The Thousands

If life’s a cocktail, then Mike Giant is living a dirty martini. Born colour blind and nearsighted, Mike grew up in New Mexico immersed in hot rods, heavy metal and the skulls, saints and snakes of Catholicism. After years studying architecture, Mike moved to ‘Frisco to take up a role as a graphic designer for Think Skateboards where, through the painstaking process of manually transferring his designs from paper to film to boards, he learned to eliminate pencil marks and imperfections from his illustrations.

In San Fran Mike also got involved in a whole bunch of’ zines, and graff posses, with his infamous ‘Giant’ tag scoring him props from counter-culture kids in the States, France and Japan. In 2003 he set up Stay Gold, a tattoo parlour in Albuquerque, where he experimented with Hispanic, Japanese and religious influences to develop the meticulously sharp, noir style that defines his work. These days the vegetarian and photo-blogger spends his time designing streetwear for REBEL8 and watching bills from his various publishing deals roll slowly in.

Mike Giant makes art that’s strangely flawless, yet so ugly and alive it’s almost sweating. That’s why this show will rock. Hard.