AXIS (born March 26, 1973 in London) is a contemporary illustrator/graffiti artist/painter who emerged from Los Angeles’ seminal graffiti scene in the late 1980’s. He is most noted for his convoluted and hyper-stylized freehand graffiti, which has appeared in L.A., Austin, Seattle, Baltimore, Tokyo, and Berlin.
As a child, Axis moved from London to Los Angeles with his family and developed a number of musical and artistic influences including Mozart, Bach, The Germs, Black Sabbath, Black Flag, Tex Avery, Rick Griffin, Norman Rockwell, Preston Blair, and R. Crumb. An early convert to skateboarding and punk rock, Axis began experimenting with graffiti art in 1985. Three years later he joined L.A.’s legendary CBS crew under the mentorship of graffiti pioneer SK8 One. By the mid-90’s he had cemented his reputation as one of the most prolific street artists working in Los Angeles.
Though his career has largely unfolded outside of the graffiti landscape, his skate-punk origins continue to shape his engorged aesthetic and politicized black humor. In recent years, his art has moved from the streets and onto the pages of Get On, Hustler, Juxtapose, WARP, Strength, Catch Me if You Can, and the L.A. Times. Axis is also featured in Morning Wood (a collection of art from graffiti, tattoo, skateboard, street and other artists, pub. Gingko Press); and the urban documentary R
OCKFRESH (dir. Danny Lee), which premiered in June, 2004 at the historic Egyptian Theater in Hollywood, and later aired on Showtime.
Zero One Gallery in Los Angeles carried Axis’ first group show, while his pieces
have also appeared at White Walls Gallery, Merry Karnowsky Gallery, Gallery 1988, Tower Gallery, Toy Room Gallery, Subject Matter, and The Showroom (New York).
In 2002, he founded Style Pig, a design agency and clothing line through which he has produced commercial art for Toyota, GM, BMW, Ford, Scion, Intel, Sony, Virgin Mobile, Pepsi, Stussy, VANS, I.C.U. Art, Fuel TV, TLC Network, Cartoon Network, Comedy Central, and MTV Networks. These successful endeavors have led him to join forces with WESC (We Are the Superlative Conspiracy), as a WEactivist.
As the owner and creative director of Los Angeles Art-Core, a “locals only” gallery/installation space devoted exclusively to showcasing lowbrow, cutting edge artists, Axis is currently producing shows for Los Angeles based artists.
In addition to his artwork, Axis is also widely known as a musician. Having received formal music training (harpsichord, cello, piano) at a young age, Axis formed Los Angeles hard-core band The Pain (guitarist, writer) in 2004. His previous bands include Drunk With Power, Green Jello, Cabal Army, and The Roundeyes. He has recorded two full-length albums and has toured Europe and the United States.
Axis lives in Los Angeles, California where he continues to paint, skate and play music everyday.
