Artists
Featured Artists:
Edward Acosta (1982) is a New York based visual artist whose work, unique style and technique are instantly recognizable for his perfectionist approach to line work and masterful use of color. Acosta has always been intrigued with art and also has a strong passion for bold design. Acosta works with an array of techniques and styles that incorporates pop art, street art, graffiti and abstract expressionism.
Android Oi is a freelance artist and poet that graduated from The School of Visual Arts in 2005 with a Bachelor’s degree in Illustration. He balances multiple creative endeavors, specifically, commissioned work as a professional tattoo artist at various Westchester, New York tattoo parlors and as a mural painter in New York, New York. Android Oi started painting and drawing and experimenting with all types of mediums at a very young age. In 2006, he found his unique style of painting by combining all of his past studies of art techniques into his work today. Fascinated with the absurd and human nature, Android incorporates his poems and writings into his visually busy work as illustrations. Although his work is fine art, Android always considered himself an illustrator because the passion in his mind, heart, and soul that compels him to tell a story through his work.
A pioneer of original graffiti art, Binho Ribeiro started his street art journey in 1984. One of the most recognized street artists in his home country of Brazil due to his murals, Binho Ribeiro has also established himself as a well-respected gallery artist, known for his accurate work on canvas, as well as curating great art projects. Most recently, Binho curated the Open Museum of Urban Art of São Paulo (MAAU) and the International Biennial Graffiti Fine Art show. Binho has showcased his work on the streets and in galleries around the globe, including Tokyo, Los Angeles, New York, Paris, Turin, Rochester, Cape Town, Hong Kong, Beijing, Amsterdam, Brussels, Beirut, Santiago, Buenos Aires, Osaka, Accra, and, of course, throughout Brazil.
street artist, culture jammer, political junkie
Fabio Polesi started working with art at the age of 17. In 1994, he attended the Pan American School of Art where he learned several techniques and further developed his creativity. Since then, he has worked with feathers, pyrographs, watercolor, mosaic, and more. After working as a tattoo artist for 11 years, he returned to the fine arts and started actively customizing a variety of materials. After moving to São Paulo from the Brazilian coast, Polesi had a greater exposure to street art and graffiti, which are his main forms of expression today.
New York native Ian Sullivan studied illustration at NYC's Pratt Institute, but has tagged the city streets since the age of 12. Sullivan's love of the graffiti art is seen through his use of spray paint, acrylics, and ink to create cityscape murals, illustrations, and designs with hidden words that capture the spirit of the city. In addition to the commissioned portrait of award winning rap artist, Post Malone, Sullivan has created a custom painted Juke Box for Grammy winning Country singer Keith Urban, cancer awareness cleats for the NY Jets’ Avery Williamson and most recently a commission to create sneakers for the NY Giants’ Odell Beckham, Jr.
Born in São Paulo, Brazil, Karina Beraldo, 38 years, holds a university degree in Fashion Design. After ten years working as a textile designer, she rediscovered painting by studying watercolor, mural art and illustration. She takes inspiration from nature, folklore and native costumes from Asia, Africa and Latin America and then mixes water and dry materials to create ornamented female figures in her watercolor paintings. She also applies the language of the watercolor in her mural work. She admires the work of her teachers, Catarina Gushiken and Vermelho, as well as Gaudi, Mucha, Schiele, Ledoux, Roset and Cecile.
Lari Umeri is a creative soul who first expressed herself through the written word. Motivated by international travel and having lived in California, Hawaii, Miami, Amsterdam, London, NYC and the many paradises found in her home country of Brazil, her creativity is inspired by several mediums, from music to movies, tech to theater, and the street culture into which she was born, the daughter of an artist. Communication has been a common thread of her professional career, which is closely connected to social media and educational projects. While her characters (Sweet ChocoLari, Et Zika, Banana Airplane) and paintings are now on par with her writing skills, her dreams continue to evolve and grow as she discovers the surprises of life. She shares her love, and her and art, with children, teenagers and audiences that appreciate vivid colors.
Marzipan Physics is both a fictional extraterrestrial physicist and a New York City-based street artist. Using intergalactic and sub-atomic motifs, Marzipan evokes the psychedelic past and the retro-future, while imagining an alternate realm in which everything fantastical and bad-ass can be celebrated; a place where reading theoretical physics tomes while floating on nebulae is this fashion-forward alien’s version of “Netflix and chill.” Disquieting signs of a digital dystopia and/or multilateral apocalypse hover in the middle-ground, suggesting that our nightmarish present will persistently penetrate any attempts at escapism. In a macro sense, the work can be experienced as a meditation on the relative insignificance of humanity in an infinite, unfathomable universe.
Paolo is a self-taught artist from the Philippines, currently residing in Queens, New York. He has always been interested in art, and finally decided to paint in 2017 to help him avoid his vices. He often paints forgotten icons to shed light on their legacy, and to teach his peers and younger generations about the forgotten. He hopes that by sharing their stories, people in his generation and generations to come will be motivated to learn about the forgotten icons, and aspire to become like them instead of the modern-day influencers.
Renda Writer is a man who believes in following his passions. Born in New York, and based in Miami, Florida, he draws influence from all of his life experiences and soaks up all that life has to offer every new day. As an artist, Renda Writer stands firmly behind the central idea expressed in his artist statement— “My goal as an artist is to make my handwriting into visual art and to shed light on the general idea that handwriting can be seen as art, reminding viewers that the art is in what the words say, how they look, and how they’re written.”
Savior Elmundo is a Renaissance man; an accomplished dancer, choreographer, artist, and filmmaker who is driven by his passion for creative expression. Born in 1973, in Harlem, New York, Savior had the privilege of coming up in the epicenter of the emergence of hip-hop while catching the tail end of an epic art scene in New York City. Savior picked up a brush to express his feelings after the loss of a close family member and has continuously shown in art shows in Los Angeles, California, and New York, New York since 2008. The frenetic layered style he has developed comes from the wealth of inspiration he takes from the streets. Layers of paint, images, records, 3-D letters and other mixed media are reminiscent of the ‘80s and ‘90s, the years when Savior was coming up as an artist. His evocative collage pieces reveal a moment in time that is nostalgic and powerful. Savior is honored to have been commissioned to do several installation pieces at the World Trade Center.
Grajales was born and raised in Brooklyn, NY. Also known as SFGrajales, her career in the arts has spanned a prosperous 20 years. After studying at the prestigious Johnson and Wales University she pursued a career in the culinary arts. Currently a pastry chef for a luxury brand, she has expanded her creative repertoire and become a versatile pop artist using elements of street art and fine art to create her unique style. Her fun colors and vibrant style pay homage to her cake decorating and ability to create whimsical desserts.
Every paper mosaic created by @soulthundre, aka Janeese Brooks, is a labor of love featuring very small pieces of paper cut by hand, and glued by hand, to create one full picture; tweezers and an x-exacto knife are essential to her process. Brooks has been overwhelmed with details her entire life; whether in paper, writing, music or in piercing, but her ability to see detail at microscopic levels enables her to execute intricate collages.
Tioch is a Brazilian artist that started his career in the Sao Paulo street art scene in 2009, when he first began to adopt graffiti as a lifestyle. The 25 year old artist embraces the innocence of youth with his style that is inspired by widely popular comics, while at the same time portraying themes very much related to real life. He gives back to local communities by sharing his artistic knowledge at workshops and classes for the community. Tioch’s art has been shown in Germany, Chile, the US and Brazil.