Oh Mickey You’re So Fine!
“Oh Mickey you’re so fine, you’re so fine you blow my mind. Hey Mickey, Hey Mickey”…face it you didn’t read that, you sang it!P
In oder of appearance ~
Whatshisname
Born in eastern Poland in 1982, Whatshisname (Sebastian Burdon) created his first digital artwork at the tender age of 7 while using an Atari 130 XE using a text editor.
After a move to London in 2006, Whatshisname began working as an assistant to well established British artists who after reviewing his designs, motivated Sebastian to pursue a career as an artist. Today, he creates his own artwork using both digital and traditional mediums.
His art celebrates an alternative to an ordinary His desire is to encourage the viewer to look at their surrounding world and question what they see in a derisive, unorthodox way.
The moniker “Whatshisname” was inspired by the difficulty he has remembering other artists names and, by Green Day’s song “Whatshername”.
“The main reason I create art is to celebrate an alternative to the ordinary. The second reason is I want to put smiles on people’s faces by creating joyful, fun pieces that collectors will enjoy for a lifetime. Thirdly, it is because making art is something that I cannot not do. Believe me, I tried…“ ~ Whatshisname
Jeff Gillette
Born in 1959, American artist and art teacher, Jeff Gillette grew up in Detroit to the sounds of “The Wonderful World of Disney” TV show. His vision of the ‘wonderful world’ soon disintegrated when he visited the Orange County amusement park in 1978 and discovered he detested the place for its artificiality.
Following high school, Gillette attended art school in Detroit and then went on to spend two years in the Peace Corps in Nepal.
In the words of the artist, “I travel to the most wretched places on earth for inspiration for my art: to third-world slums. From as recently as the spring of 2012 when I had a guide take me through the tiny, dark alleyways of Dharavi in Mumbai, India, all the way back to the late 1980’s when as a Peace Corps volunteer in Nepal, I visited all of India’s large cities and their megaslums.
Besides India, I’ve ventured into favelas, barrios, bastis and shantytowns, experiencing urban blight in North Africa, Southeast Asia, Central and South America, Mexico and Bangladesh. Aside from the seething humanity, the suffering, the unfairness and cruelty of the slum is a strange beauty. The cacophony of filthy debris rising from oceans of garbage comprises an architecture of depravation and necessity. What emerges is a living environment of aesthetic wonder, spectacular visuals of space, color, form, and texture. These images, I recreate in the all too-realism of my ‘slumscape’ artwork, in drawings, paintings, sculptures and installations.”
It has been suggested that Gillette is the source of inspiration for Banksy’s ‘Dismaland’, having previously produced his own series of paintings called ‘Dismayland’ in 2010.
Upon an invitation from Banksy’s manager, Gillette and his wife Laurie flew to England where they helped to install a large, secretive installation that Banksy was setting up — Dismaland.
“When I visit third-world slums and landfills I take lots of photographs and videos, painting from them in my garage studio in Orange County within earshot of the nightly Disneyland firework shows.” ~ Jeff Gillette
Tinker Brothers
The Tinker Brothers (Noah and Liam) are contemporary pop artists currently based in Eindhoven, the Netherlands.
In 2011, the duo dropped out of their respective studies at the University of Applied Sciences and the University of Technology. A higher calling in 2012, saw the brothers quit their jobs, get rid of all their ‘stuff’ (minus some essentials) and follow their dreams.
“It was in that moment that we decided that there was more to life than playing it safe and ‘just making a living’. Somehow we both felt a calling, a purpose, a hunger for greatness — opening up to a deeper, more spiritual dimension if you will. It was if we were looking at the world through new eyes, as if the skies opened up and anything became possible.”
They spent the next five years experimenting with different media and techniques taking steps towards realising their dream of one day becoming some of the most influential artists of our time.
With simplicity in mind they ultimately discovered their signature style of bold stencilled words and classic cartoons in black and white.
“The reason we make art is because there are a lot of things to say — about love; about the troubles of this world, its beauty and our place in it; about our dreams and potential; our highs and lows; about truth. All the things we feel, think and dream about when we are alone with our thoughts. The things that are so goddamn hard to say. We believe in saying those things anyway. Because these things matter. And we don’t dare to leave these things unsaid. We don’t fucking dare!” ~ Tinker Brothers.
First published by Addicted Art Gallery
