Justin Bua is an artist, author, speaker and entrepreneur. He currently lives in

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...

and is best known for his lyrical narrative paintings of musicians, DJs and similar characters who help define the urban landscape. As an artist "for the people, by the people, of the people," Bua's fan base is diverse and ranges from former presidents, actors, musicians, professional athletes, dancers, to street kids and art connoisseurs.

Early life and education

Bua grew up on the Upper West Side of New York City during the height of the graffiti movement and was fascinated by the raw, visceral street life of the city. Justin attended Manhattan's Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music and Performing Arts and complemented his education on the streets by writing

graffiti Graffiti (plural; singular ''graffiti'' or ''graffito'', the latter rarely used except in archeology) is art that is written, painted or drawn on a wall or other surface, usually without permission and within public view. Graffiti ranges from s ...

and performing worldwide with

breakdancing Breakdancing, also called breaking or b-boying/b-girling, is an athletic style of street dance originating from the African American and Puerto Rican communities in the United States. While diverse in the amount of variation available in t ...

crews. Bua went on to the

Art Center College of Design Art Center College of Design (stylized as ArtCenter College of Design) is a private art college in Pasadena, California. History ArtCenter College of Design was founded in 1930 in downtown Los Angeles as the Art Center School. In 1935, Fred ...

Pasadena Pasadena ( ) is a city in Los Angeles County, California, northeast of downtown Los Angeles. It is the most populous city and the primary cultural center of the San Gabriel Valley. Old Pasadena is the city's original commercial district. ...

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

, where he earned a B.F.A in illustration and taught figure drawing at the

University of Southern California , mottoeng = "Let whoever earns the palm bear it" , religious_affiliation = Nonsectarian—historically Methodist , established = , accreditation = WSCUC , type = Private research university , academic_affiliations = , endowment = $8.1 ...

for ten years.

Fine Art

Bua's distinctive figurative style combines his classical training with his background in graffiti, breakdancing and experience living in New York City. The subjects of his paintings range from recognizable figures, such as Snoop Dogg and Muhammad Ali, to anonymous people pulled from his memories, including the DJ and guitar player for which he has become best known. Each of Bua's subjects is ennobled within the urban landscape he paints and is often rendered with elongated limbs or hands, emphasizing the rhythm of the scene. Bua exhibits worldwide and was featured in a 2011 event at the

Los Angeles County Museum of Art The Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) is an art museum located on Wilshire Boulevard in the Miracle Mile vicinity of Los Angeles. LACMA is on Museum Row, adjacent to the La Brea Tar Pits (George C. Page Museum). LACMA was founded in 19 ...

. In 2021, Bua launched his first

NFT A non-fungible token (NFT) is a unique digital identifier that cannot be copied, substituted, or subdivided, that is recorded in a blockchain, and that is used to certify authenticity and ownership. The ownership of an NFT is recorded in the ...

collection to much fanfare, and as of 2022, he has teamed with Ripple and the Ripple Creator Fund to bring a new series of BUAverse NFT's to the

XRP Ripple is a real-time gross settlement system, currency exchange and remittance network created by Ripple Labs Inc., a US-based technology company. Released in 2012, Ripple is built upon a distributed open source protocol, and supports tokens ...

ledger.

Commercial Art

Launching his reputation in the world of

commercial art Commercial art is the art of creative services, referring to art created for commercial purposes, primarily advertising. Commercial art uses a variety of platforms (magazines, websites, apps, television, etc.) for viewers with the intent of prom ...

, Bua has designed and illustrated a myriad of products that include skateboards, CD album covers, apparel and advertising campaigns, and he served as a member of the

Citizens' Stamp Advisory Committee The United States Postal Service's Citizens' Stamp Advisory Committee (CSAC) evaluates potential subjects for U.S. postage stamps and reports its recommendations to the Postmaster General, who makes the final decision. Purpose Each year, the Posta ...

as an appointee of the

United States Postmaster General The United States Postmaster General (PMG) is the chief executive officer of the United States Postal Service (USPS). The PMG is responsible for managing and directing the day-to-day operations of the agency. The PMG is selected and appointed by ...

. He has also developed successful visual concepts in the entertainment world, including: the opening sequence of MTV's

sketch-comedy Sketch comedy comprises a series of short, amusing scenes or vignettes, called "sketches", commonly between one and ten minutes long, performed by a group of comic actors or comedians. The form developed and became popular in vaudeville, and i ...

television series, ''

The Lyricist Lounge Show ''The Lyricist Lounge Show'' is an American sketch comedy series that aired on MTV from 2000 to 2001 that combined hip-hop music with raps interspersed throughout the sketches. As Wordsworth, BabeePower, and Master Fuol rap on the theme song: ...

'' (2000–2001),

EA Sports EA Sports is a division of Electronic Arts that develops and publishes sports video games. Formerly a marketing gimmick of Electronic Arts, in which they tried to imitate real-life sports networks by calling themselves the "EA Sports Network ...

video games ''

NBA Street ''NBA Street'' is a basketball video game developed by NuFX and EA Canada. It was released in 2001 by EA Sports BIG for the PlayStation 2 and in 2002 for the GameCube. It combines the talent and big names of the National Basketball Association ...

'' (2001), ''

NFL Street ''NFL Street'' is an American football video game developed by EA Tiburon and published by Electronic Arts under the EA Sports BIG label. It was released for the PlayStation 2, GameCube and Xbox on January 13, 2004. Barry Sanders of the Detroit ...

'' (2004), Slum Village's award-winning music video Tainted and

Toyota is a Japanese multinational automotive manufacturer headquartered in Toyota City, Aichi, Japan. It was founded by Kiichiro Toyoda and incorporated on . Toyota is one of the largest automobile manufacturers in the world, producing about 10 ...

's Long Beach Grand Prix campaign.

Speaking and Entrepreneurship

In July 2013 Bua became the first artist to launch an online school with ArtistWorks, allowing students around the world of varying levels of experience to study his curriculum and interact digitally through video exchange. In 2013, Bua collaborated with leading nutritionist David Wolfe to create the superfood drink mix, Immortal Machine. In 2015, the artist developed, hosted and was the executive producer for Oxygen Channel's "Street Art Throw Down" which featured graffiti and street artists, including

Lady Pink Lady Pink, born Sandra Fabara (1964), is an Ecuadorian-American graffiti and mural artist. Early life Fabara was born in Ambato, Ecuador in 1964 and moved to the Astoria neighborhood of Queens, New York when she was seven years old. She grew up ...

Ron English Ron English (born June 6, 1959) is an American contemporary artist who explores brand imagery, street art, and advertising. Career English has produced images on the street, in museums, in movies, books and television. He coined the term POPa ...

and

Mear One Mear One (born 1971 as Kalen Ockerman) is an American artist based in Los Angeles, known for his often-political street graffiti art. Mear One is associated with CBS (Can't Be Stopped – City Bomb Squad) and WCA (West Coast Artist) crews. As a g ...

, as guest judges.

Bibliography

* Bua, Justin (2011). ''The Legends of Hip Hop.'' New York City: Harper Design. *

Presence at Auction

In 2017, Bua was a featured artist on

Artsy Artsy, formally known as Art.sy Inc is a New York City based online art brokerage. Its main business is developing and hosting website for numerous galleries as well as selling art for them. It utilizes a search engine and database to draw conn ...

benefiting the

American Civil Liberties Union The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is a nonprofit organization founded in 1920 "to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed to every person in this country by the Constitution and laws of the United States". T ...

References

External links

*
Online Art School with Justin BUA
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bua, Justin 1968 births Living people 20th-century American painters American male painters 20th-century American non-fiction writers 20th-century American educators 21st-century American painters 21st-century American non-fiction writers American art writers American breakdancers American graffiti artists American illustrators Art Center College of Design alumni Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School alumni Painters from New York City Writers from Brooklyn People from the Upper West Side University of Southern California faculty Writers from Manhattan 20th-century American male writers 21st-century American educators American male non-fiction writers 21st-century American male writers 20th-century American male artists