MARIO WORLD

I made this piece for Gallery 1988's upcoming video-game themed art show paying tribute to the greatest Nintendo classics. It's my tribute to the original Super Mario Brothers game, the Mushroom Kingdom, and everything that came after that on our consoles and in our imaginations. Click the image to enlarge it and see some of the details; there are some hidden things here and there that Mario experts will be able to spot. This will soon become an 18x24" screenprint courtesy of the wizards at Burlesque of North America, the design and print company of my old Nashville friend (and one of my favorite artists) Mike Davis. Prints will be available at the show in late September and through Gallery1988, and a limited amount may be available here through my site. Stay tuned for more info!

MIKE DAVIS

Alright, first things first: I will be regularly posting about artists I love and showing off some of their work that I admire, and there's no better person to start with than Mike Davis-- Nashville native, Minneapolis DJ superstar, and member of the design collective Burlesque of North America.

Mike was an upperclassman when I was just entering high school in 1995, and on a daily basis I would study and observe Mike's picnic table graffiti in an effort to absorb as much as I could of his natural gifts with lettering, penmanship and color. These days, branded as Twelve Car Pileup, he's a nationally recognized poster artist and core member of Minneapolis' print shop and gallery Burlesque--having created not just yearly posters for Bonnaroo but their stage identities too-- and author of the stellar retro-design blog So Much Pileup, a must-bookmark for any lover of late-60's to early-80's design ephemera, logos, book covers, album art, and international stamp design. Just last year, my unparalleled love for Mike combined with my unparalleled love for tiny vinyl toys when KidRobot issued a keychain series based on an ABC's print that Mike designed for his baby cousin (Getcha one here!)

Without further ado, here are some designs of Mike's that I love, and I know you will too: