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About
Greg Simkins was born in Torrance, California slightly south of Los Angeles. His artistic ambitions bloomed as early as age three with drawings inspired by cartoons and books. Some of these works, such as The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis, The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster, and Watership Down by Richard Adams, still find reference in his art. He grew up with a variety of animals including a number of rabbits, which often appear in his paintings to this day.Simkins earned his B.A. in Studio Art from California State University, Long Beach in 1999. After graduating, Simkins went to work as an illustrator for a number of clothing firms before moving on to the video game industry where he worked on games for Treyarch/Activision such as Tony Hawk 2X, Spiderman 2, and Ultimate Spiderman. With blessings from his former bosses at Activision, he made the leap to full time artist in 2005. At the age of 18, Simkins began doing graffiti under the name “CRAOLA”. Graffiti drove his inspiration to create and gave him the confidence and experience to paint large scale works. It also taught him color theory and perspective while further developing his artistic skills as later demonstrated in his masterful work with acrylics. Out of his love for the animal world he seeks to bring together unlikely camaraderies and conflicts from the landscape of his mind to the confines of canvas, paper, and walls. It is common to see deer with killer whales, puppies with crustacean pals, and birds sharing the air with rodents in his playfully ominous to ominously playful acrylic compositions informed by smooth, graffiti gradients and superbly balanced layouts that draw the eye deftly through complex story lines and rich little vignettes. Simkins' paintings have been featured in various narrative art exhibitions including, among others, group shows: "Suggestivism" at Grand Central Art Center in Santa Ana, "Family Guy!" at the Los Angeles Museum of TV & Radio, "Street Cred" at the Pasadena Museum of California Art, "Visionary Art" at Mondo Bizarro Galery in Rome, "Art from the New World” at the Bristol Museum & Art Gallery in London, and “Sons of Baby Tattooville” at the Riverside Art Museum; Solo shows: "Cloud Theory" at Merry Karnowsky Gallery in Los Angeles,"Inside the Outside" at Joshua Liner Gallery in New York, a two person exhibit with Lola at Galerie d'Art Yves Laroche in Montreal, "The Pearl Thief” at Gallery Nineteen Eighty Eight in Los Angeles, "Seeing Things” at FIFTY24/SF Gallery in San Francisco,["It Wanders West" at Gallery Nineteen Eighty Eight,“It Wanders East” at Joshua Liner Gallery, "The Well” at m modern Gallery in Palm Springs, CA, “I’m Scared” at Gallery Nineteen Eighty Eight, “Don’t Sleep” at FIFTY24/SF Gallery, and “Ima Monsta” at Gallery Nineteen Eighty Eight. In addition, Simkins had his curatorial debut with "INLE" at Gallery Nineteen Eighty Eight in 2011, a show in which he also participated. The exhibit featured art inspired by the book Watership Down by over 100 artists. Other artists Greg has exhibited with include among others: Todd Schorr, Mark Ryden, Glenn Barr, Shag, Dabs Myla, Mike Shinoda and Seen. Contact
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