nyse

Member since: 01.17.06
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Website: http://www.chriscoggan.com
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Christopher Coggan was first drawn to art after seeing the graffiti that flanked the LA River in 1982. At the young age of 12, Chris started practicing the graffiti style of lettering and painted his first mural in 1984.His name then? Ozone. By 1988, he achieved notoriety when his artwork was featured in the LA Times and People Magazine - both of which touted him as one of Los Angeles’ most prolific graffiti writers. This article, by all accounts, represents the first time a graffiti artist received world wide press for being arrested for bombing. By 1997, Chris had painted well over 300 murals as Nyse, a member of Los Angeles’ famed AWR graffiti crew.

Chris’ creative direction has now moved from graffiti to more conceptually based imagery. His goal as an artist is to build a bridge between street-based and gallery style art, creating pieces with both commanding presence and social conscience. Combining his specialized painting and digital art skills with traditional mediums of delivery, his mixed media work is best described as “Tradigitital™”.

With site-specific public installations planned for cities across the United States, tens of thousands of posters and stickers have been and will continue to be distributed and strategically placed in major urban areas.

Chris earned his Bachelor of Science degree from UCSD in 1997 and pursued a career in Biochemistry at Scripps Institute of Oceanography. Eventually, he turned his focus to business and in the spring of 1998, along with two partners, he Started NewSwell Studios LLC, a web development and multimedia design firm. After resigning from his position there in 2005, he founded Coggan Creative, A multimedia collective. Chris currently is earning his Masters of Fine Art at the University of California, San Diego.