Prettie Zombie: February 2010

Wednesday, February 24, 2010

Michael Hussar

Michael Hussar's Website: http://www.michaelhussar.com/

Yumiko Kayukawa hails from Sapporo Japan and has already made a name for herself early in her career for her candy-bright pop paintings of fashionable young women, animals, and traditional Japanese motifs. Yumiko's work blends fashion illustration, sharp iconic graphics, and meticulously rendered flora and fauna to create images that evoke a dreamy and enigmatically erotic tone. The girls in Yumiko's paintings are mysterious and elusive, using images of both innocence and fetishes, in a sexy, subtle way, yet always engaging the viewer with direct eye contact. The fantasy of these dream girls is mixed with the realistic depictions of the natural world... insects, birds, and animals are always present, bringing a sense of the messy, real world crashing joyfully into the lives of these pristine, icy beauties. Traditional Japanese flower motifs and kanji characters used in an untraditional way round out the compositions creating a jolting, modern tone to the paintings.

Yumiko Kayukawa's website: http://www.sweetyumiko.com/

Matthew Price

Matthew Price started painting acrylics on canvas seven years ago and began exhibiting throughout Southern California shortly thereafter. While his work is not yet well known, he has acquired a few rather prestigious collectors including Copro Nason’s Greg Escalante and clothing designer Jade Howe.

Price describes his paintings as closely connected stories that contain themes and messages that evolve out of his own nightmares. The figures in his paintings are based on the people

and situations he comes across in everyday life. Gallery owner Kerry Nicole says, “Matthew’s work is haunting and beautiful. The characters in his paintings have a fragile elegance and appear innocent to the nightmare that surrounds them.”

Matthew Price's Website: http://www.matthewjprice.com/

Mark Bodnar

Strange thoughts go through many people’s minds. Some people seek out professional help to get rid of their strange thoughts. Mark Bodnar, on the other hand, is perfectly fine with what goes on in his head. All kinds of crazy characters and stories have been appearing for quite some time in the cartoon bonanza that is Mark’s mind. Whether it’s in the form of paintings, illustrations, animations, or toys, Mark’s work brings forth the bizarre ideas that permeate every minute of his life. His imaginative paintings bring to mind the adventures of “Our Gang”, the tall tales of Davy Crockett and Daniel Boone, and that peculiar time right before we fall asleep.

Mark was born in Lorain, Ohio in 1978. He studied art and music for most of his life, which eventually led him to the Columbus College of Art and Design where he received a BFA in 2001. Since then he has been a freelance illustrator for publications like The New York Times, National Geographic, America, and various music magazines. He’s done animation character design for the McGraw-Hill Companies and his own animated series “Stan Bayou”, which he created with pals Matt Flynn and Pez Hofmann, is currently in development at Cartoon Network.

In 2004, Mark collaborated with toy designer Trevor Zammit to create “Sheetghosts”, a line of collectible artist toys. Sheetghosts are made in limited production runs by Mark and Trevor and new characters are released at various times throughout the year.

Mark currently lives and paints in Columbus, Ohio, but sneaks away when he can. His artwork has been exhibited in galleries from New York to Portland.

Mark Bodnar's Website: http://www.markbodnar.com/artwork.html

Cala Koopman

Caia Koopman is a native of California and was born in Livermore. She majored in fine art and earned a B.A. at UC Santa Cruz, California. Santa Cruz turned out to be the place that seduced her to the local skateboarding scene.

In addition to receiving an academic education, Caia also learned to skate ramps, streets, pools, and Derby Park. Skateboarding led to skateboard graphics, and her first limited edition team T-shirt design for Santa Cruz Skateboards. After earning her art degree, she turned her attention to snowboarding and spent many winters following the snow. It was her love for the sport that inspired Caia to strive for a career creating snowboard graphics and later branching out to become a commercial artist and finally a fine artist as well. Her artwork has been featured in numerous national and international print media including Surfing Girl, Mademoiselle, Details, Girl's Life, Snowboarder Magazine, Teen, Teen Style, Teen People, J-14, Fine , and others. Caia designed T-shirt graphics and promotional illustrations for many companies, such as: Quiksilver/Roxy, Hurley, Op, AT&T, and Casio.

Caia's paintings have been used commercially for many years as graphics for snowboards, skateboards and wakeboards for major companies such as K2, Morrow, and Hyperlite. Caia has also been featured on MTV, "mtv sports" as an athlete/artist for her snowboarding and painting. Caia has shown her paintings in a number of galleries around the world and most recently at La Luz de Jesus in LA. She is currently working as a freelance illustrator and painter in Oceanside, CA.

Caia is inspired by nature, dreams, politics, and life.