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Fonzy Air Shot | BrownPride Gallery
Portrait Photography by SalRojas.com
My birth name is Luis Olivo, but I’m known on the boulevard as Fonzy the artist/muralist. It's been eight years since I moved from Tijuana, Mexico to Los Angeles, the capital of the low riding culture. I specialize in different art forms from tattoos, board illustrations, to digital illustrations. The art form I’m best known for is air brushing, with some of the best low riders in the world serving as my canvas. My personal style is based on the custom “Low Rider” scene that is an integral part of the Mexican-American experience in America. I’ve helped transform ordinary cars to become some of the most top prize winning show cars on the professional low rider circuit. One of the most important aspects of building a classic low rider is the custom paint jobs. My custom murals can be seen on the hoods, bodies, and trunks of many elite low riders that are on display at the most prestige’s low rider shows, where the competition features some of the best known muralist in the world.
I’ve been airbrushing for 13 solid years; I began to study the craft in Tijuana, Mexico. My first five years I studied how to use the airbrush machine. It was very hard at the beginning, the techniques of air brushing was very limited in Tijuana. After moving to Los Angeles I noticed that creating murals on cars was very common and that there was a great deal of artists competing against each other for these highly sought out custom jobs.
At that time those other artists were more advanced than me, but that didn’t stop me or discourage me from pursuing my passion. Instead it helped fuel me to try to be more of a perfectionist and to learn better techniques to do the job the best of my ability. This wasn’t the easiest occupation to jump into, people invest a great deal of money into their low riders, and they won’t let just anyone work on their cars. I was determined to make a name for myself, the old fashion way through hard work and perseverance. As I began to get better at my profession, my name was becoming better known. I realize there is a great deal of work that still needs to be done and new techniques that must be learned so that one will not get stuck on one style. I consider myself a perpetual student that’s always striving to become a better more well-rounded artist.
About three years ago I started doing tattoos. Even though this type of art is like airbrushing, it tends to be harder. Around the same time I was also introduced to digital illustration, of course this art technique is more complicated in nature. Digital illustration has a steeper learning curve because it was new and really different from anything I had done in my past. I had great support from a close friend and a great artist in his own right named Gerald Mendez. With Gerald’s support and with other Latin artists we formed a professional association called “Latin Airbrush Artist Assn.” We are now twenty three members strong, we have many different kinds of styles and art forms represented in our association. For more information on our artist association be sure to login to our official website at www.latinairbrush.com.
Click here to find samples of my artwork in different mediums from airbrushing to tattoos.
Fonzy Air Shot
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