Sparks, Upper Playground, and Juxtapoz Art & Culture Magazine teamed up this fall with a follow up to last year’s inaugural "Ignite What's Next" Art Tour. The events showcased live painting by three of the top artists from the world of contemporary art – Sam Flores, Alex Pardee, and N8 Van Dyke. Each event included live performances by progressive DJs and MCs for a mix-up of live art, music and culture.

Check out videos from all three events: ATLANTA, BOSTON, and PHOENIX

Fifteen years after first arriving on the West Coast from New Mexico, Sam Flores, an art school evacuee and self-taught illustrator, has established his place in the modern art movement as a master of fine art and product design. His contemporaries include Shepard Fairey (OBEY), Mike Giant, Jeremy Fish, and David Choe, whose collective bodies of work have forged a pathway for a new and accessible movement within the popular art world. Flores’ artistic quality is unpretentious and provocative and demands consideration without categorization. www.samflores.com

Alex Pardee’s unique style is one conceived through watching years of horror movies, writing graffiti and listening to gangster rap. His work best represents that of a circus cemetery sideshow. Final pieces are often brought to life by translating random shapes and colors into symbols of torment and absurdity. By juxtaposing these two conflicting moods, Alex makes his works more personal to his viewers, forcing them to project their own feelings and emotions onto each character in his twisted universe. www.eyesuckink.com

Nate Van Dyke is a prolific artist and illustrator who began drawing at the age of two and has yet to stop. His medium of choice ranges from pencil, ink, marker, watercolor, gauche, acrylic and oils. Regardless of what medium Nate picks up, his signature style can be seen in his contrast of thin and thick lines in his pen and ink work and the high sheen contrast in his mixed media pieces. www.n8vandyke.com

ATLANTA
Saturday September 13th, 2008 at 10pm
LENNY’S BAR Atlanta, GA - www.lennysbar.com

BOSTON
Saturday September 20th, 2008 at 2pm (daytime event in the street)
UNDERGROUND SNOWBOARDS Boston, MA - NO COVER CHARGE www.skimarket.com/MA-Boston_Under.htm

PHOENIX
Saturday Oct 4th, 2008 at 9pm – THE MARQUEE THEATRE Tempe, AZ - NO COVER CHARGE www.luckymanonline.com