MIKE GIANT
MIKE GIANT was born in 1971 in New York City.
While still very young with his family he moved to Alburquerque, New Mexico (US), where he studied architecture for four years.
Giant cannot be considered homogeneous with the members of the Albuequerque subculture, Mike graduated with excellent grades from high school thus having the opportunity to enroll in architecture courses at the University of New Mexico. Despite this, however, in 1993 he decided to leave his studies to take a job opportunity that would employ him as an illustrator for Think Skateboard in San Francisco. Giant continued this work for five years until he decided to move to live for a short time in London before returning to San Francisco.
In 1998 he is offered an opportunity to serve an apprenticeship with Nella Smith, a tattoo artist. Giant took up this full-time job after about a year, slowly learning and improving his skills enough to eventually lead him to work in such big-name stores as East Side Ink, Newskool and Everlasting.
He continued in parallel his work as an illustrator and tattoo artist, opening his own studio in Alburquerque. After 20 years in California, Giant moved to Boulder, Colorado, where he currently lives and works.
Since 2003, he has created with his friend Jhosh the clothing brand Rebel 8 in connection with the world of skateboarding. Through his illustrations, tattoos, and graffiti, Mexican culture and the skateboard environment are widely represented.
