he has been the subject of several major retrospectives, and his imagery has become a widely regarded visual Zeitgeist of New York City in the late 20th century. Fellow emerging artists Angel Ortiz, Kenny Scharf and Jean-Michel Basquiat shared Haring’s interest in the colourful, absurdist and transgressive graffiti art of the subways and city streets, and they often explored an aesthetic that combined images of art, music and fashion.
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After knowing each other several years, in 2014 the stars aligned and Luke & Mandy went on a date. Quickly after meeting, Luke started to photograph his model girlfriend. They adored creating art together and decided to start their own photographic series. This quickly evolved into their own complete brand. The now married team have worked together in over 10 countries, but now spend most of their time making imagery in their home of Southern France with their baby boy Milo.
Luke & Mandy shoot photographic artworks which often have a sprinkle of Mixed Media. They have regularly sold artworks to luxury interior designers and private buyers all over the world. They have also released an art book which is in bookshops throughout the UK, including the oldest bookshop in England - Hatchards, London.
Luke & Mandy simply create, in any and every way their journey takes them. Not conformed to industry politics and rules, just believers in an incomparable destiny.
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Mr Sly is a British Artist known for his mixed media collages and his contemporary interpretation of 20th Century pop culture, combined with bold and graphic images are his unique trademark. Having experience in photo restoring and graphic design, he blends these talents in his artwork, by manipulating and restoring each image carefully. Now Producing limited edition prints and originals his work can be found in galleries across the U.K and U.S.A. His artwork can also be seen on the streets, paste ups of his images are now part of the street art scene in many cities. Born in Liverpool, England, he has travelled widely, which has informed his appreciation of urban and street art across the world. His first foray into the art world was inspired by 1980's band Frankie Goes to Hollywood and their iconic t-shirts from their hit song RELAX. It was this that spurred him to create artwork which is now gaining collectors across the globe. Mr Sly’s work is featured in the Saatchi Art gallery and Artsy. Recent clients involve Chelsea Football Club, L’Oreal and RedKen.
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Richard Hambleton June 23rd, 1952 - October 29th, 2017 was an American-Canadian street artist best known for his black-silhouette figure known as the Shadowman and his mass murder scene. Often referred to as the godfather of street art, Hambleton along with his contemporaries Keith Haring and Jean-Michel Basquiat painted the streets of New York and achieved great success during the art boom of the 1980’s.
Hambleton studied at the Vancouver School of Art before beginning his image Mass Murder series in 1976. He used to get his friends to lie down outside important buildings and paint white lines around them to mimic the look of chalk outlines used by police during a crime scene investigation.
In 1979 he made New York in the lower east side his permanent home and turned from street to canvas to create incredible works such as his horse and rider inspired by the TV commercials for Marlboro cigarette as well as creating beautiful paintings in the form of landscapes.
Hambleton works have been featured all over the world and is now in the permanent collection at the Museum of Modern art in New York, the Brooklyn Museum, the Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh among others.
In 2017 a film about Hambleton was premiered at the Tribeca film festival which covers his story as well as the New York art scene and his struggles with drug abuse.
Hambleton is and will always be viewed as a pioneer of the street art movement who has inspired so many artists with his work.
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British Artist and Sculptor
Schoony’s profound career blossomed over 25 years ago in the special effects and prosthetics for the film industry. His works have featured in over a hundred films worldwide including Hollywood block busters.
He took the plunge into a new career as an artist and is one of the few that use the discipline of life casting as an artform.
In 2008 Schoony erupted onto the London art scene attracting A-list Hollywood starts as major fans.
Schoony’s most iconic sculpture ‘Boy Solider’ is a hyper-realistic depiction of a child holding a hand grenade, supporting a war helmet. This featured outside the Houses of parliament in 2011 as an anti-war protest. Schoony has experimented with many different themes along-side this including capitalism and pop culture.
Schoony’s works are currently features in the following London Galleries; Waluso, Woodbury House, Unit London and Saatchi Art. And Guy Hepner in New York.
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Stik Born 1979 is a British street artist known for his socially-conscious murals of cunningly-simple figures. Loosely based on the Japanese calligraphic characters, kanji, his style is deceptively simplistic with an almost child-like quality, yet his figures are packed with symbolism and emotion. Gender, class and age are undefined and they are devoid of any facial features, yet nevertheless interact with each other and their location to evoke a powerful emotional response.
The artist maintains an anonymous persona, revealing very little about his personal life, although is open about his period of homelessness in his early twenties. It was then that he started to paint on the streets of Hackney, which at the time was the focal point for the London street art scene. Although he had no formal art training, he learned from his contemporaries, an experience he says was an education in itself. “We were all aware of each other’s work, even if we never met. And our styles developed alongside each other”. His street painting was his way of giving something back to the Hackney community, who he says helped him get back on his feet.
The relationship with community is an intrinsic part of Stik’s work. His art is focused on the communities within which he works; each location is carefully chosen and before making any street pieces he always seeks the endorsement of the people who live in the community, regardless of whether he has the permission of local authorities. He also returns to his paintings as often as he can to keep them clean and maintained. “You have to work with the building and the street, so it becomes a real collaboration with the city. If you’re just slapping your image on a surface, you’re not really engaging”, he says.
Stik has now become highly sought after and his works hang in the private collections of the likes of Elton John, Bono, Chris Martin, Brian May and the Duke of Kent. He is equally popular with the general public: his group and solo exhibitions around the world are sell-outs and his Brick Lane street painting, ‘A Couple Hold Hands in the Street’, was recently named amongst Britain’s Top 20 favourite works of art.
Stik’s most iconic mural is ‘Big Mother’, painted in 2014 on a condemned council tower block in West London. It took over nine months of planning, and Stik painted everything by hand. The 125-foot image of a mother and child addresses issues surrounding gentrification and uprooted communities. “The mother is looking out to the horizon, wondering where she’ll go once the building is demolished, while the child’s eyes are fixed on the luxury apartments being built opposite this social housing block.”
Stik lives and works in London.
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