Where are you from?
New York.
What inspired you to become an artist?
When I was in fifth grade and home with the chicken pox, my only entertainment was a box of crayola markers, some computer paper, and Marvel Series II trading cards. After copying probably the whole set, I was hooked on art. Plus it beats getting a real job.
Who are some of your favorite artists?
Hmm there’s so many. Some deceased artists that I admire are Van Gogh, Picasso, Gustav Klimt, Egon Schiele, Heinrich Kley, Jim Henson, M.C. Escher, Osamu Tezuka, John Buscema and many more.
Contemporary artists I admire are James Jean, Jason Munn, Tyler Stout, Ralph Steadman, Hydro74, Paul Pope, Todd Schorr, Tomer Hanuka, Yoshitaka Amano, Frank Miller, and so so many more.
Tell us about your shirt?
This is kind of a follow-up to a design I did for Paper Root Clothing that was never printed, named “Fearful Symmetry”. That design was of a tiger. I really liked the style and animal theme, so featuring a gorilla next seemed like a good choice.
Thanks Ript and everybody that buys a shirt!
Is there anything else you’d like to promote?
Sure. I have a few prints up for sale at paintandpixels.etsy.com, with more coming in the future. Also, if anyone is on Deviant Art, my profile name is joeangelillo.deviantart.com if you’d like to add me.
Thanks Ript and everyone that buys a shirt!
©2012 RIPT Apparel LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Leave A Comment for Grape Ape
Paul
We welcome back Visual Singularities for today’s amazing psychadelic portrait of one of the great apes!
MJ
Hey, this is rad! Really great color choices :)
slogger
To me it looks like a bear with an owl sitting on top. I like the style, but am having trouble deciding if it’s something I’d end up wearing.
Eric Morris
It has a monkey,lion,bear,owl, awesome mix…. I’m in!
Ty
Just fyi, the etsy link isn’t working … for some reason it’s showing the link as : http://www.riptapparel.com/paintandpixels.etsy.com …
Paul
@Ty thanks that’s been fixed
Ty
no problem :)
just figured i’d help debug
glad i could be of service
JadenKale
I love the massive amount of detail in this piece.
twilshire
Well, it couldn’t be any more symetrical. If folded in half vertically down the middle, each side appears to be an exact image; just the coloring is different. I almost flunked my Landscaping Design course in college because my designs looked so symetrical, just like this. That said, although I wouldn’t wear this tee, I do love the colors. Reminds me of some trips I took in the late sixties. Congrats to the designer. I hope that this shirt sells well.
hotspot
coooool design, to bad it is on a white shirt!
Paul
It’s on silver, like the graphic depicts and the color states above.
Toys
Whoa! Very nice design! But not realy a t-shirt i would wear.
Kathryn
Love this design! It’s got a little bit of inspiration from psychedelic hippie stuff and a little bit from Indian art and a lot of cool modern stuff. Plus you barely ever see purple and yellow together in a design. Good stuff.
Olympia
Really nice illustration
Scarah
Thanks to the artist for introducing me to James Jean from mentioning him in his interview. He is amazing.
Grape ape is fun to say and sounds like a fruity drink :). I dig the design too!
Matt
This is a great design with amazing detail. I feel that the flight of the concords should write a song about this…
the_JCW
Amazing detail, I like the fact that not only can you see inspiration from different eras of art but you can also see so much more than just a Gorilla….or maybe that’s just the pills talkin :D
Bryan Collins
Gonna give this one some thought. I just bought two shirts from Ript in the past week or so. Gotta slow down, but this is really cool.
Thatoneguy
Does anyone else see a toucan on each side of its head? I’m seeing all kinds of animals in this thing.
Dan
love the shirt! but why are international shipping fees higher than the last times.
Matt
Hi Dan, our international shipping rates are exact calculations from the USPS. If they have gone up in price, the shipping rates might have increased. We haven’t made any changes on our end.
Dan
15€ more than before…..looks like a sad day :-(
Paul
Check out the Visual Singularities thumbnails added to the bio!
JadenKale
Totally digging the love for the artist and his work!! Rockstar!
Paul
Once again, this shirt rules. GOOD NIGHT!!!!