Daniel Albrigo is currently living and working in Brooklyn, New York.  He spends equal time tattooing at Three Kings Tattoo and making art in his home studio.   Largely self taught, Daniel enjoys  working with  classic mediums ranging from oil painting to intaglio etching, as well as neon sculptures. 

Reaching out and working with other artists has been key in Albrigo's career.  He also has experience curating, as well as participating in group exhibitions and collaborations, most recently with Genesis P-Orridge, Dr. Lakra , Jonathan Mannion, Tamara Santibanez & Alex Couwenberg among others. 

"The California landscape and classic American iconography is a subject that'll always be represented in my works. The landscape of the Mojave Desert is a place that feels natural to me. especially the large boulders scattered like tombstones. reading family names, Lovers and loved ones. a quiet place. "

Weaving a mesmerizing world of surreal dreamscapes and captivating geometry, Gemma conjures a sort of Pythagorean quantum mysticism in her work. Existing in the realms between the physical and spiritual planes, her drawings and collages stir subconscious parts of our being that we may not understand or be aware of. She plays with mathematical theory, inspired by Torsion Field Physics, Sacred Geometry, and our experience of the many dimensions in Quantum theory. Her collages mimic spiritual totems, favoring the natural law of bilateral symmetry, with a direct narrative aimed to center and balance the viewer. Her geocentric mandalas are multi-dimensional overwhelming experiences. She labors over the precise hand-drawn lines without the aide of a ruler, creating the illusion of straight lines through proportion and repetition. She creates the mandalas as conduits of cosmic energy:portals to higher dimensions. 

Vicki Berndt 

Los Angeles based artist Vicki Berndt's work is a bold, sometimes exaggerated, always affectionate take on popular culture. A collection of magnificent obsessions, religious and pop icons, and images rendered in vivid colors. Her portraits have a deeply spiritual feel while retaining strong rock & roll and show biz overtones.

Martine Birobent is extremely difficult to corner. She is part of a non-academic new generation of outsiders, sometimes attracted by pop surrealism. She has a very strong signature, one of a women artist in her fifties, having worked in poor surroundings elementary schools a large part of her life, and reacting to our world in a very unique bitter-sweet way.

John Brophy is an American artist living in the Seattle areawho spent alot of time traveling when he was a kid. His father worked in aerospace and his family moved a lot while he was growing up. He was born in St. Louis, but spent a large part of his life living outside the U.S., in Japan (twice) for nearly 12 years, Greece, and Spain, plus various places around the U.S. Because of having such a diversified background, he doesn't consider himself typically American.

John usually works out his compositions on the computer using Maya, ZBrush, and Photoshop and uses the result as a concept for the final painting. He loves the freedom that designing in 3D allows, even though it is very technical and demanding. However, he considers digital imagery of less interest than traditional painting because it lacks "object quality", and insists that a final painting be executed by hand in oil using the traditional techniques of the 15th century Flemish painters that he most admires, Memling, David, Van der Weyden, Van Eyck, etc.

In addition to the 15th century Flemish artists, he also has great admiration for contemporary artists like James Jean, Alex Gross, Odd Nerdrum, Thomas Woodruff, Pierre et Gilles and the writings of Haruki Murakami.

"John Brophy creates paintings that blend artifacts from global cultures and belief systems and juxtaposes them with the affects of western consumer culture. Taking cues from the religious imagery of 15th century Flemish Primitive art, he takes their use of intimate compositions and understated gestures and reworks them using contemporary imagery to create surreal yet immediate new icons for the modern age." 

- Kirsten Anderson (Roq La Rue Gallery)

Grace DeGennaro is a painter whose work is informed by the study of ancient uses of pattern, symmetry and iconic symbolism in traditional forms such as Tantric drawings, Navajo weavings, and Byzantine mosaics, as well as modern interpretations of these vocabularies, including geometric abstraction, Carl Jung's collective unconscious, Josef Albers' color theory, and Robert Lawlor's sacred geometry. Her work as been exhibited nationally including at the Tang Teaching Museum, Saratoga Springs, NY, the Kentler International Drawing Space, Brooklyn, NY, the Center for Maine Contemporary Art, Rockland, ME, the Heckscher Museum, Huntington, NY and The Visual Arts Center of New Jersey.  She is the recipient of grants from the Ballinglen Arts Foundation, the New England Foundation for the Arts and the Maine Arts Commission. She received an MFA from Columbia University and a BS from Skidmore College. Grace DeGennaro lives in Maine.

Ray Geary makes conceptual based art that is thought provoking and/or offensive. He uses mostly metals and resin for his sculptures but loves incorporating various materials to get his point across. Addictions and violence are the themes addressed in the artist's sculptures, and although serious issues, are presented in a thought provoking and at times whimsical manner. Ray lives and works in NYC

Mike Egan's paintings tend to deal with life, death and religion. Through his experiences working in funeral homes for the last five years, he has become quite familiar with all three subjects. His inspiration comes from many different sources: The German Expressionists, stained glass windows, Halloween, Southern folk art, funeral homes, horror films, music, lowbrow/outsider art, Religious icons, etc. Egan likes to think that each painting is in some way a good bye to somebody who passed away, a funeral portrait.

Victor Grasso is a self-taught artist from Cape May, NJ.

Bold, iconic, figurative imagery is what Kevin Ledo, the native Montreal artist, brings forth in his art. Crossing back and forth through artistic boundaries and genres such as fine art, pop art, mural art, street art, and gold leaf art installations, Ledo covers a lot of ground in his quest to render justice to his artistic visions and insights.

Ledo expresses influence and inspiration from a multitude of forces including religious imagery, graphic design, psychedelic music, travel, photography, psychology, Buddhist philosophy, metaphysics, and especially intangible concepts such as infinity, consciousness, and perception.

Kevin Ledo's artwork is exhibited and collected worldwide. His gold leaf and art installations adorn the walls and establishments throughout the Americas and parts of Asia . Ledo is represented by the Yves Laroche and Station16 galleries in Montreal, while also working with Ayden Gallery in Vancouver and Hellion Gallery in Portland. As an active member of the En Masse project since 2009, Ledo has painted with the group at numerous art fairs, museums and events across the USA and Canada, including the Mus�e des beaux-arts de Montr�al. Ledo exhibited at the ModeMuseum in Hasselt, Belgium, has been featured in Juxtapoz Magazine, My Modern Met, Artist a Day, Cool Hunting and numerous other publications and media including CBC Radio1, The Montreal Gazette and Bizarre Beyond Belief.

Meghan McAleavy was born and raised in New Jersey and is a free lance textile artist who predominately uses free motion machine embroidery and applique techniques in her art. Her current works technique and style is inspired by traditional Masonic lodge banners. McAleavy has made dozens of one of a kind Satin Banners for tattoo artists around the globe. Her attention to detail and craftsmanship have made her work highly sought after. 

In 2005, McAleavy received a BFA in textiles from Oregon College of Art & Craft. She has participated in several group shows on both the East and West coasts.

McAleavy's most recent piece entitled, "Sacramental Illumination" is an interpretation of life's dealings with death and the acceptance of it. 

"One can not be comfortable with death until we are comfortable within our own minds. Both faith and meditation are gateways to releasing ones ego.  My use of sacred and ancient symbology are representations of myself letting go of that struggle."

"I was born in 1972 in Barcelona, but I've never felt bound anywhere and I have traveled extensively. I lived in other countries and I considered NYC as my second city. I have never studied art and my training as an artist has been entirely self-taught. My training, ideas, sources of inspiration... are all dynamic and changing, and so are the techniques and methods I employ. I try not to focus on anything too specific and progress by using different sources and experimenting. My training as a social worker, my passion for traveling, my family history and my experience with visual arts...are all very diverse and not at all uniform, which allows me to be very creative. I recently started painting on wood, is a bit complicated because you have to be very careful and delicate, but the result is very rewarding. My work is a reflection of my way of life, my career, training, experiences, travels, interests. It is difficult to define and is constantly moving, growing and modified on the fly. I am very interested in history, the ancient religions, politics and my art is imbued with that.

My style is very characteristic and people are usually identified quickly. I try not only cause visual impact and also convey a message, idea, and purpose. I perceive the tattoo as a form of artistic expression. Many of the artists I follow not only deal with tattoos, but they are also very good at other types of art. Lola Garcia, Seth Wood, Dr. Lakra, , Annie Frenzel, Sebastian Domasche, Matthias Boechtter, Ryan Mason or Amina Charai are excellent tattooists, great artists and friends.

It is difficult to identify what my style, it's usually quite changeable and I like to have different sources of inspiration. I love the historical motives and many of my works are steeped in it. The world wars, the Victorian era, the American 20's ,... attempt to combine many of my illustrations. I like to shake consciences, give some thought and religion and politics are also present in my work."

-Ramon Maiden

Porkchop is a mulit-disciplinary artist from New Jersey. He has an MBA in Sculpture from VCU and a BA from University of the Arts in Philadelphia. He has a successful career designing and creating murals, mixed media art and sculpture. Porkchop often imbues vintage images with darker and more contemporary elements. He creates intriguing scenarios by combining paint, illustration and text. He has exhibited extensively in the United States and Europe and is published in "The Greatest Erotic Art of Today" Volume 2, "Eye Candy" and "I Want your Skull".

"I am intrigued by every aspect of the art making process; from finding and selecting the subject matter to making the frame and each step in between. Most inspiration for my work comes from retro photography of women. After the selection of the image, I then incorporate additional images and text to create a new story. From piece to piece the story changes, but the female figure is often the main character."

-Porkchop

Adrienne Slane is an artist who works with collage, drawing, printmaking, photography, and animation. She graduated from The Cleveland Institute of Art in 2010 with a major in drawing. She currently lives in a rural town in Ohio and spends her days working in her studio, taking hikes in the forest, beachcombing, exploring abandoned places, and participating in the arts community.

"I create intricate collages from original vintage illustrations collected from many diverse sources. I combine images of plants, insects, animals, human anatomy, and religious figures into detailed, colorful collages where individual elements fit together like pieces in a puzzle. Inspired by the history of the curiosity cabinet, the Victorian concept of momento mori, and Christian iconography and ritual, my work celebrates the beauty and interconnectivity of nature while also acknowledging the cyclical aspect of life, death, and decay. My work blends elements of science, myth, and religion into images that pay homage to the past within a contemporary context."

Michael Thomsen lives and works in Minneapolis, MN.

"At 7 years of age, my first job was working for my grandfather, an auctioneer, who hired me to sort trunks and boxes full of trinkets and old-timey miscellanea. Over time, I began squirreling away the occasional sparkly bauble, old key or foreign coin until I amassed a cigar box full of my own unusual curios. I also spent much of my childhood with my other grandfather, who was a clockmaker, painter and violin maker. Other family members (who were formerly of the Danish Royal Circus) ran a carnival, which traveled up and down the coast of California in the 1970s. My upbringing and that little box of treasures amassed so long ago turned out to be the jumping off point and inspiration for my assemblage work. Today, my creations, which range from the size of a cigar box all the way up to 10 feet tall, are filled with illuminated compartments, serene statuary, ornate moldings, secret drawers and nostalgic relics. 

Throughout my life I have slowly and naturally been evolving my signature style. What began in childhood as drawings, eventually grew into paintings. The paintings began sprouting dimension; shelves, figurines and sculpted clay worked their way in, eventually giving way to full assemblage works, which themselves have evolved from rudimentary creations to heavily ornate, detailed works of art that I am known for today. 

I source my materials from thrift stores, antique stores, flea markets and garage sales; I am an avid collector of strange and beautiful things--items that hold a human imprint. My work blends concepts such as carnivals, secret societies, magic and mystery with pop surrealism and baroque and rococo sensibilities. What ties many of these themes together is the fact that they are all a form of human escapism. Whether they bring comfort, distraction, or simply one night of dazzling, alternate reality to your life, the idea that human existence--at any class level--intrinsically craves something more extraordinary and meaningful beyond just work, sleep and sustenance."  

- Michael Thomsen

Linda Vallejo, born in Los Angeles in 1951. Linda received her BA in Fine Arts from Whittler College in 1973, completed undergraduate studies in lithography from the University of Madrid, Spain, and received a Master of Fine Arts from Cal State University, Long Beach, in 1978. Ms. Vallejo lives in Topanga Canyon, California, with her husband.  

I am in the thralls of developing a new series of work entitled Make 'Em All Mexican where an entire universe of icons, both sacred and pop imagery in two and three dimensions, have suddenly become Latino. I am asking for a grant to help push this work into a realm of creation that I have never experienced before. This work presses my creative brain into producing images of biting satire that de-construct time-honored images to create a new cultural icon. I believe that I have found a way to describe the Latino/Mexican-American/Chicano conundrum, condition, and attitude that we face in "living the American dream." The viewer is cajoled into envisioning their imaginary and wished-for political and social status and then forced to face the reality of their predicament. Yet, these new works are wickedly funny, causing the viewer to laugh and then apologize for 'thinking it's a joke'.

This impassioned yearning came from a realization that visual representations of the American dream somehow did not include me, or my loved ones. It came to me that I had never seen the golden images of Americana with familiar faces-friendly faces, sure, but not familiar ones. I found myself furiously painting directly on antique photographs and figurines to deconstruct iconic images to create an America that included me. I began aimlessly browsing antique malls to find images that I could "call my own."

All of Ravi Zupa's images are drawn and painted by his hand. He considers books the best way to experience art and has spent decades studying art from cultures and movements that span history and originate from nearly all geographical regions. Being entirely self-taught, he looks for inspiration in works by German Renaissance print makers, Flemish primitives, abstract expressionists, Japanese woodblock artists, Mughal paintings, religious iconography from Europe, Asia and pre-Columbian Latin America, and revolutionary propaganda the world over. With a distaste for ironic art or the thoughtless appropriation of culture, he integrates seemingly unrelated images in search of something universal.

"What is conventionally thought of as sacred or spiritual is more accurately named hobby. Along with model trains, chess, wind surfing, the collecting of bonnet wearing, ceramic ducks, etc. Franz Kafka said, "There is nothing besides a spiritual world." But the best way to know this is to dispense with the idea of the super-ordinary altogether. The only way to fully understand Christ for example is to become an atheist. Anything else is idolatry. That which is truly sacred is that which is actual. And more specifically for our purposes, actually human. Kafka also said, "You can hold yourself back from the sufferings of the world, that is something you are free to do and it accords with your nature, but perhaps this very holding back is the one suffering you could avoid". 

-Ravi Zupa