Justin Bua | |
|---|---|
 Bua (unknown date) | |
| Born | 1968 (age 55–56) |
| Education | Art Center College of Design |
| Known for | Figure drawing, graffiti and illustration |
| Website | justinbua |
Justin Bua is an artist, author, speaker and entrepreneur. He currently lives in Texas and is best known for his lyrical narrative paintings of musicians, DJs and similar characters who help define the urban landscape. [1]
Bua grew up on the Upper West Side of New York City, son of "Love of Life" actor Gene Bua, during the height of the graffiti movement and was fascinated by the raw, visceral street life of the city. [2] Bua attended Manhattan's Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music and Performing Arts and complemented his education on the streets by writing graffiti and performing worldwide with breakdancing crews. He went on to the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California, where he earned a B.F.A in illustration and taught figure drawing at the University of Southern California for ten years.[ citation needed ]
Bua's distinctive figurative style combines his classical training with his background in graffiti, breakdancing and experience living in New York City. [3] The subjects of his paintings range from recognizable figures, such as Snoop Dogg and Muhammad Ali, to anonymous people pulled from his memories, including the DJ and guitar player for which he has become best known. [4] Each of Bua's subjects is ennobled within the urban landscape he paints and is often rendered with elongated limbs or hands, emphasizing the rhythm of the scene. [5] Bua exhibits worldwide and was featured in a 2011 event at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. [6]
As an artist "for the people, by the people, of the people," Bua's fan base is diverse and ranges from former presidents, actors, musicians, professional athletes, dancers, to street kids and art connoisseurs. [5]
Launching his reputation in the world of commercial art, Bua has designed and illustrated a myriad of products that include skateboards, CD album covers, apparel and advertising campaigns, and he served as a member of the Citizens' Stamp Advisory Committee as an appointee of the United States Postmaster General. [7] He has also developed successful visual concepts in the entertainment world, including: the opening sequence of MTV's sketch-comedy television series, The Lyricist Lounge Show (2000–2001), EA Sports video games NBA Street (2001), NFL Street (2004), Slum Village's award-winning music video Tainted and Toyota's Long Beach Grand Prix campaign. [2]
In July 2013 Bua became the first artist to launch an online school with ArtistWorks, allowing students around the world of varying levels of experience to study his curriculum and interact digitally through video exchange. [8]
In 2013, Bua collaborated with nutritionist David Wolfe to create the superfood drink mix, Immortal Machine. [9] [ better source needed ]
In 2015, the artist developed, hosted and was the executive producer for Oxygen Channel's "Street Art Throw Down" which featured graffiti and street artists, including Lady Pink, Ron English and Mear One, as guest judges. [10]
In 2017, Bua was a featured artist on Artsy benefiting the American Civil Liberties Union. [13] [14]
Fiorello Henry La Guardia was an American attorney and politician who represented New York in the House of Representatives and served as the 99th Mayor of New York City from 1934 to 1946. He was known for his irascible, energetic, and charismatic personality and diminutive, rotund stature. An ideologically socialist member of the Republican Party, La Guardia was frequently cross-endorsed by parties other than his own, especially parties on the left under New York's electoral fusion laws. A panel of 69 scholars in 1993 ranked him as the best big-city mayor in American history.
Graffiti is writing or drawings made on a wall or other surface, usually without permission and within public view. Graffiti ranges from simple written "monikers" to elaborate wall paintings, and has existed since ancient times, with examples dating back to ancient Egypt, ancient Greece, and the Roman Empire.
Jean-Michel Basquiat was an American artist who rose to success during the 1980s as part of the Neo-expressionism movement.
Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts, often referred to simply as LaGuardia or "LaG", is a public high school specializing in teaching visual arts and performing arts, located near Lincoln Center in the Lincoln Square neighborhood of the Upper West Side in Manhattan, New York City. Located at 100 Amsterdam Avenue between West 64th and 65th Streets, the school is operated by the New York City Department of Education, and resulted from the merger of the High School of Music & Art and the School of Performing Arts. The school has a dual mission of arts and academics, preparing students for a career in the arts or conservatory study as well as a pursuit of higher education.
Frank Shepard Fairey is an American contemporary artist, activist and founder of OBEY Clothing who emerged from the skateboarding scene. In 1989, he designed the "Andre the Giant Has a Posse" (...OBEY...) sticker campaign while attending the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD).
New Zealand hip hop derives from the wider hip hop cultural movement originating amongst African Americans in the United States. Like the parent movement, New Zealand hip hop consists of four parts: rapping, DJing, graffiti art and breakdancing. The first element of hip hop to reach New Zealand was breakdancing, which gained notoriety after the release of the 1979 movie The Warriors. The first hip hop hit single, "Rapper's Delight" by the Sugarhill Gang, became a hit in New Zealand when it was released there in 1980, a year after it was released in the United States. By the middle of the 1980s, breakdancing and graffiti art were established in urban areas like Wellington and Christchurch. By the early 1990s, hip hop became a part of mainstream New Zealand culture.
Mear One is an American artist and based in Los Angeles, known for his often-political and sometimes conspiracy theory-inspired street graffiti art. Mear One is associated with CBS and WCA crews. As a graphic designer, Mear One has designed apparel for Conart, Kaotic, as well as his own Reform brand. Mear One has designed album covers for musicians such as Non Phixion, Freestyle Fellowship, Alien Nation, Limp Bizkit, Visionaries, Busdriver and Daddy Kev.
Street art is visual art created in public locations for public visibility. It has been associated with the terms "independent art", "post-graffiti", "neo-graffiti" and guerrilla art.
Fiorello! is a musical about New York City mayor Fiorello La Guardia, a reform Republican, which debuted on Broadway in 1959, and tells the story of how La Guardia took on the Tammany Hall political machine. The book is by Jerome Weidman and George Abbott, drawn substantially from the 1955 volume Life with Fiorello by Ernest Cuneo, with lyrics by Sheldon Harnick, and music by Jerry Bock. It won the three major theatre awards - Tony Award, the New York Drama Critics Circle award, and the Pulitzer Prize for Drama. It is one of only ten musicals to win the latter award.
The High School of Performing Arts was a public alternative high school established in 1947 and located at 120 West 46th Street in the borough of Manhattan, New York City, from 1948 to 1984.
OSGEMEOS are identical twin street artists Otavio Pandolfo and Gustavo Pandolfo. They started painting graffiti in 1987 and their work appears on streets and in galleries across the world.
The High School of Music & Art, informally known as "Music & Art", was a public specialized high school located at 443-465 West 135th Street in the borough of Manhattan, New York, from 1936 until 1984. In 1961, Music & Art and the High School of Performing Arts were formed into a two-campus high school. The schools fully merged in 1984 into the Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & the Arts.
John Fekner is an American artist known for his spray painted environmental and conceptual outdoor works.
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RISK, also known as RISKY, is a Los Angeles–based graffiti writer and contemporary artist often credited as a founder of the West Coast graffiti scene. In the 1980s, he was one of the first graffiti writers in Southern California to paint freight trains, and he pioneered writing on "heavens", or freeway overpasses. He took his graffiti into the gallery with the launch of the Third Rail series of art shows, and later created a line of graffiti-inspired clothing. In 2017, RISK was knighted by the Medici Family.
Mayor Fiorello H. LaGuardia Houses, also known as LaGuardia Houses, is a public housing development built and maintained by the New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. Mayor Fiorello H. LaGuardia Houses is composed of thirteen buildings, all of which are sixteen stories tall. The buildings have 1,093 apartments and house approximately 2,596 people. The complex occupies 10.96 acres (4.44 ha), and is bordered by Madison Street to the north, Montgomery Street to the east, Cherry Street to the south, and Rutgers Street to the west. LaGuardia Houses Addition is a sixteen-story tower for elderly people at the corner of Jefferson Street and Cherry Street.
See No Evil is a collection of works of public art by multiple graffiti artists, located around Nelson Street in Bristol, UK. The artwork was first created in an event in August 2011 that was Europe's largest street art festival at the time. It culminated with a block party. The street was mostly repainted in a repeat event in 2012. The artworks comprise murals of various sizes, in different styles, some painted on tower blocks, including a 10-storey office block. The works were created under a road closure, using scaffolding and aerial work platforms.
Moncho 1929 is a Los Angeles–based street and contemporary artist originally from New York City known for his colorful murals and sociopolitical content. In 2016, he created banners that West Hollywood City Hall displayed on their building and in 2017, he was commissioned by Universal Pictures to paint three murals promoting the film Atomic Blonde starring Charlize Theron.
Al Diaz is an American urban artist and lecturer best known for being among the first generation of graffiti writers in the community and for co-creating the graffiti campaign SAMO© with Jean-Michel Basquiat in 1978.
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