A graduate of Pratt Institute with a BFA in Design, Ian has been living and working in Brooklyn for the past 11 years. He is a founding member and art director for the Brooklyn Art Collective. He considers himself to be a Graphic Designer by profession and a Painter by compulsion. Heavily influenced by skate & Graffiti culture, Pop Art, 70’s exploitation film posters, as well as 50’s and 60’s illustrations, he has developed a unique style of art that he calls “Pop Mortem”©. These illustrative paintings have been shown in solo and group exhibitions in New York City and Miami. He has been a featured artist on such websites as Artslant, Gawker Artists, Brooklyn Art Project, and Art Flakes. His artwork has been featured on 1800 Tequila bottles, skateboards, snowboards, and T-Shirts.
POP MORTEM STATEMENT
In a country that is still obsessed with past sensibilities of the “All American Dream”, we find ourselves face to face with idealized versions of happiness. Simultaneously, our media, government and even our religions seem corrupt with perverts, fear mongers, liars and thieves. Although our leaders preach purity and morality, our televisions send a very different message. They spew sex and violence in between every commercial – commercials that sell happiness in the form of products and pills. Unfortunately, our society seems simply to pretend that everything is fine and dandy. In response to this dichotomy, I have been creating an ongoing series of works entitled “The All American Nightmare.” These works juxtapose the happiness and hope of the American Dream alongside the violence and perversion of reality. There is a very tongue-in-cheek them throughout these works. The viewer is visually assaulted by the depiction of moments of joy brutally interrupted with violence and terror. Humorous and morbid imagery is joined with aesthetically arresting colors and patterns. The result is an alarming combination, forcing the viewer to evaluate conventional morals and values.