 | This article has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page . (Learn how and when to remove these template messages) |
Tai Taeoalii (born July 14, 1977) is an American/Samoan award-winning filmmaker and mixed-media artist.
Tai is a Samoan/American artist with a professional art career spanning over two decades.
In the early 1980’s, growing up biracial in the suburbs of Salt Lake City, Utah, Tai self-identified as an outcast. He experienced some turbulent teenage years but says he was fortunate to discover that the arts were a remedy to expressing his frustrations. Tai experimented with a variety of art-forms, including graffiti, tattoo, music & film. He received awards for filmmaking, but Tai has stated that a ballpoint pen is his favorite medium.
In the early 2000s Tai founded Weird Chief Pictures, [1] a film and television production company in Salt Lake City, Utah. Tai had been producing film and television for roughly 10 years before eventually putting his filmmaking career aside to focus on his artwork. His most notable production credits include the Ultimate Combat Experience and 3.2 Percent. In 2008 he wrote, produced and directed his fourth and final feature film entitled Darkroom, with starring roles by Darren Dalton and David Stevens and a cameo role from Todd Bridges.
Between 2002 and 2008, under the moniker 'Weird Chief' Tai sold an estimated 5,000 pop art paintings of pop icons made using stencils and spraypaint, with at least one sale in each of the 50 U.S. states and Israel, Cyprus, Australia, Austria, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Finland, France, Germany, Iceland, Japan, Lithuania, the UK, Slovenia, Switzerland, Turkey, South Africa, and New Zealand. [2] [3] In 2009, combining urban and surreal styles, he transitioned from pop art to a pop surrealism style, experimenting with a mix of ballpoint pen, photography, spray paint, stencils, acrylics, marker inks, and watercolors, applied on plywood.
In 2010 Tai founded Submerged in Art, [4] an annual charity event gathering of Art and Music to benefit The Road Home homeless shelter. [5] In just its 3rd year, the 2012 Submerged in Art [6] charity event received a "Best Of" [7] award from Salt Lake City Weekly.
In 2017 Tai was invited to exhibit his solo show “thINK” at Gallery UnderTaci in Aarhus, Denmark, marking his first international solo exhibit. In 2018 Tai was bestowed the honor of a “Matai” chief title, “Luamanuvae”, in his family's village in Savaii, Samoa. In May 2019, Tai's animal revolt series “I Am Animal” was featured at the Moniker Art Fair in New York City through the Philadelphia gallery Analog Contemporary. In 2019 & 2020 Tai's series “I Am Animal” had its France debut and was on exhibit for several months at all three of the SpaceJunk Art Center galleries in Lyon, Bayonne and Grenoble.
During the Covid-19 pandemic, Taeoalii renovated an 1851 pre-civil war home into his own studio and gallery with rentable Airbnb loft in Hannibal, Missouri. He also taught remote drawing classes and released two books. The first was a children's book, co-created with his wife, entitled Beyond the Sea and the second was a coffee table book of his drawings of tentacles, entitled Book of Arms.
In 2021 Tai launched a podcast and YouTube web series called DOD45 (Drawing Over Discussions) where he interviews guests for 45 minutes while drawing a picture for them. Past guests include Sage Francis, Ceschi, Awol One, Doseone, Ron Allen, B. Dolan, Illogic, Carlos Condit, Moodie Black, Factor Chandelier, DJ Hoppa, Sole, Greg Lutzka, Blockhead, DJ Qbert, Prolyphic, Yoni Wolf, Mr. Dibbs & Slug of Atmosphere.
Tai has told stories of being in elementary school and drawing pictures for his friends, selling them for a quarter or more. As a juvenile, he was arrested for his graffiti and was encouraged by the arresting officer to compete in an anti-graffiti/anti-gang drawing competition, which he won and used part of his earnings from the competition to pay off the graffiti violation fines. [3] [8]
Tai started with many different art mediums including tattoo, graffiti, web design, graphic, illustration, sculpture, oils, acrylics, music and film. In 2004, Tai was asked to help paint a 30 ft x 50 ft mural with American Pop Artist Jann Haworth, who is best known as the co-creator of The Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band album cover. The mural was an updated representation of the Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band album cover and is titled SLC Pepper. This mural inspired Tai to seek new techniques, at which time he was introduced to stencil art. Tai spent the following years focused on his stencil work. In 2005 he painted a tryptic painting of Miles Davis, Erykah Badu and Billie Holiday, listed the piece on eBay, and in a short time the painting sold. Although still considered lowbrow, Pop art had become very popular in the early 2000s, [9] especially with the younger generation, and from 2005 to 2008 Tai used eBay to sell his paintings to collectors across the world. [2]
In 2008, Tai began showing his work at art festivals. His first festival was the 2008 Utah Arts Festival, [10] where he sold nearly 300 original 20"x30" pop art paintings. For the most part of 2008 and 2009 Tai only sold his work in the western United States, but in late 2009 Tai took his work across the entire country . As of 2009, Tai has been traveling across the country for nearly 8 months out of a year, selling his work to collectors.
Tai's pop art paintings were created with the use of spraypaint, stencils and masonite. The images were designed in photoshop, turning digital photos into multilayered images. The layers were printed out onto mylar paper and then handcut with an Exacto knife, resulting in multi-layered stencils. Each stencil layer was sprayed with a temporary adhesive, mounted on the masonite, then sprayed with aerosol spraypaint. Multiple layers were applied, completing the image. The backgrounds were painted with additional stencil use, freehand aerosol techniques and sometimes acrylic application with a brush.
Tai's recent artworks are surreal creations of ballpoint pen drawings on Mylar film including further highlights, details and background colors created with the use of pencils, charcoals and a drizzle of watercolors. In the past, Tai's surreal drawings have also been created on watercolor paper, canvas and plywood. Tai has stated that he prefers hotel pens and was recently rewarded with a case of his own personal pens, provided by Bic. [11]
Born to a middle-class family in Salt Lake City, Utah, Tai spent his childhood drawing and shooting short videos, and at 18 he went on to study film at the University of Utah, where he first made the transition to producing short films. After dropping out of college he went on to produce his first feature-length film Luck & Rat Poisoning [17] (1995), which was heavily influenced by Kevin Smith's Clerks. After Luck & Rat Poisoning's [18] theatrical release at Utah's historic Tower Theatre, which serves as a venue for the Sundance Film Festival, Tai produced and directed his second feature-length movie, [19] Hustlin' a Hustler [20] (1996), which he shot on hi-8 video, on what could be considered as a "used car" budget.
In 2001, Tai began production on his 3rd feature-length picture, but his first on celluloid (his earliest works were shot on video). [21] Shot on Super 16mm, Twice Today, starring Don Shanks, was invited to the AngelCiti Film Festival [22] in Los Angeles, California where it had its premier at Paramount Studios. In July 2002, Twice Today was also invited to the Real to Reel Film Festival in Shelby, North Carolina, where it won the award for Best Amateur Feature Film.
After Twice Today, Tai transitioned into television. From 2003 to 2006 Tai was hired to edit the Ultimate Combat Experience, a weekly television series featuring tournaments of kickboxing and no holds barred fighting, credited as being the first MMA show of its kind on network television anywhere in the world. After editing several episodes of UCE, Tai was promoted to a producer, where he produced and edited 52 episodes over a 5-season period.
In 2006, after leaving the Ultimate Combat Experience, Tai produced and edited commercials and promotional material for Ultimate Fighting Championship's two-time light heavy weight champion Randy Couture and Matt Lindland's training camp Team Quest and MMA event, Sportfight.
From 2004 to 2006, Tai also worked on his weekly television series called 3.2 Percent, which highlighted the nightlife, music, sports, culture and lifestyle in Utah. In corroboration with early Spy Hop Production personnel, Tai produced an 11-episode season in 2006.
Citing unsustainable financial conditions, Tai cancelled the 3.2 Percent television series, after just one season. In December 2005, Tai returned to filmmaking and was hired to produce and direct a short film for the 2006 Slamdance Film Festival, with specific guidelines. It had to be shot in 24 hours, with a budget of $99 and a running time of 3 minutes. The finished short was titled Waiting, [23] starring David H. Stevens [24] of Punch Drunk Love and after its premiere at the Slamdance Film Festival, it was invited to screen at the 2006 Real to Reel Film Festival [25] and the 2006 Arizona International Film Festival. [26]
Following the Slamdance premiere of Waiting, Tai adapted the short story into a feature-length film. Two years later, Tai began production on Darkroom. [27] Tai's fourth feature-length film, Darkroom, [28] stars David Stevens, Darren Dalton and Todd Bridges. In 2008, Darkroom [29] made its way through the film festival circuit, screening at the 2008 Big Muddy Film Festival, [30] IL, Okanagan Film Festival, Canada, Big Island Film Festival, HI, Bare Bones Film Festival, [31] OK, and the Dances With Films Festival, [32] CA. In 2011, Darkroom [33] was picked up by Vanguard Cinema [34] for DVD distribution.
From 2011 to 2012 Tai edited commercials, promo videos and Episode 1 for Showdown Fights, [35] which aired on Fox Sports Net in 2012 and is an MMA event in Orem, Utah that has featured and features professional and amateur fighters from across the country, including UFC contenders and popular up-and-comers such as Josh Burkman, Jeremy Horn, Junie Browning, Court McGee, Jordan Smith and Steven Siler.
Weird Chief Pictures was founded by Tai Taeoalii in 1996. It was an independent film production company that had also expanded into all aspects of media, entertainment and the arts. [36] As of 2013, Tai has suspended all of Weird Chief Pictures' business dealings, citing his need to focus on his recent artistic endeavors, of which he operates business now as 'Art by Tai'.
Arthur Ira Garfunkel is an American singer, actor and poet who is best known for his partnership with Paul Simon in the folk rock duo Simon & Garfunkel. Born in Forest Hills, Queens, New York, Garfunkel became acquainted with Simon through an elementary school play, a production of Alice in Wonderland, and sought a partnership. Their combined presence in music began in the 1950s, and throughout the 1960s the duo of Simon & Garfunkel achieved great chart success with tracks such as "The Sound of Silence", "Mrs. Robinson", "Scarborough Fair", "The Boxer" and "Bridge over Troubled Water". The latter song's title also served as the name of Simon & Garfunkel's final album in 1970. Simon & Garfunkel split for personal reasons, but the pair have occasionally reunited in the years since. Both men experienced success in solo careers in the years following the duo's breakup.
Banksy is a pseudonymous England-based street artist, political activist, and film director whose real name and identity remain unconfirmed and the subject of speculation. Active since the 1990s, his satirical street art and subversive epigrams combine dark humour with graffiti executed in a distinctive stenciling technique. His works of political and social commentary have appeared on streets, walls, and bridges throughout the world. His work grew out of the Bristol underground scene, which involved collaborations between artists and musicians. Banksy says that he was inspired by 3D, a graffiti artist and founding member of the musical group Massive Attack.
Robert Del Naja, also known as 3D, is a British artist, musician, singer and songwriter. He emerged as a graffiti artist and member of the Bristol collective the Wild Bunch, and later as a founding member and sole consistent member of the band Massive Attack, with which he is still active. In 2009, he received the British Academy's Ivor Novello Award for Outstanding Contribution to British Music.
Bill Plympton is an American animator, graphic designer, cartoonist, and filmmaker best known for his 1987 Academy Awards-nominated animated short Your Face and his series of shorts featuring a dog character starting with 2004's Guard Dog.
Alapalooza is the eighth studio album by "Weird Al" Yankovic, released in 1993. By the completion of his previous album, Off the Deep End, Yankovic had already written all of the original songs that he planned to use on his next release. This new album, which would eventually be titled Alapalooza in reference to the music festival Lollapalooza, consisted of seven original songs and five parodies. It produced three parody singles: "Jurassic Park", "Bedrock Anthem", and "Achy Breaky Song". "Jurassic Park" was a top five hit on the Canadian magazine The Record's single chart.
John Cassaday is an American comic book artist, writer, and television director. He is best known for his work on the critically acclaimed Planetary with writer Warren Ellis, Astonishing X-Men with Joss Whedon, Captain America with John Ney Rieber, and Star Wars with Jason Aaron.
Huw Meredydd Stephens is a Welsh radio and television presenter, currently broadcasting on BBC Radio Wales, BBC Radio Cymru and BBC Radio 6 Music.
Rash, written RASH, is a 2005 Australian documentary film, directed by Nicholas Hansen. Its subject is contemporary urban Australia and the artists who are making it a host for illegal street art. With the tagline 'Scratch it and it spreads', Rash explores the cultural value of unsanctioned public art and the ways that street art and graffiti contribute to public dialogue.
An arts festival is a festival that can encompass a wide range of art forms including music, dance, film, fine art, literature, poetry and is not solely focused on visual arts. Arts festivals may feature a mixed program that include music, literature, comedy, children's entertainment, science, or street theatre, and are typically presented in venues over a period of time ranging from as short as a day or a weekend to a month. Each event within the program is usually separate.
René Balcer is a Canadian-American television writer, director, producer, and showrunner, as well as a photographer and documentary film-maker.
WouterAndré "Wally" De Backer, known professionally as Gotye, is an Australian singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. His 2011 single "Somebody That I Used to Know", reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 and became the best-selling song of 2012. This made him the fifth Australian-based artist to top the chart and the second born in Belgium.
James Powderly is an American artist, designer and engineer whose work has focused on creating tools for graffiti artists and political activists, designing robots and augmented reality platforms, and promoting open source culture.
Aaron Paul is an American actor and producer. He is best known for portraying Jesse Pinkman in the AMC series Breaking Bad (2008–2013), for which he won several awards, including the Critics' Choice Television Award for Best Supporting Actor in a Drama Series (2014), Satellite Award for Best Supporting Actor – Series, Miniseries, or Television Film (2013), and Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series. This made him one of only two actors to win the latter category three times since its separation into comedy and drama. He has also won the Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actor on Television three times, more than any other actor in that category. He reprised the role of Jesse Pinkman in the 2019 Netflix film El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie and again during the final season of the spin-off series Better Call Saul in 2022.
Alfred Matthew "Weird Al" Yankovic is an American musician and comedian. He is best known for writing and performing comedy songs that often parody specific songs by contemporary musicians. He also performs original songs that are style pastiches of the work of other acts, as well as polka medleys of several popular songs, most of which feature his trademark accordion.
Georgios "Yorgos" Lanthimos is a Greek filmmaker. He has received multiple accolades, including a British Academy Film Award and a Golden Globe Award as well as nominations for six Academy Awards.
Madhusudhanan is an Indian film maker and artist, also known as K. M. Madhusudhanan. His debut feature film, Bioscope has received many awards. He is working with different media in art, including sculpture, printmaking installation art and film.
Sacha Jenkins is an American television producer, filmmaker, writer, musician, artist, curator, and chronicler of hip-hop, graffiti, punk, and metal cultures. While still in his teens, Jenkins published Graphic Scenes & X-Plicit Language, one of the earliest 'zines solely dedicated to "graffiti" art. In 1994, Jenkins co-founded Ego Trip magazine. In 2007, he created the competition reality program ego trip's The (White) Rapper Show, which was carried by VH1. Currently, Jenkins is the creative director of Mass Appeal magazine.
3Steps is a German-based contemporary artist collective between the twins Kai Harald Krieger and Uwe Harald Krieger and Joachim Pitt.
Jan Zajíček is a Czech film director, screenwriter and artist.
Szabotage is a British urban artist and interior designer. He was born as Gustav Szabo in Brighton, grew up in Hove and London, studied architecture and worked as a designer. He relocated to Hong Kong, where he became active in the street art scene and began to gain notoriety in the local and international urban art world.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)