Joe Kral (b 1974) is an American artist based in Minneapolis, MN. He grew up in a small town in Southern Minnesota and was raised on skateboarding, BMX, heavy metal, and art.
He creates mixed media paintings focusing on people, typography, color, shape, and texture. The paintings are made by hand on wood panels using vintage printed ephemera from books, magazines, maps, and postcards. Then adding color and texture with spray paint, stencils and ink. The black layer is an image transfer via a liquid matte medium (aka a poor man’s screen print). The results of the image transfer vary widely and add an element of surprise to the final piece. The final step is applying a high-gloss epoxy resin to finish the piece.
