Studying Self Portrait
The first of my assignments given by my college tutor is exploring artists self portraits, looking at many aspects such as mood, medium, culture and perception.
My artist assessment is on Mike Giant owner of the renowned street brand REBEL 8, he is a seasoned illustrator, graffiti artist and tattooist.
Mike Giant is a big influence to many artists and street clothing brands and is known for his trademark black and white illustrations of cultural symbolism that are heavily influenced by graffiti, skateboarding, religion and tattoos. His most recognized works are intricate illustrations of hot tattooed ladies with attitude.
Though originally from New York Mike garnered some of his influences when he moved to New mexico with his parents in 1979. Tattoos, Skateboarding and heavy metal were a few of his influences in the 80's and 90's.
He was also an active graffiti artist bombing up bold symmetrical pieces in the name of GIANT! While on the scene he took a liking to the gang graffiti in the city, the letters drew him to learn the style of their writings. With that he built on his own style and grew in the graffiti community.
While in New Mexico mike studied architecture for many years until he decided to change course to San Francisco to design graphics for a company called think skateboards. The brand rebel then culminated with mike and business partner joshy d selling t shirts among'st the skate, graffiti and tattoo community.
The piece of work i selected is a self portrait of Mike Giant called " Reflections on past, present and future" displayed at a fellow artists show called guerrero gallery.Mikes body of work is intended to lead us to reflect on our past and how our past has influenced who we have become today. This self portrait is a reflection of Mikes past and who he is today, it also communicates "this is who i am, this is what i love"
The tattooed images on Mikes portrait conveys his lifestyle, culture, heritage, influence and a lot more. His love for tattoo art is very clear, his left and right arm have heavy metal scrolled on them to show his musical roots, on his hands the word America to display his heritage, the bike on his right hand shouting his economy friendly pastime and the graffiti tag on his upper left arm a medal to rebelist and controlled activities spraying up various properties.
The part of this work that stands at the fore front is the heart displaying the number 13 and lotus flowers on both sides, this imagery is very symbolic.The significance of the number lies in the 13 chakras meditative states of consciousness and the lotus flowers are symbolic of growth which mike giant has clearly achieved in his years of work as an artist. Mike Giant practices meditation and buddhism to bring his physical and mental in line with his work. Not to sound cliche but art is a lifestyle and i believe that how you treat yourself reflects your work and performance, and i am sure Mike Giant can attest to that.
I think the most interesting aspect of work focused on self is the perception people have of you through your work, they may relate to it, reject it or learn something from it same as they would if they faced you in the physical form.
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| Copyright of Mike Giant |
Mike Giant is a big influence to many artists and street clothing brands and is known for his trademark black and white illustrations of cultural symbolism that are heavily influenced by graffiti, skateboarding, religion and tattoos. His most recognized works are intricate illustrations of hot tattooed ladies with attitude.
Though originally from New York Mike garnered some of his influences when he moved to New mexico with his parents in 1979. Tattoos, Skateboarding and heavy metal were a few of his influences in the 80's and 90's.
He was also an active graffiti artist bombing up bold symmetrical pieces in the name of GIANT! While on the scene he took a liking to the gang graffiti in the city, the letters drew him to learn the style of their writings. With that he built on his own style and grew in the graffiti community.
While in New Mexico mike studied architecture for many years until he decided to change course to San Francisco to design graphics for a company called think skateboards. The brand rebel then culminated with mike and business partner joshy d selling t shirts among'st the skate, graffiti and tattoo community.
The piece of work i selected is a self portrait of Mike Giant called " Reflections on past, present and future" displayed at a fellow artists show called guerrero gallery.Mikes body of work is intended to lead us to reflect on our past and how our past has influenced who we have become today. This self portrait is a reflection of Mikes past and who he is today, it also communicates "this is who i am, this is what i love"
The tattooed images on Mikes portrait conveys his lifestyle, culture, heritage, influence and a lot more. His love for tattoo art is very clear, his left and right arm have heavy metal scrolled on them to show his musical roots, on his hands the word America to display his heritage, the bike on his right hand shouting his economy friendly pastime and the graffiti tag on his upper left arm a medal to rebelist and controlled activities spraying up various properties.
The part of this work that stands at the fore front is the heart displaying the number 13 and lotus flowers on both sides, this imagery is very symbolic.The significance of the number lies in the 13 chakras meditative states of consciousness and the lotus flowers are symbolic of growth which mike giant has clearly achieved in his years of work as an artist. Mike Giant practices meditation and buddhism to bring his physical and mental in line with his work. Not to sound cliche but art is a lifestyle and i believe that how you treat yourself reflects your work and performance, and i am sure Mike Giant can attest to that.
I think the most interesting aspect of work focused on self is the perception people have of you through your work, they may relate to it, reject it or learn something from it same as they would if they faced you in the physical form.
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