Justin Bua

For the last ten years artist Justin BUA has been making a mark in the art world with his urban flavored paintings. His combination of graffiti-esque style, distorted realism and urban themes has made his paintings some of the most popular art among young people today. The biggest markets for his work are the college campuses in America and Canada, where he is a best seller. BUA has an energetic and vocal fan base that ranges from high school skateboarders and college students across the globe to Hollywood actors like Robert De Niro and Christina Ricci.

BUA was born in 1968 and grew up in New York City's untamed, upper-west side. An only child, BUA was raised by a single working mom. He was a true latch key kid, spending most of his time in the streets. He grew up next to a welfare hotel, which was a home for drug addicts, the mentally ill and many other interesting characters that would later appear in his paintings. BUA was fascinated by the raw, visceral Manhattan street life and found himself spending most of his time hanging out at places like Rock Steady Park and the Douglas Projects. These environments inspired many paintings such as RISING which exemplifies the poetic struggle to rise above the insurmountable stigma of the projects.

At age 13, BUA was accepted on an art scholarship to the High School of Music and Performing Arts where he studied visual art. In addition to his studies in school, he continued his "education" on the streets writing graffiti and breakdancing. Completely engrossed with breakng, BUA joined professional breaking crews like The New York Express and The Dynamic Breakers. At 16, he took a year off from school to perform with The New York Express in over a hundred shows all over the world including the Spoleto Festivals in Charleston, South Carolina and Spoleto, Italy.

For more info visit www.justinbua.com