Alabel Chapin is a New York based artist from Austin, TX. Working across a variety of mediums - including acrylic and oil paint, colored pencil, and paper mache - Chapin explores themes of worship and desire, purity and monstrosity, within large-scale topographic portraiture and loose surrealist compositions. Chapin completed her BA at Barnard College, with a concentration in Visual Arts.
In 2018 she was one of the original members of Midterms Matter, a nonpartisan campaign dedicated to increasing young voter turnout in Texas through social media and voter registration initiatives. In 2020 during the pandemic, Chapin hand-painted and sold “vote” masks.
She also painted the Stacey Abrams neon “Vote” sign for the original Vote Truck in Georgia. Chapin activates art to inspire and encourage other young people to vote, and evokes through painterly care and a tactile practice the visceral impact of this election on the lives of women and creative people.
A selection of works from Chapin’s thesis presentation are on view in the group show Field Notes from an Apocalypse at Stand4 gallery in Brooklyn, NY from September 6-15.
Xavier Schipani is a Washinton D.C. Native (b. 1984).
He studied painting and illustration at Maryland Institute College of Art, Baltimore and Center of Arts in Culture, AIX en Provence.
His work has been exhibited in North America and Europe and is held in the collection of the McNay Museum in San Antonio , with public works in Houston and Austin, TX.
In 2022 he created a large scale digital, site specific installation in Times Square on view for the month of June, commissioned by Todd Snyder. He also released his second collaboration with Nike, which included an SB Dunk shoe designed completely by him in celebration of Trans Awareness Week.
He is currently living and working in Austin where his work continues to be enjoyed publicly and privately.
As one of the most influential illustrators in Southwest America, Mishka Westell has been the long-standing image maker for Austin, Texas’ beloved Bunkhouse Group – the Austin Motel, Hotel San Jose, Hotel Saint Cecilia and El Cosmico.
Westell’s lifelong love of music has seen her create record covers, screen printed concert posters, and t-shirts for the likes of Willie Nelson, Calexico, Robert Plant, Roky Erikson, Spiritualized, Brian Wilson, and Jack White to name just a few.
Vyvyan is a neon artist and photographer in Atlanta, Georgia. She works with clients to design and create commercial signs as well as individual community requests. In addition, she has worked with television and film crews to create custom set decoration.
Hughes is also an accomplished photographer, specializing in natural black and white portraiture. Using available light and shadow as her palette, she captures natural images with the world as her studio.
Gregg Brenner started The Neon Company in 1984, and he has perfected the art of creating neon signage and art for the bustling city of Atlanta. With an undergraduate degree in biochemistry, Gregg taught high school science in DeKalb County for five years. During his time teaching, playing with neon became a hobby of Gregg’s and grew to become something much more after he received his MS from Georgia State University.
The Neon Company has served the Atlanta community through the creation of neon art, gifts, indoor and outdoor signage, sets for major motion pictures and video productions, and trade show exhibit displays. Gregg specializes in custom signs, set design and unique art developed specifically to match the vision of his customers.
Evan Voyles was born and raised in Austin, Texas, with much of his youth spent at his family's Lazy V Ranch in the nearby Hill Country. He is a cum laude graduate of Yale University, with a degree in Intensive English. Trained to tear down, analyze, and rebuild literature, Voyles instead applied his talent to the unintentional poetry and iconic imagery of classic American roadside signage. His careers as both signmaker and artist have been guided by this interest.
Voyles amplifies the quirks and spectacles of South Congress with his one-of-a-kind neon and vintage signs. Voyles has made at least 500 signs with The Neon Jungle, the company he named after what his mother used to call Burnet Road in the mid-1950s, when it had raunchy neon lights. Shops with Voyles’ signs include Yard Dog, Stella Blue, Woodland, Maya Star, Hotel San Jose and his wife’s boutique, Blackmail.