Marco Almera

Years in the game? Doing surf & skate t-shirts & graphics locally: 17 years. Creating fine art, 20+ years.

In your opinion, the most influential or culturally significant artist(s) of the last 75 years? For this industry: Rick Griffin

Oil, acrylic, aerosols, ink, lead? Everything except for lead

Do you ride a skateboard? If so, for how long? Yep, I still do. I don’t skate bowls or half-pipes anymore, but I skate over to the coffee shop every now and then. Longboards are perfect for that. I found my first skater in the trash 29 or 30 years ago, been skating since.

Do you ride a surfboard? If so, for how long? Yep, I just got out of the water right now. Been surfing 28 years this summer. Skating definitely influenced my style.

How did your involvement with Riviera Skateboards develop? Solomon hit me up last summer to design a series of longboard graphics. Since then we’ve created 7 designs, they are all pretty sick.

If you had to choose between starring on a reality TV show or being married to a reality TV show star, which would you choose? Neither. That whole thing is lame. I’ll just stick to my girlfriend and some peace and quiet.

Budweiser, Dos Equis, Corona, Stella, Pabst? Tough choice, I like ‘em all. I think Dos Equis Amber if I had to choose just one. Stay thirsty my friends.

What’s on the horizon with your art? Continuing the success I’ve had with my freelance graphics clients, participating in the occasional gallery show, trying to boost exposure to my website.

Artist Statement

Marco Almera’s artistic career emerged from the Southern California surf, skate and rock‘n’roll subculture of the late 80′s. As a Southern California native, the artist was inspired by the do-it-yourself style of this subculture, and began by creating his own t-shirts and stylized graphics. As his underground art style developed, it continued to reflect this dynamic world of surfing, skateboarding, rock music, pinup girls, hot rods, iconography and the timeless coastal lifestyle. Studying fine art at UC Santa Cruz provided Almera the background of many different fine art mediums, the foundation from which he has been able to expand his craft.

Almera has spent his career working independently, creating t-shirt designs, album covers, rock music posters, ads, commercial graphics and commissioned paintings. The artist’s hand-printed serigraphs can be found in art galleries, music stores and poster shops around the world.

Marco Almera and his artwork have been featured in numerous hardcover books and publications. The “Art of Modern Rock” published in 2004 included an artist interview and a series of Almera rock posters. This book was received well, and will stand the test of time as being the primary reference for the modern Rock Poster Art movement. “Kustom Graphics 2”, a 2010 follow-up to the popular “Kustom Graphics” book published by Korero Books (U.K.), features Almera and his newer work.

Recently, the artist has been included in La Luz de Jesus Gallery’s 25th Anniversary Group Show and accompanying hardcover book. The artist will also be featured in the upcoming publication, “The Ska Scrapbook”, featuring the art and graphics of the ska & punk movement in the 1990’s.