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Dave Leamon was born in Guam in 1968. He has been an artist for as long as he has been allowed to play with sharp objects. He has lived all over the U.S. in various cities including Atlanta, Lincoln, and San Francisco, but he has called Los Angeles "home" (among other names) for the past 7 years. He went a small school in Phoenix for advertising and graphic design. He has no formal training in painting, but that clearly hasn't stopped him from drunkenly slapping pigment on any available surface and then bugging people to buy them - the obvious signs of a true artist. Dave claims inspiration from a myriad of sources, including high-speed television chases, tabloid stories about 5-legged animals, microwave burritos and 99-cent sake. Dave displays a disturbing tendency to gravitate towards the bottom of the barrel in terms of both his subject matter and his lifestyle. When asked about his propensity to navigate towards a magnetic south and avoid the imagery that seems to make most humans happy, Dave says " I think the challenge is to present subject matter that most people deem unacceptable or unattractive, and make it appealing. Also, there are more than enough artists painting flowers and bunnies. You need to try to achieve equilibrium by creating a netherworld filled with booze and bums to ensure that the natural balance of the universe is maintained. It's my job to maintain that balance."
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