Kelly “RISK” Graval

With a wildly successful clothing line and an insatiable demand for his canvases of vivid, electrifying urban art, RISK has come a long way from being the first L.A. based artist to paint subway cars in New York City. At the peak of his powers, when he was painting overpasses, billboards, and public transportation, RISK began to spray on canvas and soon, he was producing artistic number-one hits with unparalleled regularity.

Today, RISK is one of the most important contemporary artists of our time. His bold, audacious work is captivating and expands far beyond his colorful roots as a graffiti artist. His elaborate sculptures and neon series have been praised during exhibits in New York and Los Angeles, and in 2018, Risk’s “Face Your Fears” series stole the show at the LA Art Fair.

Like all great rock-n-rollers, RISK also has performed his magic at the legendary Whiskey A Go Go, painting the infamous Hollywood club inside and out to celebrate an Aerosmith and Slash Tour in 2014. Speaking of the classic rock band, Aerosmith has said that “RISK is to graffiti what Aerosmith is to rock and roll”.

RISK is also a modern artist focused intently on sustainability because even though rockers once smashed their guitars on stage, there’s nothing rock-n-roll about waste anymore. RISK’s creative and thoroughly thoughtful use of repurposed materials is the foundation of his artistic practice and ethos. When he’s finished with a can or bottle, he tosses it up into nets above his work tables. Nothing gets thrown into the garbage in his studio space, a compound Dave Navarro has called a modern-day Warhol Factory, because everything can be used again in his art.

By exploring color theory and building works of art with what he calls ‘metallic tissue’ (those old cans as well as license plates, and more found fragments), RISK transcends genre and produces profound art via a myriad of complex techniques and treatments.