MIKE EGAN 'LET IT KILL YOU' - KRISTINA DRAKE - DALE SIZER

WHERE: Copro Gallery - Bergamot Station Arts Complex
2525 Michigan Ave , Unit T5, Santa Monica , CA 90404 

Ph: 310/829-2156 
E-Mail: CoproGallery@Live.com
Web: www.CoproGallery.com

WHAT: MIKE EGAN 'LET IT KILL YOU' - KRISTINA DRAKE - DALE SIZER
Mike Egan Web-Preview
Kristina Drake Web-Preview
Dale Sizer Web-Preview

WHEN: Exhibit runs; June 14 – July 12, 2025
Opening Reception: Saturday June 14 , 6:00 – 10:00 p.m.

Contact:  Gary Pressman, Gallery Director - Copro Gallery

'Death Panther' Mike Egan

Mike Egan
BIO - Mike was born outside of Pittsburgh, PA in 1977 (a reason why you'll find those numbers in my artwork). As a kid, I was really shy but eventually found art that helped me find my voice. I would trace cartoons, skateboard graphics and album covers. I can recall drawing Guns N Roses “Appetite For Destruction” many times in sixth grade or sitting in church every Sunday doodling on whatever paper I could find. I took art classes throughout high school and decided to pursue a degree in fine arts after school. I went on to college at Edinboro University of Pennsylvania, two hours north of Pittsburgh. I focused on printmaking at the time, which is where I learned about artists like Jose Guadalupe Posada and the German Expressionists like Kathe Kollwitz. I loved woodcut printing as it offered bold black line work and a graphic quality that I'd later use in my paintings. After I finished school and returned home, I did not have the necessary supplies to continue making my prints. Instead, I turned to painting so I could keep making art. I'll be honest, in the beginning my paintings were bad. Like REALLY bad, but I enjoyed making them and I continued to learn what worked and what didn't. In the meantime, I lived near the airport and ended up picking up a job with the airlines. My first day of work was an intro class on we should expect while working there. After two hours of videos we took a quick break. When we returned to class, we were shocked to see the horrific images of planes crashing into the twin towers. My first day of a full time job with the airlines ended up being September 11, 2001. Shortly after this day, I was let go and went back to making (bad) art, while I tried to figure out what I wanted to do with my life. I contemplated going back to school, but the thought of a multi-year investment deterred me. I tried to find a new career that required limited schooling and, somehow or another, I stumbled on funeral directing. I looked into it more and had discovered that there was a mortuary school in Pittsburgh where I could get licensed as a funeral director/embalmer fairly quickly. I knew nothing about the business or what I was getting myself into. I went to school for a year and followed that up with an internship for another year. I learned how to do removals, embalm, do restorations, dress and casket people, do the cosmetics and assist on funerals. During all of this, I continued to paint and make even more bad art. I eventually got a job as an embalmer out in Reading, PA in 2005, four hours east of Pittsburgh. Between four locations, we did 500 calls a year, so it was a busy time for me. The hard thing about being an embalmer is that you're always on call, so when someone passed away my phone rang and I had to go to work. I spent a lot of time alone in my apartment waiting for said phone to ring. A lot. This is where I learned to craft my paintings and style. I started to take influence from my printmaking days in 2000, as well as my appreciation of traditional (American & prison style) tattooing and used it to create new work with bold lines and dark imagery. Once I started to paint in that style, things really started to click for me and I felt like I had finally found my voice as an adult. During 2006, a friend of mine put together a gallery show in Pittsburgh and offered to include my paintings. I sold three the opening night, and I was so excited and realized that maybe I was onto something. I used my love of religious imagery, my experiences dealing with life and death, and my love for skeletons and devils to make my art. Since then, I've been working with galleries and collectors all over the world, as well as the opportunity to work on some really cool projects/collabs across other mediums as well.

Kristina Drake 'Keeper'

Kristina Drake
As an artist, I am always trying to convey through my sculpture an appreciation for the natural world. It is in nature we can best see ourselves.


Dale Sizer 'Death Valley Getaway'

Dale Sizer
Dale Sizer is an amazing artist. What Freud would call "uncanny": familiar somehow, yet unfamiliar at the same time." - David Lincoln Brooks

Illustrator, Fine Art Painter and Animation Background Painter. Creating art from a Pallet Shaped Loft, notable Illustration clients include: Alaska Airlines, Master Card, Seven Up, Warner Bros. Records, Capital Records, Paramount Pictures, Numerous Magazines, Paper Moon Greeting Cards, and more.Dale was Staff Illustrator at Rod Dyer Design for 4 years, working on numerous Record Covers and Movie Campaigns. Featured Artist in the, prestigious, "The Society of Illustrators 26th Annual of American Illustration. As an Animation Background Painter, Dale has worked for: Walt Disney Pictures, Warner Bros., Film Roman, 20th Century Fox, Hanna Barbera, and more.

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