The Bay Area's Hub for Asian Pacific American Community Arts Since 1972

APAture 2015: Future Tense

Comics & Illustration Showcase | Artist Bios

 

Bo is an interdisciplinary artist whose cultural intervention includes visual art, comics, performance, filmmaking, creative writing, scholarly knowledge production, and culinary business. His work across these terrains of production addresses the complex connections among different experiences of marginalization, challenges capitalistic relational practices, and imagines alternative possibilities of desire and resistance.

 

Brian S. Canio (a.k.a. maxxsterling), freelance illustrator, family man, and certified pop culture fanatic, is a graduate of the Academy of Art University. He has done work for 44 Flood, Gore Noir magazine, and Cryptozoic Entertainment, including artwork for DC Comics, AMC's The Walking Dead, The Hobbit, and Adventure Time. His work has also appeared in various group shows and private collections.

 

Ka Yan Cheung was born in Hong Kong and emigrated to New York's Chinatown when she was 10 years old. She comes from a family of garment and restaurant workers, and watching her family members struggle each day moved her toward radical politics. She has spent eight years doing community and labor organization in the San Francisco Bay Area.

 

Mei Hsuan Chiang was born in Taipei, Taiwan. Painting is her passion, her air, her elixir. Although she holds a bachelor's degree in journalism, she wanted to find the meaning of life through the world of art. She discovered her zen when she started working with different colors and paper. After traveling to the United States seeking enlightenment, she fell in love with San Francisco's mysterious fog and breathtaking sceneries. She is currently pursuing her M.F.A. at the Academy of Art University, and is showcasing her stories of color via printmaking and paintings. Her most two recent art pieces relate to San Francisco’s diverse population and the raising of awareness of California's severe drought.
 

Sam Coaass is a product of the North Bay Area, where she grew up on cartoon shows and bad puns. She felt particularly drawn to comics after first visiting the Charles M. Schulz Museum. She's been writing and drawing her current comic, The Masked One, since 2012. Outside of comics, Sam enjoys reading, watching Steven Universe, and sleeping in.

 

Trinidad Escobar is a poet, cartoonist, and educator in Oakland. Her writing and visual art have been featured in various publications such as Rust & Moth, The Womanist, The Walrus, Red Wheelbarrow, Solo Cafe, Mythium, Tayo, Maganda magazine, the anthologies Walang Hiya, Over the Line, Kwento, and more. Trinidad has been a guest artist and speaker for the San Jose Museum of Art, Pilipino Komix Expo, Litquake, and the Cartoon Art Museum in San Francisco. She is currently working on her graphic memoir Crushed. Trinidad has an M.F.A. in comics from California College of the Arts.

 

Cynthia Fong is an East Bay Area native who grew up in Richmond and El Cerrito. She was stolen from the motherland when she was young, forced to survive and find her way in this new land. Newly returned to the Bay, she seeks community, growth, and love.

 

Originally from Vietnam, Lam Giang is an illustrator, sketch artist, and visual development artist, with an animation/illustration degree from San Jose State. Professionally, he works as a game artist for a game studio in San Francisco. Outside of his day job, he teaches himself 2D animation, building 3D works, and creating comics. Lam has acquired a habit of sketching anywhere and anytime in order to find inspiration and take notes from life, with a pen, a sketchbook, and a cup of coffee as the keys to his imagination. He loves to share his work quietly and humbly.

 

Lamnho Giang is an illustrator, game artist, and concept artist. He is a graduate from San Jose State's illustration/animation program. He self-­published a sketch book, One, with his twin brother, Lam Giang. Recently, Lamnho finished his first animation short, Winter of The Unforgettable. He is excited to be part of the show and to share his art.

 

Ellis Kim is an illustrator based in sleepy Alameda. Struck with wanderlust, he quit his job in 2013 to hitchhike for three months, and he has been stuck at home making comics ever since. He teaches comics and illustration workshops at the Cartoon Art Museum and the Alameda Main Library.

 

Vincent Kukua is a production artist for Image Comics, Inc. and a freelance illustrator and aspiring comic book artist. He self-published the comic book Kuro—but he has plenty more stories he is ready to tell.

 

Michael Manomivibul is a freelance illustrator whose work thrives on mystery and atmosphere. His books are reknown their spooky beings and grand adventure. Michael has worked for The Folio Society, Scholastic, and Scientific American, and he was the illustrator on The Princess Bride: An Illustrated Edition. His work has been featured in Spectrum: Best in Fantastic Art. Michael was born in Boston and raised in Bangkok. He earned his B.F.A. in illustration from the California College of the Arts and currently resides in Oakland.

 

Minnie Phan is an illustrator and cartoonist with a B.F.A. in illustration from California College of the Arts. Her work often adorns The Bold Italic and her books and zines can be found at libraries, colleges, and independent bookstores across the Bay Area and California. She specializes in editorial and children’s book illustration, happily making work that is colorful, thoughtful, and charming.

 

Sherwin Viray is a former game developer and current freelancer.

Cecilia Wong is a thirty-year-old woman with the mind and color sense of a five-year-old child. She works as a production artist in the mobile game industry—however, it is her personal art that you are sure to relate to.