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Dalek is amongst the new breed of artists who are appropriating the old school styles of graffiti by keeping their art on the streets as well as taking it to new arenas such as galleries. By doing so, they are exposing their work and style to whole new audiences. Fortunately, Dalek and other artists like him are taking these old influences and taking them steps further. The work is young, raw, and energetic. "I was always been interested in art although I was never any good at it. I never really tried painting until I started college in 1988 (VCU in Richmond, VA). I took a few art history courses and messed around a bit painting abstract messes... but that was really about the extent of it. I didn't get into graffiti until 1993 when I was living in Chicago. Although I had messed around with tagging, if wasn't until '93 that I started painting walls and came up with the tag name dalek." It's not surprising then that some of his biggest influences are his contemporary surroundings. One can notice that his paintings are brightly colored with funny little creatures he calls monkeys. He says, "The monkey image evolved out of painting graffiti.... trying to find something to set myself apart from the other writers... it just came from messing around." This image came into existence in part due to the "subconscious melting pot of excessive cartoon viewing." Another huge influence is his contemporary writers. In addition to paintings and wall drawings, Dalek also produces posters and stickers (the diy philosophy); an idea and images helped refined by Shepard Fairey. He taught Dalek the "beauty and power of simplicity" as did virus and giant. Other influences are Twist "the Michael Jordan of his (dalek's) art world, tdee, jaser from scribble, Dave Kinsey, Rich Jacobs, Tobin Yelland, Mark Gonzales... the list could go on. Dalek, who currently lives and works in Brooklyn, New York, graduated with his BFA at the School of the Art Institute, Chicago in 1995. His most recent exhibition was Playerhatersat with Ron English, Shepard Fairey and Rich Coleman that exhibited in D.C., San Francisco, and Los Angeles. He has been in numerous solo and group shows at C-Pop in Detroit, Dirt Gallery in Kansas City, New Image Art in Los Angeles, and 111 Minna Gallery in San Francisco. He was the ?Feature Artist? for sixspace.com?s premiere online exhibition in August, 2001 and continues to be the most viewed artist. He has been included in such publications at Art Papers, Strength Magazine, Artikip, Flux Magazine, and the Kansas City Star, Juxtapoz, and Tokion. |
