My first taste of the fashion world came after College through a very talented colleague who was at the time the graphic desinger at THE GREAT CHINA WALL, a vintage inspired clothing line out of Melrose, California. The creative director and owner Alfredo Setimio needed an artist and illustrator to help him supply the demand for the Harley Davidson Hand-painted vintage leather jackets he sold as part of the collection to the most prominent celebrities in Hollywood for an est. $3,000 per piece.
After a coupple of months painting eagles and motorcycles, I had just about had enough of the look, so while he traveled for business he gave me the green light to "go crazy" and paint whatever I would like. With much excitment and partly from being a tattoo aficcionado I decided to paint ancient Chinese tattoos on the leather jackets. Excited with the project and the outcome I was surprised at his reaction when he returned. A true Sicilian by nature he did not only hate it, he threw them accross the room in great rage...
I of course left home to cry myself to sleep and never return to work. Lucky me the wife of the designer and best sales representative for the brand, placed the samples in the showroom to see how the high-end costumers would react to the two pieces, only to find out they were an instant hit. I was not only asked to come back, I was asked to train others to duplicate my abilities, which I of course refused to do. In the three months I remained there I painted a total of 30 pieces, all unique in its artwork and style, over the years I came to find out many celebrities cherished my work. Some of them being Usher, Lenny Kravitz, Axel Rose, Kelley Osbourne, Sharyl Crow, etc...
