Born in Bayonne, NJ in 1979, multimedia artist Justin Smith began drawing and painting before he can even remember. By the time he graduated high school, he had already established himself as an underground cartoonist and award-winning videographer.As a Media Arts major at New Jersey City University, he combined his many artistic skills and interests into a body of work that was both highly experimental and easily accessible, displaying his unique philosophies and sometimes warped sense of humor in every film, painting, cartoon and soundscape he produced. Meanwhile, he began carving out a reputation as a formidable promotional artist for the underground rock and metal scene, creating memorable posters, t-shirts, and album covers for bands such as Arctic Flame, Atomic Number 76, and Negative Reaction. As the original guitarist for LOMF, he continued to pursue unlimited creative expression and helped redefine the very idea of progressive music.Upon graduating from NJCU, he quickly put his skills to use as a freelance storyboard artist and production designer with clients such as CourtTV, MSNBC, and Beantown Productions. Finding this work to be unfulfilling, he relocated to East Hampton to focus on his two great loves; his art, and his wife, Melissa.He joined the Bonac Tonic Collective in 2006 and has since participated in all their events with his paintings, political cartoons, caricatures, and drawings of rock legends, also on display at Crossroads Music in East Hampton. As Justin's career as a fine artist with bonac Tonic continues to flourish, he hopes to find new challenges in the world of professional illustration, recently joining the Graphic Artists Guild, and while also selling prints of his fine artwork at Fripit.com .
