Greg Simkins
Greg "Craola" Simkins (born February 28, 1975) is an American artist. Education and early life. Greg Simkins was born in Torrance, California, slightly south of Los Angeles. His artistic ambitions bloomed at 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. Simkins earned his B.A. in Studio Art  from California State University, Long Beach in 1999. Professional career. After graduating, Simkins went to work as an illustrator for several clothing firms before moving on to the video game industry, where he worked on games for Treyarch/Activision such as "Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2", "Spider-Man 2", and "Ultimate Spider-Man". He made the leap to full-time artist in 2005. Style. 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 balanced layouts that draw the eye through story lines and little vignettes. Exhibitions. Simkins' paintings  have been included in various narrative art exhibitions including the 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 Gallery in Rome, "Art from the New World" at the Bristol City Museum and Art Gallery in Bristol, England, "Sons of Baby Tattooville" at the Riverside Art Museum, and "MasterWorks: Defining A New Narrative" at the Long Beach Museum of Art. Simkins' solo shows include: "Good Knight," "Stop Haunting Me," and "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. Simkins had  his curatorial debut with "INLE" at Gallery Nineteen Eighty Eight in 2011, a show in which he also participated. The exhibit included art inspired by the book "Watership Down" by over 100 artists.