Napier, NZ | ’17

"Rustam QBic was born in 1985 in Republic of Tatarstan, Russia. He studied at the Kazan Art School, worked with illustration, design and graffiti and taught at the Children's School of Design.

His love for graffiti and creating work in public was quickly interrupted by his love for classic painting and it didn't take long until he replaced the letter based works with surrealist story telling pictures and characters. This new style that blends illustrative elements, surrealist imagery and distinctive color palette was first revealed at his debut solo show in 2013 at the Street Kit Gallery in Moscow.

Highly influenced by life, his family, nature and books, Rustam's work carry universal messages of love, knowledge and spirituality while constantly developing his visual language and technique. Actively working both on large scale murals and canvases, he participated in street art events in Russia, Switzerland, USA, Australia, etc, as well as in charity auctions alongside Swoon, Phlegm, Faile, Sandra Chevrier and many others."

"A graduate of the Alberta College of Art and Design, Botkin has been involved in the creation of over 200 murals internationally since 2009, while exhibiting in solo and group exhibitions throughout Canada, the United States, and Europe.

His body of work includes the co-creation and ongoing direction of EN MASSE project; a multi-artist, collaborative drawing project that explores the creation of highly spontaneous, large-scale, black and white drawings and public installations.

The project's mandate is designed to explore what happens when artists from diverse forms work together, and begin to shape and build new and ever-expanding communities, collective vision, shared creativity, and the forging of powerful alliances through the act of creating something larger than any one of us could accomplish by ourselves."

Christie Wright is a self taught multi disciplined visual artist, who predominantly produces mural works for a vast range of clientele all across New Zealand. Christies signature use of bright colours mixed with fluid patterns is easy on the eye but still supplies the viewer with an extreme amount of detail to lose yourself in. Having showcased her work in several successful exhibitions over the years Christie has shifted more into mural works over the past year and has started to paint outside the galleries, out in the streets.

"Kai’ili Kaulukukui was born on the Big Island of Hawaii, and inspired by Hawaii’s natural beauty, abundant ocean life, and rich native culture, began drawing at an early age. He was a BFA candidate at the University of Hawaii Windward campus where he studied under Snowden Hodges who has a deep base in classical techniques of oil painting. Simultaneously, he was trained in oil by apprenticing with Dennis Morton. Later, he transferred to the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.

Kai currently works as a painter and muralist in Honolulu, out of Lana Lane Studios in Kaka’ako and more recently has been acting as the Ground Operations Manager for PangeaSeed Foundation's Sea Walls: Artists for Oceans program.

He has been immersed in shark culture, imagery and information that has sparked his imagination. Based on his research, lately Kai’s works illustrate compromised sharks and aquatic environments. His paintings and murals tackle marine life, often sharks with a loose and flowing approach complimented with drips cascading down the work."

"Georgia Hill is an Australian artist, specialising in type based artworks that combine bold, black and white textures and lettering within experimental compositions.

Since studying Visual Communications at the University of Technology, Sydney, Hill's instantly recognisable aesthetic has developed from exhibition based illustrations to striking works for private commissions, client-based projects and murals which are read in terms of connections, time, place and community.

Over the past three years Hill's large scale mural works have come to inform an exploration not just of personal reflection through lettering based artworks, but also how structures, along with our natural environments, are home to and vital in allowing these experiences to exist and develop from one physical context to another. "

"Born in Paris, in 1972, Julien Malland began painting murals in the 20th arrondissement of Paris under the name of Seth. He made himself known among Parisian graffiti artists by creating characters. As a graduate of the Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Arts Décoratifs of Paris (ENSAD) he published “Kapital, one year of graffiti in Paris“ in collaboration with Gauthier Bischoff in 2000, which became the best selling book about French graffiti. Together, they founded “Wasted Talent”, a publishing house specializing in monographs of urban artists.

Since 2003, he ventured across the world to exchange with street artists from different cultures, in order to broaden his horizon on life and on mural painting. From this experience he has been compelled to draw simple characters, mostly children, somehow connected to the chaotic environment in which they are revealed. Witnessing the outcome of globalization, its creations are celebrating traditions. Thus they are defining a hybrid culture between modern expression and traditional representation. His approach aims to arouse an artistic dialogue, whether it is a collaboration with local urban artists or a learning process of traditional techniques from local craftsmen. In addition, Seth is the presenter, author and director of “Les nouveaux explorateurs“, a TV serial show produced by Canal+, each show focusing on a country and its local mural artists. His travels during the last two years are narrated in a book he authored, “Extramuros“."

Erika Pearce is a multi-disciplined artist, illustrator and designer from Auckland, New Zealand. As a lover of the sun and the sea, her passion for nature, culture and travel inspires her vibrant artwork.

Erika is confident with a range of styles and mediums. From traditional paintings with acrylics and oils, to large scale murals and digital design. This enables her to tailor projects with the appropriate methods for each clients individual needs.

Her artwork can be found across New Zealand as well as in Australia, Thailand, Fiji, Indonesia and in the private homes of collectors around the world.

Cryptik creates from a palette of wonder, where all science, math, and true art spring from equal mystery. His is a clear-eyed art practice of more questions asked than answered. The Southern Californian creative’s intricate, almost trance-inducing works—be they on mammoth walls, slap stickers, or hanging in galleries—find voice in images of spiritual universality. By his hand, Eastern philosophical thought and mantras hypnotically merge with the black letter bombing of cholo writing. The ancient and the sacred marry in a modern quest—through art—for conscious awakening and awareness.

Pat Perry is an artist from Michigan who writes and makes pictures through careful and cautious observation. He often works itinerantly, and lives in Detroit.

Originating from Hong Kong and residing in New Zealand, Berst is a graffiti artist, educator, and researcher based in Auckland. Berst locates his work in the graffiti art movement and features a combination of traditional and contemporary typographic based influences. Working predominantly outdoors he creates large scale abstract graffiti pieces and incorporates both his worlds of education and urban art into his innovative teaching program at Unitec Institute of Technology. Alongside his graffiti practice, Berst creates illustrative work in the studio setting which overlaps into the Post-Graffiti Pacific paradigm. This body of work explores local mythologies, symbolisms, global visual culture, and themes with a greater socio-cultural emphasis. His educational accomplishments include a Bachelor of Design, Post Graduate Diploma in Secondary Teaching, Post Graduate Diploma in Education, Masters of Education, and he is currently in his final year of his PhD in Education.

Erika Pearce is a multi-disciplined artist, illustrator and designer from Auckland, New Zealand. As a lover of the sun and the sea, her passion for nature, culture and travel inspires her vibrant artwork.

Erika is confident with a range of styles and mediums. From traditional paintings with acrylics and oils, to large scale murals and digital design. This enables her to tailor projects with the appropriate methods for each clients individual needs.

Her artwork can be found across New Zealand as well as in Australia, Thailand, Fiji, Indonesia and in the private homes of collectors around the world.

Alyssa Irizarry is an artist and Program Director at Bow Seat Ocean Awareness Programs, a Boston-based nonprofit that works to engage teens in ocean conservation and advocacy through the arts. Alyssa has been involved in environmental education for 10 years, with a focus on using creative media as a tool for environmental literacy and conservation. She is particularly passionate about helping students of all ages discover and explore their relationship with water systems. Alyssa holds a BA in Art History and Environmental Studies from Tufts University.

Onur’s artistic tool of choice is the paint roller. Using it, he is creating photo-realistic imagery, mostly in black and white. His former profession as a scenery painter displays itself in preference for large-scale works. Many of his creations capture moments of every day life, freezing the instant in time. People seem detached from their surroundings in the situations captured and display the most fundamental feelings of human existence.

"Kelly Spencer is a freelance graphic artist based in central Wellington, NZ, with a tendency to travel, and is best known for her meticulously hand crafted lettering.

Kelly’s creative style is characterized by a bold use of colour, curvaceous forms, and clean lines. A multidisciplinary approach allows her to design across a wide variety of media and enjoy the freedom to produce work both in-studio and out In the world, adorning surfaces large and small with her colourful forms. Her work to date spans sign painting, murals/street art, illustration, apparel graphics, festival & gig branding, identity design and more.."

"An aerosol and stencil artist with a fine art degree, Flox first made her mark on the inner cityscape of Auckland in 2003. Her trademark native birds, ferns and flowers – a celebration of Aotearoa’s environmental taonga – vibrant, confident colour; and scale combined with delicacy; magically transformed grey walls into vibrant depictions of the natural world.

Flox swiftly expanded her practice into prints, publications, murals, graphic design, live painting, projects, workshops for both school and the wider public, collaborations, charity work and both group and solo exhibitions. Her accessible narratives have broadened her appeal and shaped her into one of New Zealand’s most recognised contemporary artists. Numerous TV guest appearances and editorials have added to her popularity and further spurred the demand for her distinctive aesthetic.

Flox’s intricately hand-cut stencils are what sets her apart from the rest, prompting a demand for these as artworks in their own right. With a philosophy deeply ingrained in the value of the hand-made, her processes pay homage to the craft of the cut – what she refers to as her Labour of Love.

Seen everywhere from Berlin, Hong Kong, New York, Taiwan and now India, Flox is certainly spreading her wings."

Born 1979 in Hawkes Bay, New Zealand, Freeman currently resides in Napier, New Zealand. He is a full-time artist who is both nationally and internationally recognized for his skill as an oil painter. Freeman began painting and drawing at a very early age and throughout his schooling consistently won prizes in art and speech-making. In 2006, he was awarded first prize in the prestigious ADAM portrait awards. Following this success, he was invited by James Holloway, Director of the Scottish national portrait gallery, to paint portraits in Edinburgh, Scotland. Freeman has also completed artist residencies in Germany and the USA and has work in collections in New Zealand, Finland, Germany, Scotland, The united Arab Emirates, America and England.

"Devon Ekundayo Duvea Reid, known simply as Ekundayo, is a Los Angeles-based artist and muralist whose work deals with the triumphs as well as the hardships of the human condition. Handled with a painterly sensitivity, his loose yet purposeful approach often leaves the viewer entranced in the subtle details of his work.

Ekundayo’s passion and desire to create started at a young age. Inspired by graffiti, hip-hop, jazz, and animation, he is especially influenced by the undeniably unique style that each possesses. It’s this culmination of interests that Ekundayo has channeled into his pieces, telling stories of his life and those that he meets during his journeys. Over the course of his career Ekundayo has been invited to travel the world and create murals in Mongolia, New Zealand, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, and of course the United States of America. He has also had the opportunity to have his works featured in the Pasadena Museum of California Art, the Fort Wayne Museum of Art, and the Akron Art Museum, and has been published in High Fructose Magazine, Juxtapoz Magazine, Walls and Frames: Fine Art from the Streets, and Virtuosos of Paint."

James Bullough is an American born artist living and working in Berlin, Germany. His paintings, and huge monumentally scaled site-specific murals, are phenomenal combinations of realist painting technique and graphic punctuation. Inspired by gritty urban graffiti as a young artist growing up in Washington, DC, Bullough harnessed its energy in his work, and perfected a realistic oil painting technique from his study of the Old Masters. Combining the momentum of the one and the technical precision of the other, his work is about staging compelling contrasts and juxtapositions. Working in everything from oil, spray paint and ink on canvas, Bullough’s paintings strike a balance between realistic figurations and stylized interruption. Disjointing the realistic elements with graphic areas and fractured or striated planes, Bullough intends to challenge the viewer’s perception.

An influential figure in Bay Area public art, Oakland-based artist Jet Martinez (b. 1973) is known for creating vibrant works of art that engage the traditions of Mexican folk art with contemporary aesthetics. Originally from the small beach town of Tuxpan, Veracruz, Mexico, and raised in Cuernavaca, Morelos, Martinez takes inspiration from his native culture’s rich traditions of pottery, weaving, and embroidery, enlivening the rigid architecture of urban environments with ornate patterns and abstract forms.

Originally from the UK, Cracked Ink has been part of the New Zealand street art scene ever since he made the move down under 10 years ago. Cracked Inks quirky, character-based art is bold and eye-catching, whether it be an art piece from a gallery or a mural in the street. Predominantly an aerosol artist, Cracked Ink also utilizes other creative avenues which include, sketching, painting and sculpting which have been some of his favourite mediums to work in over the past few years.