A third generation artist, Trowzers Akimbo grew up in the creative hot house that is Venice, CA, which in addition to providing encouragement of the visual arts, gave him his first taste of what has become a life-long love of surfing. Trowzers believes immersion in the surfing culture measurably affected his imagery and palette. He’s been creating art, in one form or another, all his life.
Art instruction began with his mother, at home, continued with the fantastic art teachers at Venice High School (his high school art teacher Betty Edwards, then Betty Bomeisler, wrote the influential book, Drawing on the Right Side of Your Brain) and continued at California Institute of the Arts (better known, at the time, as the Chouinard Art Institute). He actually began at Chouinard’s with Saturday classes, while still in high school, then went on to receive his BFA from the art school, while attending on a scholarship. His wonderful CalArts teachers (influential artists in there own right) included Don Graham, Harold Kramer, Emerson Wolpher and Frederick Hammersley.
In addition to painting, Trowzers has engaged in many creative commercial projects. While working in the graphic arts department at NBC, he spent his time body painting go-go dancers for Laugh-In, creating over 200 pieces of More to Come art for The Tonight Show, Starring Johnny Carson and designing The Gong Show logo, among countless other projects. He directed and designed hundreds of animated and live action television commercials for clients including Chevron, McDonalds, IBM, Toyota, AT&T, Bank of America, Wilson Sports and Alpo. He created illustrations for advertising agencies, design studios and magazines (Cricket, Sesame Street, The Electric Company, etc.) He’s led creative teams for video game companies Sierra Online, Rocket Science Games and iWin, as their chief creative officer, overseeing some 50 odd games in the process. He’s received numerous awards for these commercial endeavors, among them, a national primetime Emmy award.
His commercial work’s been included in The Society of Illustrators of New York's Annual/Illustrators, AIGA Graphic Design USA, American Illustration, Humor 1 and 2, Print's Regional Design Annual and Outstanding American Illustrators Today/Vols. 1 & 2.
Trowzers exhibits his paintings regularly and was recently honored to receive Best in Show Awards in both the Yosemite Western Artists’ 2016 Tri-County show and the Trains, Planes & Automobiles show at the Chris Sorensen Gallery.
He works in both representational and abstract styles. While using traditional vanishing point perspective and natural color in his representational work, when creating abstractions, he utilizes multiple viewpoint perspective (an approach pioneered by Cezanne, Picasso and Braque) and nonlocal color.
His subject matter includes scenes from personal experiences, imagined experiences, portraits of those he knows and, watch out, others he’s passed walking down the street.
He works with oils, acrylics, watercolor, soft pastels and any other medium he comes across.
Welcome to the Fresno Arts Council’s artist networking site. We hope you enjoy meeting other artists and learning more about what is happening in Fresno’s Art Community. Visit our website, like us on Facebook and follow us on Instagram and twitter. You will pick up more valuable information about the Fresno Arts council and how we support the arts.
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Welcome to the Fresno Arts Council’s artist networking site. We hope you enjoy meeting other artists and learning more about what is happening in Fresno’s Art Community. Visit our website, like us on Facebook and follow us on Instagram and twitter. You will pick up more valuable information about the Fresno Arts council and how we support the arts.
Kindest Regards,
Lilia Gonzales Chavez
Executive Director