2014 ARTIST ROSTER

Harlem born Jay West, called an “in demand rising star with strong hiphop roots” by Complex Magazine and Hypebeast, specializes in a technique called pop expressionism to create impactful paintings that draw upon Renaissance themes, pop-culture references, and texture techniques. His work embodies tales of defeat and triumph, as well as oppression and celebration.

1 JAY WEST

Jessy Nite is a multidisciplinary artist and graphic designer, living and working in Miami. Specializing in interactive, experiential and site-specific installation, her bold narratives come alive through an array of pastel-colored typography, geometry and illustration. Nite fabricates experiences using familiar and disarming imagery, giving audiences the freedom to interact and interpret her visual for themselves. This free-wheeling creative exchange is the product of context, structure and her underlying, controlled message.

Nite has exhibited internationally, and her drawings and sculptures are part of several prestigious art collections around the world. She has presented fine art projects in Miami, Newport, Provincetown, Burlington, Dallas, Sao Paulo and Bangkok; and has w\orked commercially for brands such as Fiat, Married To The Mob, and The Fader, and musicians Best Coast, LCD Soundsystem, Sleighbells, Soul Clap, Mayday, and NFA.

2 JESSY NITE

David Barnett is a 27 year old New York native working in the graphic arts. As a Creative Director, he has worked in design, illustration, apparel, publishing, branding, and signage. Recently, he co-founded Noble Signs, specializing in neon and handpainted designs. He is also an active screenprinter and gallerist, regularly curating art exhibitions in downtown Manhattan as Curator of Poppington. He is currently gearing up to publish his first feature-length graphic novel, Green Sky, which was recently mentioned in a Complex Magazine feature.

For his efforts in apparel, he has been featured in the Tuesday Styles section of the New York Times and T Magazine. As an illustrator, he has worked with a wide range of artists including: Erykah Badu, Future Islands, Bun B, Curren$y, Ski Beatz, Real Estate, Crystal Stilts, Murs, Trademark da Skydiver, Cam’ron and Jim Jones of the Diplomats, and more.

3 DAVID BARNETT

Brian Kirhagis weaves together different images to create a warped space where multiple images can be seen simultaneously. Inspired by the surrealists, his paintings and drawings employ an altered view of reality to focus on current events and social issues. Kirhagis has gained recognition by consistently producing original concepts that are both intellectually and visually stimulating. His masterful execution of this style is clearly evident in his large body of work. He has worked with Red Bull, Sony Music Group, Steiner Sports, The New York Yankees, MTV, The WuTang Clan and Hurley, among others. Kirhagis' work is in various personal and commercial collections, including Damon Dash, Jim Jones, Ahmad Bradshaw, and Bert Padell, the entertainment industry legend. He has been collected as far away as the Philippines, as well as Italy, the UK, Puerto Rico, and Nicaragua. He has been featured in the NY Daily News, Complex Magazine, and The Huffington Post.

4 BRIAN KIRHAGIS

Gonjasufi (born Sumach Ecks, aka Sumach Valentine) is a producer, singer, rapper, disc jockey and yoga teacher from San Diego, Cali-fornia, Born to a Mexican mother and American-Ethiopian father, Sumach has been releasing music since the early 1990s among the San Diego Hip Hop scene, notably with the Masters of the Universe crew. Ecks gained notice from Warp Records in 2008 after an appearance on Californian musician Flying Lotus' album Los Angeles, where he is featured on the track "Testament." Gonjasufi's Warp debut album, A Sufi and a Killer (2010) received Pitchfork Media's Best New Music tag. Frequently described as a stoner classic, Pitch-fork refered to Gonjasufi's performancess on the album as "haunting and haunted, coolly assertive yet frequently fixated on mortal mat-ters, bleeding \vividly through [producer] Gaslamp Killer's corroded analog wall of zero-fi psychedelic noise. " After releasing a Hip-Hop influenced project titled The Ninth Inning with Fader Magazine, Gonjasufi's latest self-produced album MUZZLE, was heavily sampled by Jay-Z in the outro of his Magna Carta Holy Grail LP (Nickels and Dimes). Gonjasufi attributes his singing voice to his passion for teaching yoga, where he has learned to"project from [his] stomach more".

5 GONJASUFI

Chef Chaz Brown started his culinary career while living in Los Angeles, working for the famed “Earle’s Grill” and was primarily responsi-ble for cooking in the homes of high-profile celebrities. In 2004, Chaz attended The French Culinary Institute (now known as The Interna-tional Culinary Center), and today stands as a ‘Career Ambassador’ for the school as awardee of the ‘Outstanding Alumni Award’ for the Mid- Atlantic Region. While attending culinary school, Chaz worked for 10 months at Nobu in New York, and later worked at several Phila-delphia restaurants – as a line cook at Steven Starr’s Washington Square and Jose Garces’ Tinto; and as Chef-de-Partie at Le Bec Fin – where under award-winning star Chef Georges Perrier, he fine-tuned his classical French training skills.

Chaz’s career on television began on the Food Network’s “Chef vs. City” in 2010, continued on NBCUniversal/Bravo TV’s “Top Chef” (season 9) in 2011, and later with “Around the World in 80 Plates” (season 1) in 2012. Currently, Chaz lives in NYC, having recently left Fatty Crab, where received a two star New York Times restaurant review, helping the group gain media exposure and in leading the roll out of Fatty Cue, two more Fatty Crabs and a Pig and Khao. Currently Chaz is the founder of Soul of the Space Culinary, a culinary consult-ing firm, that consults on both restaurant and television production.

6 CHAZ BROWN

A graduate of the Culinary Institute of America (CIA) in Hyde Park, NY, Top Chef Alumi Leah Cohen’s first position in a New York City kitchen was working for celebrated chef David Burke at Park Avenue Café. Next studying the intricacies of Italy’s diverse culinary landscape, Leah worked in Sicily at Michelin-stared restaurant, La Madia, focusing on a cuisine that blends the bold and fresh flavors of the Mediterranean.

After returning to America to work at Eleven Madison Park under the tutelage of Chef Daniel Humm, Leah soon traded in refined for rustic when she joined Anne Burrell at Centro Vinoteca in 2008. While working under Chef Burrell, Leah truly explored her love of Italian cooking, and also landed a spot on BRAVO’s hit television series, “Top Chef.” After a successful run on the show, and with national recognition, Leah returned to Centro Vinoteca as the restaurants Executive Chef. After a few years at Centro Vinoteca, Leah decided to take a sabbatical and spent a year traveling throughout Southeast Asia learning about her Asian heritage. One year later, Leah returned home to bring the bold flavors of Asian street food to New York, combining a culinary technique honed in New York’s top kitchens with the bold flavors found in the restaurants and food stalls of Hong Kong, Thailand, Vietnam, Philippines and Malaysia. Leah’s cooking is innovative and strikingly authentic, and is on display daily at Pig & Khao restaurant on the lower east side of NYC.

7 LEAH COHEN

Peter “Kid Chocolate” Quillin (born June 22, 1983 in Chicago, Illinois) is an undefeated American professional boxer of Cuban descent and the current WBO Middleweight Champion. He was raised in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and currently resides in New York City. Quillin has been trained by 4-time Trainer-of-the-Year Freddie Roach and signed to Oscar de la Hoya's Golden Boy Promotions. Kid Chocolate is currently 30 - 0, having never lost a fight in his nine-year professional career.

8 KID CHOCOLATE