"The Chosen One" 2012 Judges
RISK (born Kelly Graval), also known as RISKY, is a Los Angeles-based graffiti artist and fashion entrepreneur. In the 1980s, RISK gained notoriety for his unique style and pushed the limits of graffiti: He was one of the first writers in Southern California to paint freight trains, and he pioneered writing on "heavens", or freeway overpasses. Later, Risk took graffiti from the streets and into the gallery on canvases and co-founded Third Rail. Knowing that many of the people at the shows could not afford his canvases, RISK started making T-shirts. RISK turned Third Rail into a successful clothing brand, with RISK winning designer of the year awards and sponsoring celebrities like Kid Rock.
When his family moved to Los Angeles from Louisiana in 1983, 16-year-old RISK enrolled at University High School on the city's west side. RISK made the high school his personal canvas, tagging his name everywhere during the day and returning at night to do pieces. In 1985, RISK and RIVAL started the graffiti crew WCA (West Coast Artists).
RISK was one of seven high school students who received a scholarship to attend the Pasadena Art Institute. RISK would later go on to study fine art at USC.
Later, RISK became involved in various Hollywood projects. His first was a photo shoot for Hot Rod magazine, and after the issue hit newsstands, he started getting more recognition as an artist outside the graffiti world. RISK continued to work on movie and music video sets, including the film Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure and videos for the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Ice Cube, Bad Religion and Michael Jackson.
In 1988, RISK went to New York and painted subway cars, making him the first L.A. writer to have his work run, and probably the last (in 1989, the New York Metropolitan Transit Authority mandated that all subway cars be free of graffiti before they ran). The following year, RISK and SLICK were invited to travel to the U.K. to represent the U.S. at the Bridlington International Street Art Competition. They won the competition and took home a silver cup and silver spray can as trophies.
Back in L.A., RISK continued to push the boundaries of graffiti, and he and fellow WCA writers embarked on a series of tours: "Bum Rush", an all-out bombing effort in the San Francisco Bay area; "Planes, Trains and Automobiles", a quest on which they hit everything from limos to private planes; and "Hitting Metal", a tour aimed at vehicles, street signs, heavens and any other metal objects they could find.
On December 13, 2008, Track 16 gallery in Santa Monica hosted RISK's first solo show Twenty-Six. The title of the show referred to the length of RISK's career and his lifelong dedication to letterforms. "Twenty-Six is a celebration of where I'm at today and where I have come from," RISK explained. "I have been painting for 26 years; there are 26 letters in the alphabet—I could not pick a better way to define myself and my view of graffiti art."
David Anthony Faustino (born March 3, 1974) is an American actor and rap artist primarily known for his role as Bud Bundy on the sitcom Married... with Children and voicing Mako in The Legend of Korra. Faustino made his television debut at the age of three months when he appeared on the Lily Tomlin Special. Faustino did not start regularly acting until 1980 after a smaller part on Little House on the Prairie. Throughout the early to mid 80s, Faustino would go on to guest star in many well known TV shows such as Family Ties, St. Elsewhere, and The Love Boat. He would also guest star in many not-so-well-known TV shows. But in 1987 he landed a full-time gig on Married...with Children.
Fox's Married...with Children was Faustino's big break as he would play Bud, the younger of the two Bundy children. He played the character from its debut on April 5, 1987 until its final first-run episode broadcast on June 9, 1997. Faustino appeared in 257 episodes.
While filming the sitcom Married...with Children throughout the '90s, Faustino would continue to make guest appearances in many sitcoms and dramas. He reprised the role of Bud Bundy in such shows as Parker Lewis Can't Lose and Top of the Heap. Faustino also appeared in Burke's Law, MADtv and The New Addams Family.
In 2002, he appeared in the celebrity reality television special Celebrity Boot Camp. In 2001, he appeared in the low-budget film Killer Bud produced by Aglet Productions. In 2005, Faustino guest-starred on two episodes of One on One. One of the roles was as Flex Washington's agent.
Faustino also starred as Jason Dockery in the 2008 movie RoboDoc. In April 2007, Faustino was featured in an American McDonald's commercial introducing the "Dollar Menunaires". He currently stars in Star-ving, a weekly Internet comedy series on Crackle, an online video network backed by Sony Pictures Entertainment. Faustino plays an exaggerated version of himself in the series, which he wrote and developed with several friends as an "anti-Entourage."
"This is a very twisted take on what I've been through all these years," Faustino said. He has also signed a deal with National Lampoon to be involved with three low-budget films.
Faustino appeared with the cast of Married with Children again at the 7th Annual TV Land Awards in 2009, presented by Dr. Phil. He also had cameo appearances in two episodes of the HBO series Entourage and co-starred in the feature Not Another B Movie which was distributed by Troma Entertainment in 2011.
In October 2010, he travelled to Auckland, New Zealand, to take part in the Armageddon 'pulp culture' Expo. On April 14, 2012, The Legend of Korra premiered. He is the voice of Mako, a teenage firebender who is the captain of his Pro-Bending team The Fire Ferrets and Avatar Korra's boyfriend. The character is named after the late Mako Iwamatsu, who provided the voice of Iroh in the original series.
Seth Brooks Binzer (born August 23, 1974), better known by his stage name Shifty Shellshock is an American music artist, best known for being a co-founder and front man of the band Crazy Town. He has also had a solo music career and appeared in the reality television series Celebrity Rehab 1 & 2 and Sober House 1 & 2. A native to California, Binzer was a music fan from his childhood. His father is award-winning art director, designer, artist and filmmaker, Rollin Binzer who, among other things, produced and directed the feature film, Ladies and Gentlemen: The Rolling Stones.
Seth had a love for a wide genre of bands, such as The Cure, Cypress Hill, LL Cool J, Beastie Boys, and Jon Cougar Concentration Camp. He began to discover his own personal style of music and started to record albums of his own with the Beastie Boys serving as his main inspiration.
He also spent part of his childhood in Marblehead, Massachusetts.
Crazy Town: Binzer met fellow Crazy Town front-man, Bret Mazur, in 1992; they started collaborating under the name The Brimstone Sluggers. By early 1999, they formed the group Crazy Town. In 2000 Crazy Town was signed to tour with Ozzfest.
The band's single, Butterfly, reached number 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, prompting sales of their debut album, The Gift of Game, to exceed 1.5 million.
Solo career: During Crazy Town's hiatus, Binzer collaborated with British producer and musician Paul Oakenfold, contributing vocals to Oakenfold's hit single "Starry Eyed Surprise" . The track was for Oakenfold first solo studio album Bunkka. In an interview with Rolling Stone magazine in the US, Binzer said that the track known as "Starry Eyed Surprise" was created after the pair met at a Crazy Town show.
The single reached No. 6 on the UK Singles Chart in Oakenfold's native United Kingdom and No. 41 on the Billboard Hot 100 in Shellshock's native United States.
Binzer released his own first solo album, Happy Love Sick in 2004. He released two singles from the album: "Slide Along Side" a pan-European hit for Shifty that reached No. 29 in the UK with moderate chart success in Italy, France, Germany, Sweden and Switzerland. His follow up single, "Turning Me On", did not chart.
Crazy Town announced they had reformed in 2007, and performed live for the first time in five years in August 2009. Shifty and Crazy Town are currently working on a third album.
Luke "The Dingo" Trembath has grown into a one-of-a-kind star in the sport of snowboarding and beyond. The one time competitive and aspiring rider has surely made a name for himself on snow—albeit in a different way than he'd originally imagined. After crossing the pond from Australia, Dingo first broke out not on the podium, but over a loudspeaker. Handed a microphone for the first time at the legendary and illustrious US Open, Dingo has gone on to announce the fire breathing Vail Session, the infamous Grenade Games and countless other high profile events across the globe. Since showing up as snowboarding's unofficial Master of Ceremonies, Dingo has broken out to fry even bigger fish. Whether it be hosting the massive MTV Music Festival in New Zealand with Lil Jon, or putting the finishing touches on season two of The Adventures of Danny & The Dingo.
Peter Mays is the Executive Director of the Los Angeles Art Association (LAAA) and its premiere La Cienega exhibition space Gallery 825. Mays believes LAAA is now poised to launch the next phase of the 87-year-old organization's expansion and commitment to Los Angeles' emerging artists. Since joining LAAA in June 2005, Peter has implemented cultural exchanges with Switzerland (Basel), Korea, Germany and China, initiated collaborative programming with institutions like Harvard, MoCA and Otis, as well as with artists Tim Hawkinson and Lita Albuquerque, secured the very best curators to jury LAAA exhibitions, increased LAAA's career development programs and direct services by 30% and created LAAA's public art program which was selected as one of the top public art works completed in 2010 by Americans for the Arts.
Beyond his commitments at LAAA, Mays has curated exhibitions throughout Southern California for various arts, educational and civic agencies. Mays was the recent recipient of the West Hollywood Chamber of Commerce's Creative Economics: Art and Business Partnership award and a past recipient of the Art to Life award sponsored by Art & Living Magazine, Sotheby's International Realty and A&I for his work on behalf of emerging artists and emerging artists communities. As chairperson of the West Hollywood Arts and Culture CommissionÕs Art on the Outside public art effort, Peter leads the city's nationally regarded outdoor public art programming which has been praised in ArtForum and the New York Times. Peter helped to launch the region-wide LA Arts Month effort from 2009-2011 where he served on Planning Committee and the Program Committee.