Stockholm, Sweden fine artist Joey Bates #artistaday

'Bleed in Blue'
Cut paper and glue

'Ember'
Cut paper, glue, acrylic paint

* All images used with permission. Please do not distribute without first contacting the artist.

About Joey

Joey Bates was born in early 80s. His parents raised him and his two siblings in Shoreline, a suburb of Seattle, in the Pacific Northwest region of the US. He has been quietly relentless in his pursuit of making art for a living ever since finding out it was an option as a child. In 2001, with the support of his parents, he left Washington State for the chilly mid-western state of Michigan to attend Kendall College of Art and Design in Grand Rapids (Michigan’s second largest city, mind you). Upon completion of his BFA, he headed straight back to Seattle in 2005. In 2013, he met his half-Swedish wife-to-be and they were married in 2015. Three years later, they moved to Stockholm, Sweden.

Since graduating from college, Bates has been showing in galleries and accepting commissions from private citizens around the world. His work appears in private collections in the US, England, Sweden, South Africa, Australia, Canada, Netherlands, Germany, France, Spain, and Japan, and has garnered attention in the global cut-paper art scene.

Energy dispersal and change are the impetus for Bates’ recent works. Each piece references a volcanic explosion or amalgamation of explosions to recall disruption, destruction, and eventual renewal. The flowers lend a patina of beauty and ease to a process that is jarring, disorienting, and happening constantly — whether or not we are paying attention.