"IMPERMANENT VACATION" BY MIKE GIANT

Artist Mike Giant has been working as a full time artist since 1993 when he began working the in-house graphic artist for Think Skateboards in San Francisco. Since then the 6'4 Giant has made a living as a renaissance man, thriving equally as both a fine artist and freelance artist. Even at a quick glance, it's easy to see why over the last 23 years Giant has also made a name for himself in the graffiti and tattoo worlds.

Now 45, Giant currently resides in rural Boulder, Colorado where he continues to refine his various crafts, thriving as a modern day practicing Buddhist who can vacillate comfortably between the museum crowd and gutter punks, and everything in between.

"I see my life as a human being as an ‘Impermanent Vacation.’ It is our nature to grow old and die. It doesn't last. As a gentle reminder of my own mortality, I have the same words tattooed on my hands. The tattoos are a reminder to have fun with life, to keep a positive mental attitude, to treat it like a vacation. I also think about those who wish to end my vacation, namely law enforcement. The pieces in the show were produced with these themes in mind. Uplifting and optimistic on the one side, critical and confrontational on the other,” Giant said from his Colorado studio.