STREET NOIR ARTISTS***

(in alphabetical order)

Marcel Angol and Brendan Boyd (Boldfacer 9/14/09)

Society Original Products

Brendan and Marcel don’t just talk the talk. They walk the walk. And dress the part. Natives of Mattapan and Dorchester, they understand that a certain hoody or specific hat can make or break your cool IQ on the street. They also know that being cool – really cool – means living a righteous life. Doing the right thing. With that in mind, the two best friends created Society Original Products, a collection of streetwear that keeps you looking honorable inside and out. 

Ian Travis Barnard

Photographer

While he’s not working on Boldfacers videos (he’s our principal filmmaker), you’ll more than likely catch Ian focusing his still camera on a crooked brick or row of smokestacks. Like his father, also a photographer, Ian is an artist at heart, always seeking beauty in unlikely places and contexts. What separates him from the pack is an outstanding eye, consistently observing and seizing the truth. 

Darin Hager (Boldfacer 7/31/07)

Heyday Footwear

What does Darin say about competing with Puma, Nike and New Balance? It ain’t easy. Understatement of the year. But he’s going for it anyway, after having worked for the big guys as a star designer of sneakers. Two years ago, Darin launched Heyday Footwear, a full line of kicks featuring nifty features like neon orange laces, metallic uppers and kiwi linings. David and Goliath live. 

Renatta Hosein and Brian Pope

PreK Apparel

Renatta hails from the empire that is Karmaloop, a Newbury Street hipster streetwear boutique that has evolved into one of the most popular online stores in the world. That’s a darn good background for the Karmaloop buyer to learn what it takes to start her own line – especially after she paired up with Brian Pope, who has designed everything under the sun.. The two bond over their desire to produce Warholesque Gerber baby graphic tees and Tupac letter block onesies, created not for street-smart kids, but toddlers. 

Eric Levin

Photographer

Seven years ago, you might have spotted Eric Levin on a street corner, sitting on a concrete bench wearing tattered jeans and a t-shirt, trying to hawk a handful of photographs sprawled out next to him. Well, no more. Today, along with being Boldfacers’ principal photographer, he operates his own national photography business and studio where he specializes in portrait, fashion and celebrity photography. His subjects include Morgan Freeman, Kanye West and Rihanna. He’s picked up a slew of awards, and you’ll see why after checking out his exhibit of landscapes, rock and roll scenes and black and white high contrast portraits. 

Ryan Lombardi (Boldfacer 5/1/07)

Artist

Ryan's art grows as freely as the hair curling down to his shoulders.
Yeah, he's scooped up a few art awards, and sure, he holds a respectable job as a graphic designer. But the real Ryan is the guy you'll find freestyle-painting a mural at a skateboard jam with Project SF, an international artist group performing guerilla-style art. You may discover Ryan scouring the streets for old street signs - the perfect canvas for, say, an elephant, one of Ryan’s favorite subjects. Whatever he chooses, you know he’ll do them well. 

Dava Muramatsu

Nymph Jewelry

Dava Muramatsu is a Newbury Street legend. The owner of Matsu, a luxury lifestyle boutique and winner of one Best of Boston accessories award after another, Dava was destined to create her own jewelry collection. As a child, she saved all her money to purchase a special sterling silver ring by Georg Jenson. Now, after decades of selecting the some of the hippest, chicest jewelry this town has ever laid eyes on, Dava is kicking off her own hand-made collection, Nymph. Afghani inspired necklaces, vintage medallions on black jade stones, pearls, diamonds, onyx, emeralds…the glittering list of gems goes on. The line gives Georg Jenson a run for his money, to put it mildly.

Kristina Pitaniello (Boldfacer 4/08/08)

Pitaniello Jewelry

A would-be doctor, this New Hampshire native traded in stethoscopes for blowtorches and never looked back. Call Kristina Pitianello a surgeon of all things beautiful. On the walls of her South End studio are framed articles about her jewelry in Lucky magazine and The Boston Globe.  Julia Roberts, Natalie Merchant and Rosanna Arquette wear her pieces, which range from tough leather cuffs and delicate cross pendants to platinum bands set with pink sapphires and men’s sculptural bronze belt buckles. Hundreds of couples have sealed their love with her custom-designed wedding rings. We can safely say we are happy she chose jewelry as a career.

Craig Poschmann (Boldfacer 12/6/07)

Any Colour You Like Tees

Much like the female’s endless pursuit of the perfect little black dress, Craig found himself wandering a casual-fashion desert, searching for the best tee shirt on earth. Poschmann was a lost soul. So for six days and six nights, he sketched and stretched, silk-screened and sewed. And on the seventh day, he created Any Colour you Like, a t-shirt line. And he saw that it was good. 

Victor “Marka 27” Quinonez (Boldfacer 2/24/09)

Artist

Angel wings, weathered faces and a smiling, wool capped kid: some of the signature images of Victor Quinonez, whose wildly gifted artistic talent spans from wall-size canvas to the building sides. Whether it’s a can of spray paint or palette of oils, Marka 27, his nickname, renders images of goodness and beauty and all that he didn’t experience during a rough, violent childhood in Mexico, but these days, devotes his life to celebrating.  

Ross O'Donahue

(R)evolve(R) Boards

Still a kid, Ross O'Donahue found himself in the very unfortunate position of landing in the hospital after a tragic accident. Weeks he was there, lying in bed, in traction, with only time to think and think some more. He had been an A-lister skateboard competitor with a large future of awards ahead of him. But it was over. What he decided was to grab what opportunity he had left, which he concluded was to design decks. (R)evolve(R) Boards, custom, hand-painted skateboards, reflects Ross' continued tenacity and passion for a gift he was given, then taken away...and recreated as a gift for others.

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