San Diego, USA | ’16

"Cinzah Merkens is a New Zealand based multidisciplinary artist, event producer, curator and father of two, based out of Napier, Hawkes Bay.

Cinzah paints from and for his environment, often expressing his views about pressing environmental issues, with a strong sense of colour, movement and balance. His work also explores themes such as the interrelationship between man and nature, duality, mythology and story telling.

Cinzah has exhibited extensively throughout New Zealand, also showing work in group shows, festivals and mural productions in Australia, Mexico, North America, Canada, Japan, South East Asia and the Caribbean."

Konecki is self-taught and constantly experimenting. He is known for completing large scale aerosol murals, fine artwork including paintings and miniature sculptures, as well as various public and private site specific installations. Konecki's work is explorative of social consciousness, generally irreverent, and focused on subjects that are both serious and absurd. His use of found and 'repurposed' objects in his work advocates the reassessment of typical ideals of function and beauty. Elements of nature often collide with harsh urban landscapes and elements of street art and graffiti, symbolizing the ongoing struggle between the harmonious coexistence of these two competing monumental forces.

"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."

Artist and creative director Aaron Glasson's diverse portfolio consists of vibrant murals, paintings, illustration, films and interactive installations. He is from New Zealand and now lives in San Diego, California. His work is autobiographical, inspired by his life, life encountered and the sometimes inexplicable nature of being. Exploring the coexistence of the unseen and the observed. He holds a BFA from Auckland University of Technology. Aaron has also been part of the PangeaSeed Foundation family since its inception and acts as Creative Director for the Organization.

"Celeste Byers is an avid nature worshipper and enthusiast of the existential from Ocean Beach in San Diego, California. Her work conveys the mystical in the everyday and magic beyond what we can perceive. Inspired by the natural world, inter-dimensional realities, ordinary life, and the subconscious mind, her work takes form in a variety of mediums including painting, drawing, music, muralism, and experiential installations.

Since graduating with a BFA from Art Center College of Design in 2012, she has been traveling and working as an artist, freelance illustrator, and muralist with a variety of individuals and companies including the New York Times, Warner Bros, American Express, PangeaSeed, Medium.com, and Lucky Peach Magazine. She has painted murals in the United States, Sri Lanka, Vietnam, Mexico, New Zealand, and Australia."

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.

"Askew One (Elliot O’Donnell) is a self-taught multi-disciplinary artist hailing from the capital of the South Pacific, Auckland, New Zealand. From his roots in his city’s graffiti scene during the early 90’s, he became one of the key figures known internationally from the region. Additionally he has been an integral part of the scene through organizing Auckland’s first graffiti festival, setting up multiple gallery spaces and publishing both a magazine and book showcasing New Zealand graffiti art.

Since 2010 Askew One has evolved his art practice more into the Urban-Contemporary or Post-Graffiti realm, focusing on studio work and large scale outdoor murals. Along with long-time friend and contemporary Benjamin Work he was integral in defining the term Post-Graffiti Pacific, to describe Urban-Contemporary or Post-Graffiti artists based in around the region or dealing with themes related to that specific geography and it’s cultures and history.

Askew One’s current work is a mixture of text and portrait based work concerned with themes of the human diaspora and it’s driving factors. Focusing mostly on painting, he draws heavily from his background in graphic design, still and moving image to create meticulously detailed portraits over layers of bold mark making. He utilizes many crude makeshift tools that became familiar through his experience in painting graffiti."

Amandalynn is a San Francisco based Muralist, Fine Artist, Conservator, and Art Director. Inspired by the female form and spirit, Amandalynn depicts strong, seductive women and illustrates their strength through line work and decorative patterning. Her works can be found in Galleries and Streets all over the world. She began developing her distinct Street Art style mural work in 2001, painting alongside the infamous graffiti collective, The Seventh Letter. Amandalynn is very passionate about her outdoor mural work and still enjoys collaborating with a variety of different artists, as well as creating large solo works. In recent years she has been Art Directing a large music and arts festival called KAABOO. Amandalynn has always enjoyed curating and assisting other artists in their work, making Art Direction a natural path for her. Fine Art also plays a key role in Amandalynn's life, as she continues to develop her career as a Gallery artist. She has a Bachelor's of Fine Art from the San Francisco Academy of Art, and has worked alongside professional conservators within her career. Amandalynn believes that sharing the creative process with others is the key to living an inspired life.

"Fine artist, muralist, photographer, and writer with a few hundred other secret talents, Carly Ealey has a knack for all things creative.

Born in Palm Springs, CA, Carly’s mother recognized her artistic interest at an early age. “I remember my Mom telling me to remember my ""new birthday"" so that I could take the big kid art classes where the minimum age was 8,” Ealey reflects. “The instructor mentioned to my mom a couple of times that she had never seen a child that kept their workplace and hands so incredibly clean...it wasn't until later in life when I learned that getting messy was necessary.”

Today, Carly Ealey considers her art to be a mix of dirty and clean. ”I often destroy the initial creation before bringing it back to life, adding and subtracting until it feels right. There is a great beauty in the imperfections that make the final product acceptable to me.” With a natural inclination to painting the familiar figures of women in her work, Carly prefers acrylic ink on wood panels when painting small, and spray paint when working on murals. However, she also incorporates her photography from time to time on a larger scale via wheatpaste. You may have seen her blown up black and white photo installation of a welder in his studio on F Street outside of SILO during its early phases."

When not shooting tree gaps and landing the cover of Transworld Skateboarding Magazine, professional skateboarder Dolan Stearns is making art.

Much like his skating, his artistic styling is unmistakable. Often using a minimal palette with a stippling technique to achieve shading, Stearns’s subject is an eclectic array of nature scenes, animals, found objects, and of course, his unusual imagined creatures.

"Lauren YS is a Los Angeles-based artist whose work is influenced by multiple stages of focus, both geographically and in practice. With dynamic bouts in academics, literature and writing, teaching, illustration, and animation leading up to their arrival in the urban art sphere, the influences of these phases of their own career add up to a robust style of murals and fine art.

Lauren's work is influenced by dreams, mythology, death, comics, love, sex, psychedelia, animation and their Asian-American heritage."

A prolific muralist, installation artist, and painter, Ian Ross is a San Francisco-based interdisciplinary artist whose love of the natural world deeply influences his practice. Born and raised in Marin County, he draws from his meditative, solitary experiences in Northern California’s forests and beaches to inform his signature approach to abstract imagery. Ross’s background in ceramic sculpture comes through in his painting style. Similarly to the way he works with clay, he paints with gestural marks that respond the medium’s tactile qualities. Whether working on a canvas, a wall, or a sculpture, Ross allows himself to get carried away in an intuitive creative process, channeling the calm he feels while communing with nature through organic shapes.

Brian Hebets is a visual artist, born and raised in San Diego, CA. A graduate from the Art Institute, he specializes in digital and traditional arts, ranging in style from Urban Abstract and Surrealism to Photo-realism. His inner motivations stem from his childhood, watching horror/sci-fi classics and the Discovery Channel, influencing his dark, nightmarish images. His passion for the ocean began early in my childhood and has progressed ever since, with sharks forming an important part of his art practice. The most feared and misunderstood creature we have on this planet, The more he has learned, the more fascinating they have become to him, and he aims to paint these animals to remind the world of the beauty they possess and how vital they are to our Marine system.

Gloria Muriel teases at our subtle, curious states of mind by depicting natural phenomena in her urban art, fine art, and installation art. With brush, spray can, and roller, Gloria’s intention is to awaken hearts and open minds to the raw novelty of the present moment. Her murals can be found in Mexicali, Tijuana, Guadalajara, Mexico City, San Diego, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Miami. Fine art and installation art is available in galleries, restaurants, and by commission.