His school teachers and his mother persisted in helping him improve on his creative skills and encourages his interest. He entered many competitions and came out champion. One time in 1980, he was priviledged to have his art work printed on the fron-cover page of the Juniour arts centre in Barnsdall Art Park., where he attended comic book and life drawing classes. After hard work and persistence, he won the rights to attend the Otis Art Institute for people of the same age as himself. He didn’t do very well on this course and eventually dropped and and continued his ambitions to become a graffiti artist.
He started publishing his name illegally around town leaving murals on walls in dark alleyways, beneath motorways and in public places. The cpublic nature of graffiti accepted him as one of them because of his rebellious graffiti artwork. A man named Skate one noticed Mear’s potential and took him under his wing and taught him new ways in getting his name on walls. The two of them became very good friends and tried many new things including drugs, moving from place to place and getting into many street fights. This increased his creative mentality and made his art work improve. Not long before he was meant to graduate from high school, he dropped out and went to work. He provided himself with work as a paying artist to pay for his amenities.
From that moment on, Mear relised that graffiti wasn’t all about fun and games but it was a serious art form. He realised his hatred towards society and business stem from here. In an act of kindness, Mear created a memorial on the outside wall for his friend Skate. He used graffiti and this lead to him creating an exhibition. He sold many copies of his art work that he produced and one of them was placed in the Laguna Fine Art Museum.
His art work has taken him many places and now he is known in New York and Los Angeles Times. One of his famous pieces has been placed on the front cover of one of the Rolling Stones magazine. Many talk shows have invited him to join the cast amd do talks at the Los Angeles County Museum of Arts, Bergamot Station, and The Laguna Museum of Art. He has travelled the world and has been features in Europe, Japan, North America and many other places to show his paint murals. Mear is currently the art director of a charity group, Reaching to Embrace Arts.
This charity provides equipment for inner-city students in Los Angeles to inspire other young artists
Not only has his carrer taken him many places, in the last sixteen years, Mear has been involved as a member and one of the founders of a designer in Con and Chaotic art.
I personally enjoy Mear’s artwork because it shows imagination and creativity. He has come up from nowhere and worked hard to achieve what he has today. Even now, he is helping young people who were in the same position as himself, many years ago, to work for there dreams in becoming an artist in graffiti.
