Graffiti-to-Gallery: Turning My Passion To Profession
Seek One in Rome Italy filming an interview for his upcoming solo show in Dubai. 2021
A fusion of fine art and popular culture, Andy Warhol’s quintessential and celebrated imagery, from soup cans to depictions of 20th century icons, has always had a profound impact on my art. To this day, fellow-PA native Warhol's use of repetition spanning the media spectrum continues to inspire me to push boundaries, engage with broader audiences, and untangle the unconventional. I’ve been on a constant quest to explore multiplicity, seriality, color, and scale since my early days as a street graffiti artist.
Born in 1992, I claimed my tag name, “Seek One” at the age of 15, when I became attracted to the magic of street art. Tagging the streets of the city with bubble-style graffiti long before launching my professional career, my first real exposure to art wasn’t in museums or galleries—I experienced art through a passion for graffiti and photography. There was a level of skill and a sense of mystery immersed within the graffiti culture that I was always drawn to.
Not a self-defined “street kid” in the traditional sense, I was exposed to culture when I was skateboarding along streets covered in the impressive artwork of other street artists.
"Monroe" by Andy Warhol 1967
Why “Seek One”?
People always ask me where my alter-ego/alias “Seek One” came from. I used the tag when I was illegally making graffiti as a teenager. There was something magical about the aesthetic arrangement of the letters that appealed to me intuitively. Once I began creating fine art, I brought that alias with me to represent my brand, serve as a reminder of where I came from, and pay homage to the art form that paved the path of my entire career. .
Pulling inspiration from the greats like Ansel Adams, Warhol, Basquiat, Banksy, Jackson Pollock, Rothko, Matisse, Helmut Newton, and Shepard Fairy, I began exploring multiplicity, techniques, and the use of combined media.
"Monroe" by Seek One 2021
While studying business at St. Joseph’s University, outside of Philly, I took a hiatus from my art to focus on my studies and prepare for getting a “normal job.” Making art on the side after graduating from college while “adulting” at my first “real job,” my work began to get traction on Instagram.
It's hard to remember my first commissioned work but I remember my first few sales. They were pop art variations of Frank Sinatra's famous mug shot photo. I made them for fun and posted them on Instagram. As hard to believe as it was at the time, those little pop pix started selling fast.
Passion to Profession
An inflection point that catapulted me into the world of fine arts happened when my work appeared on social media. One morning I woke up to a DM from a famous rapper named Quavo, telling me he loved the portraits I created for him. Getting the attention of one of the biggest musical artists I knew of was a sign that something special was happening.
Quavo with his original Migos paintings. Top Right
Luckily, my first 9-to-5 job was also my last, as I knew in an instant that the corporate world just wasn’t for me. From that initial transaction, my sales started to blow up, allowing me to leave the corporate world in the rearview and pursue a career in art full-time.
Following this initial success, I continued to develop my signature style, drawing from several source images and experimenting with various formats, mediums, and colors. As a contemporary street artist, I have had the great fortune to build my brand and my name in the fine art community, developing pieces that fuse iconic figures, vintage media, and street style.
After years of experimenting with street art, photography, and various art forms, with the Andy Warhols of the art world forever inspiring me to stay committed to my passion and my truth, I have developed my own unique style. Commonly referred to as “mixed-media” art in the art world, I define my art as “contemporary street art—a mixture of many different mediums created on wood panels. Some of the media I use include (but are not limited to) acrylics, oils, spray paint, street posters, vintage newspapers and magazines.
Seek One in the studio. 2024
Global Recognition
With exhibitions spanning globally from the Hamptons to Dubai, my artistic prowess has attracted attention from notable celebrities, athletes, and social media influencers. Following a successful solo exhibition in Dubai, my work was featured at a highly acclaimed exhibition in The Hamptons, drawing art enthusiasts and fans from around the globe to the beachfront resort. An impressive list of art aficionados came to the beach to experience a new dimension in fine art, firmly establishing my brand, Seek One, as one of the most exciting contemporary artists of our time. “Playtime,” an exhibition hosted at The White Room Gallery in The Hamptons gave rise to instant notoriety, as I began to become known for my ability to merge iconic figures, unconventional media, and vintage memorabilia in nouveau street style.
Showcasing my distinctive collage-meets-street-art style that features depictions of iconic fashion figures, historic automobiles, and exotic destinations, my uniquely vibrant collection continues to captivate art enthusiasts and collectors alike. Depicting an intuitive layering ability, combining graffiti, oils, and vintage media, I seem to have an ability to captivate and illuminate the viewer, and leave them hungry for more.
Signifying a new chapter in my artistic journey, my approach, which blurs the line between urban culture and fine art, has moved me to create pieces that are both thought provoking and relatable. From skating to creating some of the art world’s most coveted street art masterpieces, my work can be found displayed everywhere from multi-million-dollar New York lofts to cozy coffee shops across the nation. Though my earliest works can still be spotted under bridges and along urban pathways, I have aspirations today that rise above the concrete walls of the city.