SPOTLIGHT
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Conrad Garner • In a Smoky Haze
Bio
Conrad Garner grew up in Boise, Idaho and attended Boise State University studying graphic design in addition to art and visual communications. Starting his career in advertising as a designer and art director, Conrad focused on branding, package design, and print illustration. His work is influenced by old toys, cartoons, advertisements, concert posters, and packaging and has attracted clients including Miller Lite, The Killers, Blue Moon Brewing Co. and the Toronto Maple Leafs. Conrad has been recognised for his work nationally and internationally with awards including Communication Arts for Packaging (2016), Typography (2015), and Illustration (2014). Currently, Conrad is currently based out of Tampa, Florida.
Artist Statement
We have all made mistakes. One of mine was feeling rushed into a relationship that ended painfully. We were married amongst forest fires and alarm bells. But Where the sun sets a new one arises.
Pep Rally • Ripple Effect
Bio
Pep Rally Studios is a Tampa based creative studio that has built its foundation on creating iconic pieces of public art. Since our inception in 2014, Pep Rally has been known for a wide-ranging multimedia practice of recognizable murals, branded environments and installation art that create meaningful connections between pedestrians and the environment.
Artist Statement
As artists we can collage images together to make statements about a time or a place. We can combine cultural cues to form complex messages or evoke emotion. With this series we wanted to explore how the removal of context can still convey meaning. Without the presence of recognizable symbols or images we are asked to pause in-order to connect with what we are seeing. When the obvious cues are gone we are allowed to absorb our surroundings without being confronted by it.
Each shape in this piece is clearly defined by a contrasting color and form yet constrained by hard-lined circles and squares interrupting the flow of each pattern forcing us to imagine what will happen beyond the edges. None of these shapes are connected in any way other than proximity yet there is a balance and order that can be felt.
Chad Mize • WHAT I AM
Bio
In 2010, Mize opened BLUELUCY, a gallery in St. Petersburg, where he represented over 450 local and national artists. When the gallery closed in 2015, Mize founded his own lifestyle and design brand, CHIZZY. His contributions to the thriving St. Petersburg art scene also include working on the SHINE Mural Festival, which brings artists from around the world to paint murals in St. Petersburg. In 2018, Mize opened the gallery MIZE in the Historic Uptown neighborhood of St Petersburg.
Artist Statement
This piece is created in my free flow style using both analog and digital methods.
I first draw the black outline using a permanent marker on paper, photograph it, and then bring into Adobe Illustrator where I color and manipulate the piece digitally.
When I create in this style, I let my mind escape and don’t really know how the piece will turn out in the end. I typically draw the same consistent shapes, symbols and characters that then morph into each other representing a concept of one.
Bianca Burrows • BLAH BLAH BLAH
Artist Statement
My "Blah Blah Blah” series nods to everyday cliches and words we string together in conversations that become reality. Sometimes we take these phrases for granted, other times we celebrate them —but the common denominator is that the meaning of words like“I love you” override our internal “blah blah blah’s.” This collection began as a mixed media art series on canvas, and evolved into a digital work for a special collaboration with Cass Contemporary Art Gallery and Tampa’s new Water Street development. Iintentionallychose a raw background texture for this piece because I wanted to add depth, that’s often lost indigitalworks like NFTs. In the original series I used oil pastels and mini rollers that you’ll see infused into this piece that add dimension.This is a spoof because I still don’t f*cking get what NFTs are.