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DAN
STATLER
After
studying photography at East Texas State University, Dan moved
to Southern California where he began working in movies and television.
His first job was Matt Camera Assistant at Boss Films where he
worked on Batman 2, Alien 3, Far and Away, and The Last of the
Mohicans.
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Since
then, Dan has worked for more than 15 years in the entertainment
industry in the camera, art, and special effects departments.
It was while working in special effects that he became
interested in working with metal. "After we destroyed
the set, all that was left was the steel we'd built to
hold the miniatures and air cannons. The framework looked
like giant steel sculptures."
Dan became Monster Garage's Production Designer in September
2002, and designed the look and feel of the Monster Garage
as well as creating “Monster Furniture”, props,
and the giant 4 foot by 8 foot themed “Art Panels”
that represented 85 individual shows.
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In 2003, Rolling Stone magazine commissioned him to do a piece
for their 35th Anniversary Issue: American Icons. In that same
year, Entertainment Weekly commissioned him to create a piece
for their “2003 It List Party” in New York. This piece
was displayed for three years in the main lobby of the Discovery
Channel’s headquarters in Maryland. Discovery also created
a section in their website dedicated to Dan and his work on Monster
Garage.
In June 2003, Dan and his wife Vivian founded Vulture Kulture,
a company dedicated to the creation of metal artwork and its promotion.
Vulture Kulture is currently working on a merchandising line based
on Dan's artwork and designs.
In
August 2004, Hot Rod magazine named him “Artist
of the Month”, described his artwork as “plasma-cutting
alchemy”, and featured his most popular Monster
Garage panel, “Two Tone”, a 54 Chevy surrounded
in flames.
That
same year Dan was commissioned to create a type of room-sculpture
that is the lobby for Original Productions, the production
company responsible for Monster Garage, Monster House,
Motorcycle Mania, Biker Build-Off, Deadliest Catch, Ice
Road Truckers, Axe Men, Black Gold, and many others. This
four-year endeavor has yielded several custom pieces including
a wrap around metal reception desk, two couches, four
end-tables, and eight giant metal sculptures representing
the most popular of Original Productions’ television
series.
In
2007, Koyo Cooling Systems, the Japanese radiator company,
approached Dan with the idea of creating a corporate sculpture
for their new building in Irving, CA , which would be
automotive themed and would show their product. This resulted
in a retro-futuristic design of automotive sculpture.
In 2008, Dan created a sculpture for Wilden Pump &
Engineering.
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Dan
Statler's metal artwork has been displayed at The Richman
Gallery (Leucadia, CA), Barris Kustom City Gallery (North
Hollywood, CA), Primer Nationals (Ventura, CA), and the
2005 Abbot Kinney Blvd. Art Show at Epoxybox Gallery (Venice,
CA), and Traditional Ink Tattoo Gallery (Los Angeles, CA).
In 2008, Dan was invited
by Les Barany to participate in the “Carnivora: The
Dark Art of Automobiles” at L’Imagerie Gallery
in Los Angeles. Among other artists that participated in
this exhibition were H.R. Giger, Shag, Robert Crumb, Coop,
Robert Williams, and Ron English. |
Dan's artwork has been
featured in several magazines, including: Rolling Stone,
Popular Mechanics, Entertainment Weekly, Rod & Custom,
Hot Rod, Rumble, Import Racer, etc. His work has also
been featured in music videos (Velvet Revolver’s
“Little Dirty Thing”, Baby Bash's “Suga'
Suga'”), TV shows (Monster Garage, Monster House,
Jimmy Kimmel Live, Driveshaft, etc.), as well as in many
feature films.
Dan's passions include the creation of different art disciplines,
including photography, literature, film and music.
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