Kalynn Campbell

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Kalynn Campbell is a visual artist in the lowbrow school who is known for paintings and illustrations that reference board games, instruction manuals, retro advertisements, myths, and tall tales. He began showing lowbrow work in the seminal Zero One Gallery in Los Angeles in the early 1990s, at a time when lowbrow art was just emerging into mainstream consciousness. Robert Williams (artist) was an early influence, but Campbell quickly took off in his own direction. A trickster figure himself (he opened for punk rock bands in San Francisco in the 1980s doing Dada-like performance art), Campbell took lowbrow in new directions. He drew on his interest in pranks, tricks, altered states of consciousness, magic, and games to create puzzle-like paintings that incorporate text, representational imagery done in a retro illustrational style, narrative, and numerous pop culture references.

In addition to his work as a painter, Campbell has also created numerous illustrations. He worked with Paul Krassner, creating numerous cover illustrations for The Realist magazine. He has done much work for Epitaph Records in Los Angeles. Many album and CD covers feature his art or illustrations.

Born in 1960 in Jupiter, Florida, Campbell currently lives in Los Angeles. His work is featured in the books Weirdo Deluxe (Chronicle Books 2005) and Pop Surrealism.