Greg "Craola" Simkins was born February 28, 1975 in Torrance California. His artistic ambitions bloomed at age three with drawings inspired by cartoons and books. Some of these works, such as The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis, The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster, and Watership Down by Richard Adams, still find reference in his art. As a young teen Simkins began to do graffiti under the name “craola” also being a member of the California Bombing Squad he quickly made a name for him self. Graffiti drove his inspiration to create and gave him the confidence and experience to paint large scale works. It also taught him color theory and perspective while further developing his artistic skills, as later demonstrated in his masterful work with acrylics. His paintings are drawn from a dark twisted fantasy he has created, you can see his influence from different pop culture shows and movies as well as animals all drawn in his own creative ways. He has worked on several video games, has made a movie titled “I’m scared”, and has many art shows all show casing his amazing talents. Greg “Craola” Simkins love for art has taken him from spray painting graffiti art all over Los Angeles to art galleries and even video game design. Turning anything and everything into a piece of art.
