Today we’d like to introduce you to Dave Van Patten
Hi Dave, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
I am a Long Beach based muralist, illustrator, brand and album designer. I started drawing as a kid, primarily as a humor comic scribbler, inspired by short sketch comedy form / 90s SNL. Then took a 7 year break in college at CSULB and focused on writing and playing in bands, etc.
When I returned back to the art world my head was full of new ideas and I began making comic zines prolifically.
After gaining visibility at zine fests, I began working with local clients as a branding designer, focused mostly on merch, beer labels, package design, etc. I even had a couple year stint working as a full-time op Ed illustrator for online publications.
Then when the illustration path begin to dry up a new one opened. I got picked up by worldwide walls to paint my comic type characters on huge city buildings. My career soon took an unexpected turn, and I became a full-time muralist. Now having painted over 60 murals, working with international clients and painting all over the country, I see my career as a continual flow, always different and always demanding flexibility.
Throughout this time, I never lost my love for music and have continued to create album art. Sometimes for local psych or punk, other times I’ve had the privilege to work with rhino records who publishes some of the biggest names under the Warner music group umbrella. In 2023 I won a Grammy award for “best limited edition package design” for cover art on a Grateful Dead project, called “in and out of the garden 81, 82, 83,” a culmination of their live shows in the 80s in New York.
Following a brief time in limelight, I’ve enjoyed getting back to the grind, working on local projects and scribbling on more comics when I get a chance.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
I’ve had plenty of hurdles in every field from illustration to murals to album design. Being a freelance artist is not for the faint of heart. Every illustration project generally involves an art Director you’ve never met before. When your taste lines up, the project Flows beautifully and brings out the best work.
Or the most common would be the middle ground where the Director suggests a few minor changes, but nothing compromising the vision of the work. But once in a while, you’re requested to make such drastic changes that you kind of lose your love for the piece you created in the first place. It’s like letting go of one of your babies. Sometimes I manage to fight back and hold onto the vision. Other times you have to let it go and it’s tough but obviously worth it, considering these jobs pay the bills.
The muralist occupation has plenty of hurdles as well. Every site you work at is different with unexpected curveballs. Sometimes the wall is bumpy stucco, brick, or falling apart. Other times it’s perfectly flat. Sometimes you’re smooth sailing with a scissor lift on level ground. Other times you feel like you’re risking your life. For a rooftop mural project I had to build a makeshift platform on a slanted roof in order to place a ladder I could paint off of.
Sometimes areas are sketchy, sometimes tools get stolen, other times areas are almost too nice, and you feel weird being a paint covered freak.
Ultimately, I’m really grateful for that type of work because it’s still the most fun and you feel alive being out in the elements. But it’s definitely an unpredictable line of work.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
Most of my work involves colorful characters in weird narratives. I try to make my style somewhere in between not too realistic, and not too cartoony. I’m influenced mostly by humor. And after that would come surrealism, retro sci-fi art, avant-garde non sequitur absurdity type stuff, social commentary, 80s horror movies, garage punk aesthetic, and 90s nostalgia..
The breadth of my work is pretty expansive. I’ve designed everything from whiskey labels to coffee bags, merch, hats, motorcycle helmets, beer, cans, album Art, package design, you name it.
I’ve painted murals with Whole Foods, Starbucks, Rhino records inside Warner music headquarters.
I don’t really know what my specialty is. Maybe flexibility. I tend to be a real freak as far as my taste goes, but I always manage to meet in the middle with the client, kind of read their minds and develop something we’re both proud of. Not an easy thing to do. I’m proud of it.
What matters most to you? Why?
One of my favorite quotes is “Comfort the disturbed and disturbed the comfortable.” I’ve always felt that art should be used in this way. All of us sometimes, including myself need to have our worldview shaken. Good art can have the power to strike this cord and cause mental change. It can be the slap in the face or a wake up call. Other times people need something to get them through the day, and art can serve as a comfort to those in need.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.davevanpattenart.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/davevanpatten
Image Credits
Bio photo by Aisling Clark Bench. Worldwide walls photo by Brandon Shigeta. All other photos by Dave Van Patten
