BLVD Gallery presents
The Beat Of Urban Art
The Art Of Justin Bua
August 10 - September 1, 2007
Book Signing and Artist Reception Friday August 10, 6pm - 10pm

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BLVD Gallery is proud to present one of the most widely recognized and respected artists to document and participate in the Hip Hop movement, Justin BUA. BUA's art is infused with his experiences being a B-Boy and graffiti Writer in NYC during the birth of a culture. Through the distinct style that he calls Distorted Urban Realism melding urban rhythms, graffiti, and classical art training BUA represents the lives of both the revered and the marginalized, the heroes and the underdogs of his time , New York City during the 1970s and '80s.

Groundbreaking artist Justin BUA is internationally known for his best-selling collection of fine art posters--The DJ being one of the most popular prints of all time. Born in 1968 in NYC's untamed Upper West Side and raised between Manhattan and East Flatbush, Brooklyn, BUA was fascinated by the raw, visceral street life of the city. He attended the Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music and Performing Arts and complemented his education on the streets by writing graffiti and performing worldwide with breakdancing crews. BUA went on to the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California where he earned a B.F.A in Illustration. Currently, he teaches figure drawing at the University of Southern California, while continuing to be a leading innovator in both the fine and commercial art worlds. . BUA's energetic and vocal worldwide fan base ranges from former presidents, actors, musicians, professional athletes, and dancers, to street kids and art connoisseurs.

From the birth of Hip-Hop, emcees, and graffiti artists; to deejays, street poets and ball players, BUA's THE BEAT OF URBAN ART (HarperCollins Publishers, hardcover on sale March 13, 2007) takes readers into a masterfully illustrated New York City of the 1970s and 1980s as experienced by the artist's heroes and the underdogs of that era. Accompanied by sketches, studies, and explanations of how his most famous paintings were created, this extraordinary oeuvre documents the artist's turbulent youth in the underground worlds of the urban jungle to showcase landmark moments in the nation's cultural history.