フランク・コジック
Фрэнк Козик
Mao

source: frankkoziknet

Frank Kozik was born in 1962 in Madrid, Spain.
His father was an American serviceman and his mother a young Spanish woman. He spent his childhood in Spain. This experience of growing up under the fascist dictator Franco would later serve as a major influence throughout his work.

When he was 15 he moved to Sacramento, CA to live with his father. At the age of 18 he joined the Air Force and was stationed in Austin, Texas where he remained after his honorable discharge.

Often credited with single handedly reviving the lost art of the concert poster, his creative career rose largely out of his enthusiasm for Austin’s growing underground punk rock scene in the early eighties. In 1981, he began designing and posting black and white flyers for friends’ bands on telephone poles. His reputation quickly grew as an artist whose work was graphically compelling and culturally gripping.

An entirely self-taught artist, Kozik eventually transitioned into producing large, colorful silkscreen concert posters, which found international success. He has created artwork for a wide range of musicians such as Pearl Jam, The White Stripes, The Beastie Boys, Green Day, Neil Young and Nirvana. In the mid-nineties he directed several music videos, including Soundgarden’s “Pretty Noose”.

In 1993, he moved to San Francisco, California. Two years later, he started his own record label, Man’s Ruin Records. The majority of his posters and album art during this era were hand silkscreened and numbered at his studio. During this time he designed and released over 200 singles and full-length albums including a record by the Sex Pistols and the first Queens of the Stone Age single.

In 2001, Kozik closed Man’s Ruin to devote himself full time to fine art, design and the newly emerging art toy movement. Presently he works closely with Kidrobot and many other boutique toy companies to produce his toys including many versions of his iconic Labbit character. To date he has designed over 500 different limited edition figures. He also creates hand painted toy editions and still designs posters.

Kozik also designs products and campaigns for a spectrum of major media and lifestyle brands including a pair of NikeSB Dunk Quickstrike sneakers, a special edition Swatch watch, the 2007 Spike TV Video Games Award trophy, and an “Absolut Kozik” print ad.

In addition to his outside clients, 2007 saw him launch his own brand, Ultraviolence. Under this imprint, Kozik produces limited edition art objects in vinyl, fiberglass, bronze and Limoges porcelain that are often more complex in content and larger in scale than his other vinyl toys. Kozik’s work has been exhibited in over 40 group shows and 35 one-man gallery exhibits worldwide.

He currently lives and works in San Francisco with his wife, Sharon, and their four cats.
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source: billyshirefinearts

Credited with single handedly reviving the “lost” art of the concert poster, Frank Kozik’s creative career grew largely out of his enthusiasm for Austin’s growing underground rock scene in the mid-eighties. Starting with black and white flyers for friend’s bands posted on telephone polls, his reputation grew as an artist whose work was graphically compelling as well as culturally gripping. With hundreds of full-color, limited edition, silk screened posters under his belt for such renowned artists as Nirvana, Pearl Jam, The Red Hot Chili Peppers and The Beastie Boys, he has also been the subject of many magazine articles such as Newsweek, Rolling Stone, Spin, and Details. During Kozik’s poster art era, he also headed up the legendary Man’s Ruin Records label which released about 200 elaborately packaged titles on vinyl and CD.

After his run as a poster artist, Kozik entered the word of sculpting and designing (as well as collecting) vinyl toys which is his current passion. “I am really trying to make toys that are their ‘own thing’ and have little or no connection to the stuff I did for the music/lowbrow scene. I wanted a whole new vibe and scene, and I believe it has happened, and it is refreshing. I am basically not a believer in an afterlife, so I really don’t care what posterity says. I am enjoying making the toys NOW, that’s all that matters” states Kozik who is very interactive in the world of vinyl figures and can often be found participating in discussions on the Kid Robot site. “In my previous career I went to see bands almost every night as part of it. Being in this toy scene, it’s an internet-based collective with occasional events, so I want to be personally involved. I’m a collector and fan as well. I like trading and selling and buying and obsessing. It interests me. Most toy people I have met are really cool and it is firmly international. That’s cool.” states Kozik, who has also designed and released high-end limited “vinyl busts” of Chairman Mao, Joseph Stalin, Ho Chi Minh and Ludwig Van Beethoven (with a Clockwork Orange twist) in small editions of 50 per colorway which are avidly scooped up by his collectors and fans.

Kozik’s art tends to indulge a bit of dark humor. He does not “over think” the process and creates whatever takes his fancy.