LIMITED EDITION TODD WHITE ART BOOK RELEASED

The Art of Todd White is finally here.  The book stands as a celebration of this very independent artist and will be a real treat for collectors and fans alike.  Part biography, part portfolio, The Art of Todd White features a broad collection of paintings, sketches and anecdotes, and is designed to offer readers a rare glimpse into the fascinating mind of the artist and the creative journey behind his unique style of work.

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The book is accompanied by 2 limited edition prints which are available only with the book.  As a history of his career to date, the book also serves to mark a significant milestone of Todd's incredible rise to international success.

Todd adds: "I want my collectors to see this book as one of the most interesting art books ever made and for them to further connect with me, my work and my personal trials and tribulations.  I also wanted to produce a substantial book for my collectors, its been three years in the making"

TODD COLLABORATES WITH COCA-COLA ON ART PROJECT

Todd has provided a series of inspirational sketches for Coca-Cola Light bottles and cans. His unique box signature appears right on the product, which is the first time Coca-Cola has given credit to a fine artist in this manner. "The opportunity to work on this project with Coca-Cola was exciting," says Todd. "Coke is part of our pop culture, a common touchstone for people all over the world. It's inspired scores of artists, from Andy Warhol and Keith Haring to Norman Rockwell and Guy Peellaert."
"This served as my inspiration, both in working with Coca-Cola and in creating the initial sketches for the project. Any marriage between art and the corporate world is precarious at best, but in this case I think we've achieved something that invokes thoughts of joy, romance, laughter and intimacy - feelings that, like art itself, the world could use a little more of."
To commemorate this historic event, Todd has released a limited series <Link to sketches> of the original sketches.

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW BY ART BUSINESS TODAY

Todd's painting 'Drinking ' was used for the front cover of Art Business Today, on their commemorative centenary edition.
ABT is the leading trade magazine for the art industry in the UK. Running since 1905, it is published by the Fine Art Trade Guild.
The characters in Todd White's paintings are having a ball - drinking, smoking, flirting, smirking - and with appearances on American television's biggest entertainment shows on his CV and Hollywood A-list actors among his collectors, so is Todd White.  He explained to Mike Sims why he feels he has 'lucked out'
You have a very clear signature style.  Did you develop this very early on?
From when I was a kid, I've loved comic books, cartoons and especially the work of Frank Miller of Batman:  The Dark Knight Returns and Sin City fame, and Eric Sokol, who did those beautiful girls for Playboy magazine.  I still see elements of their styles in my work.  I also learned a huge amount in animation.
Such as?
I would draw up to 14 hours a day at Warner Brothers, working alongside some of the best in the business, so I really learned how to draw.  I have a very confident stroke and I don't labour over a line.  The way I use black comes from the technique of blocking, the idea that you can tell what a character is doing from the silhouette alone.  In Breathless, my painting of a guy at full stretch over a piano. It's impossible to mistake what he's up to.
There are some stylistic similarities with Egon Schiele
Definitely! I was really excited when I found about Schiele.  But he is very downbeat.  What I paint is the Rat Pack era of cool - people partying, a cigarette in one hand and a drink in the other.
Which is all very glamorous…
That's why I like it though some people would really flip out about the cigarettes,  I used to get asked to paint them out which is why I painted I'm quitting tomorrow, in which everyone is smoking - so much that the top of the painting looks nicotine stained!
As the lead character designer of SpongeBob Squarepants you have a profile most artists can only dream of
Warner Brothers called me in to discuss an idea for a series.  I came back with some drawings and give years later, it's everywhere,  But it grew quite slowly.  It was during the show that I decided to quit animation to become a painter.
How did you get into the art market?
As an artist you have to go to the right places to find your audience.  If you're painting hip scenes, you have to show in hip places so I started out showing my work in high-end, Martini bars in Beverley Hills.  Kelly Scott, who is now my agent, bought three of my paintings in one of those bars.
Who are your buyers ?
I once found myself in a bar with Sting, watching his fans approaching him - from 18 year old girls to 80-year old guys in suits and diamonds.  That's what I want, I thought, and I lucked out. Young people buy my work because they think 'that's me, that's how I am' and the old guys think: 'that's me, how I used to be'.  Art should engage people, it's not about matching the carpet or curtains.  It's like the movies or music: there should be a connection.
I can imagine that your paintings might make great cartoons
There was an idea to create a kind of 'Sopranos' cartoon of the characters but now I am against that. I don't want the paintings to be seen as merchandising.  I like being an artist; I'm kind of goofy so I like the aura of cool it confers.

TODD INTERVIEWED BY LEGEND LARRY KING

Todd chatted with Larry King moments before the legendary host held a world exclusive interview with Paris Hilton after her release from jail. They talked about Todd's recently unveiled Pechanga Collection, and Larry was enthusiastic. "Great work," he said. "I'm thoroughly impressed! You're not only seriously talented you're the funniest serious artist I've met!"
"Larry is a legend." Says Todd. "It's very surreal, walking out on stage with not only him, but a list of 50 celebrities staring at me. I just rolled with it and I made jokes about it and people were laughing. It was great fun."

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW BY EDINBURGH EVENING NEWS

The man who designed SpongeBob SquarePants is opening a new show in the Capital exhibiting his paintings of glamorous Hollywood nightlife.

Todd White, who was also the official artist of this year's GRAMMY Awards, will stage his first Scottish exhibition in Edinburgh.​

His iconic pictures of musicians and movie stars have won over a crowd of celebrity fans, including Sharon Stone and Michael Douglas, and he has been dubbed "America's coolest artist."

Original paintings by White are currently being snapped up by investors, with some rising value by around 3000 per cent over three years and now selling for more than GBP 75,000. Prints of his work are already among the best-selling in Britain.

The Hollywood resident will be speaking about his work at the opening of the two-week exhibition on April 6, as part of a 12-date UK tour. One visitor will also win a unique chance to have their caricature sketched by White.

He said; "I've never been to Edinburgh before and I'm very excited about it."

"My work is inspired by people I see around me. I take a sketchbook wherever i go, and I might see someone in a cafe and draw them. I want people to be able to relate to my work, and see a bit of themselves in it. It's more important for me to draw a scene and an expression than be anatomically correct. I got into animation and that taught me a lot about drawing. I worked on SpongeBob for four years, and I still feel the character's mine. I miss the camaraderie of being around other artists."

White was working as a tennis instructor when his work was spotted by animation bosses at Warner Bros. He worked on Tiny Toon Adventures, before becoming lead designer on SpongeBob SquarePants in 1996.

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Set in the underwater city of Bikini Bottom, the cartoon became a surprise hit around the world. It won numerous awards and appealed to both children and adults with its quirky and sometimes sophisticated humour.

However, White quit the show and decided to pursue his passion for fine art. He set out to capture both the glamour and the seedier side of Hollywood nightlife.

Exhibition organizer George Rendall said today : "His prints are probably our best-selling ones. I think part of his appeal is that people can see themselves and their friends in his characters. They have all got that cheeky look to them!"DRAWING ON HOLLYWOOD GLAMOUR

The man who designed SpongeBob SquarePants is opening a new show in the Capital exhibiting his paintings of glamorous Hollywood nightlife.

Todd White, who was also the official artist of this year's GRAMMY Awards, will stage his first Scottish exhibition in Edinburgh.

His iconic pictures of musicians and movie stars have won over a crowd of celebrity fans, including Sharon Stone and Michael Douglas, and he has been dubbed "America's coolest artist."

Original paintings by White are currently being snapped up by investors, with some rising value by around 3000 per cent over three years and now selling for more than GBP 75,000. Prints of his work are already among the best-selling in Britain.

The Hollywood resident will be speaking about his work at the opening of the two-week exhibition on April 6, as part of a 12-date UK tour. One visitor will also win a unique chance to have their caricature sketched by White.

He said; "I've never been to Edinburgh before and I'm very excited about it."

"My work is inspired by people I see around me. I take a sketchbook wherever i go, and I might see someone in a cafe and draw them. I want people to be able to relate to my work, and see a bit of themselves in it. It's more important for me to draw a scene and an expression than be anatomically correct. I got into animation and that taught me a lot about drawing. I worked on SpongeBob for four years, and I still feel the character's mine. I miss the camaraderie of being around other artists."

White was working as a tennis instructor when his work was spotted by animation bosses at Warner Bros. He worked on Tiny Toon Adventures, before becoming lead designer on SpongeBob SquarePants in 1996.

Set in the underwater city of Bikini Bottom, the cartoon became a surprise hit around the world. It won numerous awards and appealed to both children and adults with its quirky and sometimes sophisticated humour.

However, White quit the show and decided to pursue his passion for fine art. He set out to capture both the glamour and the seedier side of Hollywood nightlife.

Exhibition organiser George Rendall said today : "His prints are probably our best-selling ones. I think part of his appeal is that people can see themselves and their friends in his characters. They have all got that cheeky look to them!"

TODD TO PAINT PRINCESS DIANA

Following his official appointments with the GRAMMY® Awards and The Wizard of Oz - 70th Anniversary, Todd will be painting the late Princess Diana.
'Diana, Princess of Wales', Todd White's portrait in tribute of the iconic Princess, will be unveiled in London and is scheduled to be bequeathed to the fund or one of its worthy charities. Todd is extremely excited about the project, which will be one of his most anticipated and challenging to date. The unveiling of the piece is sure to attract huge media interest around the world.

ART : AN INTERVIEW

TODD WHITE AT ROBERT BRUNO GALLERY (FORMALLY JOIN STINSON FINE ART) AND THE LOUISIANA CHILDREN'S MUSEUM.
"Are you ready kids?...Who lives in a pineapple under the sea? SpongeBob SquarePants - Absorbent and yellow and porous is he! SpongeBob SquarePants! If nautical nonsense be something you wish, then drop on the desk and flop like a fish!
If you don't recognize the previous lines of verse, then it's safe to say you don't have little kids. SpongeBob is the genius postmodern Nickelodeon cartoon to which my children and I are addicted. SpongeBob, the nerdy undersea straight man, plus Squidward, Mr.Krabs and all of his scuttling little friends were originally drawn by 34 year old Texan born artist Todd White, who's rags-to relative riches bio goes like this: 20 something, high school art start White is giving tennis lessons, where he meets a lady who knows a guy at a Los Angeles cartoon studio who hires him as a studio gofer; a position he players into a clean-up artist gig, which eventually turns into a job as head cartoonist for a quirky toon (SpongeBob) that eventually goes global.
But White didn't want to ink cartoons forever, so after a few years of drawing, he tosses his hate into the fine art ring, finding that Hollywood taste-makers like Vin Diesel bought his canvasses like hot cakes.
White's paintings feature sophisticated cocktail party scenes rendered in a modernist melange of styles from Modigliani to Max Beckmann (the Rat Pack meets Picasso is White's favourite description).  They remind me of those celebrity bar room murals from the 1950s, for which I have a soft spot.  Although White's crowd-pleasing painting may never end you up in the pages of Art in America, who cares.  HES THE GUY WHO DREW SPONGEBOB! And he'll be drawing cartoons and signing autographs from 11 a.m. to noon on Saturday at the Louisiana Children's Museum

"WOMAN" LIMITED EDITION COLLECTION RELEASED

For years, Todd has been promising to devote an entire collection to his favorite girls - much to the excitement of Galleries and Collectors alike.
"Unfortunately, I have never been good at expressing myself to women, so I paint my conversations with them. Enjoy!"
Pieces include:
Always on the Run
Flirting With Disaster
A Little Fling
Trapeze
Sleep with Me

TODD TO BE AN OFFICIAL ARTIST FOR 70TH ANNIVERSARY OF WIZARD OF OZ

Todd was invited to contribute to the Wizard of Oz 70th anniversary event, heading up a small group of acclaimed artists chosen to reinterpret the classic movie. Todd's painting 'Bar Tales' was the highlight of The Inspirations of Oz Fine Art Collection, a special exhibition event held in Miami as part of the anniversary celebrations. "It was a real honour to be selected by Warner Bros. to take part in this commemoration," says Todd. "The impact that this film has had on people and culture all over the world is amazing."
Todd also co-hosted the lavish celebration party with Jennifer Oz LeRoy (granddaughter of Mervyn LeRoy, the producer of The Wizard of Oz), which was attended by art collectors, designers, celebrities and international luminaries. The evening also featured The Ruby Slipper Collection, featuring custom-made works of art from the likes of fashion designers Jimmy Choo, Manolo Blahnik, Christian Louboutin and Moschino.
In addition to 'Bar Tales', Todd has created a few special Oz themed paintings, 3 of which will be made available as special collector Limited Editions. Each piece will be released separately at intervals throughout the year. With the exception of the official exhibition piece they will all be kept under wraps and only unveiled on their release!
Selected pieces from The Inspirations of Oz Fine Art Collection will be featured as Limited Edition US postage stamps, and some of the originals along with The Ruby Slipper Collection, will be auctioned at a gala event, with all proceeds donated to worthy causes.

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW BY HAPPENINGS

Todd White, who was an animator on 'SpongeBob SquarePants,' will have a show at the Hyatt Regency on Saturday.
He hangs out with celebrities and his artwork hangs predominantly at Rodeo Drive studios, but have no doubt about what painter Todd White is capable of - this guy could beat you to a bloody pulp in a handful of seconds.
And the way he talks, the Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt just might if you say the wrong thing to him.
"You know what I hate, I hate when people come up to me and tell me that I'm really lucky." He said. "When someone says something like that to me, I just want to punch them in the face."
As White will tell you, he's earned his artistic stripes, honing his skills as an animator for the critically acclaimed "SpongeBob SquarePants: Nickelodeon animated series, then as a dogged self-promoter of his new fine art gig.
On Saturday, White is planning to have one of his largest art openings yet at the Hyatt Regency Huntington Beach Resort & Spa. Starting around 6pm, White will be joined by staff at The Gallery Huntington Beach, handing out customized caricature martini glasses to guests who purchase his giclée prints or originals.
White is at a key moment in his young artistic career - an optimistic place where he's got enough ego, talent and marketing savvy to become an artistic success in the image-conscious enclaves of Los Angeles hipster culture.
His artwork is the Rat Pack meets Cubism, a two-tone snapshot of Southern California's social elite, sipping overpriced martinis, callously socializing and forever trying to be seen.
"What makes Todd's work so successful is that people see themselves in his paintings." the gallery co-owner said.
Whether it's the shallow conversations enjoyed by the 10 cigarette-clad gadflies in his painting 'Bar Code' or the sultry swank of the four socialites in 'Drinking Boas.' White has a way of capturing body language and form in a timeless sense of cool. His art is marketed to connoisseurs of the good life, willing to fork over $1,000 a print because his work gives them that sense that they understand art. They get what he is trying to accomplish.
His art reminds people of their best moments, White said.
"And that's the funny thing about memory," he said. "Somehow, the way we remember things is always better than the way it actually happened."
White knows when to be a gentleman, but off the cuff he is prone to profanity-laced tirades, hustler sensibilities and an unapologetic pursuit of commercial success.
He loathes the image of the starving artist, plagued with laziness and addicted to drugs and self-pretension. Despite his constant depiction of cigarettes and booze in his work, White said he never smokes and never touches the bottle. He is prone to 14-hour painting stints. He made his mini-empire, he said, by targeting his audience, leaving miniatures of his work on expensive sports cars in Beverly Hills and European imports along Sunset Boulevard.
Now he has his sights on even bigger aspirations.
"I want a chance to expose my art to everyone, whether they like it or not, I want people to get a chance to see it," he said. "Eventually I want to become the symbol of art for this era. When people think of art in our times, I want to be the one they're thinking of."
Lofty goals for a man who started out as a humble animator, but if commercial success is any indication of legacy, White could be on the right path. He's already sold more than $40,000 worth of his work at The Gallery HB and his originals are collected by celebrities including Vin Diesel and Hugh Hefner.
Success works in strange ways, said the gallery co-owner, and if White plans to maintain his success, he'll have to retain what makes him inspired, and what simply makes him. "Is it the artist that makes the art what it is," she posits, "or is it the art making the artist who he is?"

ENTERTAINMENT TONIGHT INTERVIEW TODD WHITE

SpongeBob's Todd Draws Mary and Mark
ET hopes aboard the Thug Tug when "SpongeBob SquarePants" lead character designer TODD WHITE drops by the set for a visit with MARK STEINES and tells the ET anchor how he got involved with the popular Nickelodeon cartoon.
"STEVE HELLENBURG created SpongeBob and I came in and developed all the characters with him" explains Todd, who began his career in animation at Warner Bros. on "Tiny Toons". "I just dove head first into it and spent two months going through every creature in the ocean and making them fit the look of the show.  I've probably drawn over 200 characters".
The artists who work on "SpongeBob SquarePants" put their unique personalities into the myriad denizens of the deep that flip out over the secret recipe for Krabble Patties, always keeping in mind their target audience: The kids who watch Nick.  So Todd's reaction to the recent controversy, declaring the animated character is gay, is that it is "ridiculous".
"SpongeBob is an innocent child" Todd tells Mark.  "This is the mentality of SpongeBob.  He's a kid.  He says kid things.  He does kidlike things.  Anyone who is a parent of a six-year-old knows exactly what I am talking about.  He's an innocent child.  It's just pure innocence".
That said, Todd is hoping to take the next step in his career and focus on his fine art.  And he already had a great start.  VIN DIESEL, HUGH HEFNER, MACAULAY CULKIN, ERIC McMCORMACK, RYAN STILES and JOE ROGAN are just a few of the celebs who have purchased Todd's work, which can be seen at his artofwhite.com website.
"Every morning I wake up and thing, 'Oh my God, I get to pain", he says "I get to express myself, to write my song in painting on a canvas."
In honor of his visit to ET, Todd created a special painting of Mary Hart and Mark on the red carpet, which took him a week from start to finish.  He begins with an inspiration, usually he has the title of the painting before he begins.
"You two are the hub of what's going on in Hollywood, so what better painting at this time of year, Oscar® time, to put you two on the red carpet," Todd points out "We've got you and Mary with your ET microphones on the red carpet with all the paparazzi behind. I've even got Mary's beautiful, wavy,blond hair".

TRANSFERRING CHARACTER AND PERSONALITY ON TO CANVAS

Todd White doesn't smoke. He's not flirtatious. And he rarely drinks anything stronger than iced tea. Yet, he'll spend hours each weekend in bars and nightclubs. So what's the big attraction? The 33-year-old artist is people watching - listening, observing, looking for a humorous social scene to capture, sketch and transfer onto canvas.
Fueled by a fascination for revealing his characters' innermost thoughts, he watches people interact, creates a story in his mind and infuses their expression, character and personality into his interpretation of the social scene. Using bold colors and exaggerated features, he paints a striking and insightful portrayal of his subjects. White reveals that he must conceptually see the story in his head before he ever begins painting... even naming the piece before a brush touches the canvas. When creating that story, he doesn't spend time on inconsequential backgrounds. Rather, he focuses on what's essential to the painting. Hands are a focal point, and according to him, a telltale expression of the subject's state of mind. "Take Al Pacino - without his hands, he's not nearly as interesting to watch," he remarks.
White is inspired by humor - the type of humor you find where friends, lovers and work mates gather. The artist maintains that our public persona both reveals and hides who we really are. White captures those subtleties with such amazing precision that his artwork is captivating, almost infectious. His unique, Rat Pack-meets-Picasso style has sparked the interest of numerous art galleries, collectors and celebrities.
White, who worked in animation for 13 years, was the lead character designer for the hit cartoon series, SpongeBob SquarePants. After four years with the show, he was ready to move on. Feeling like "a professional athlete in a minor league club" White made the transition from animation to fine art, a leap he says is typically unheard of in the industry. Though he has no desire to return to animation, he says the experience truly honed his drawing skills and taught him how to create expressions and capture personality with a pencil.

TODD INSPIRES MADONNA?

"I completed Hard Candy a few years before it came out as a Madonna album," says Todd. "One day I started to get a ton of e-mails from collectors assuming that I'd endorsed the album, which I hadn't. At the end of the day I'm flattered. I know somebody in her camp is a fan and you have to show respect for what Madonna has achieved."

THE WHITE ALBUM LIMITED EDITION COLLECTION RELEASED

Good music connects with rhythm and emotion. It takes you to places and lets you feel life from a different perspective. Whether its music, sculpture, painting or performance, art captivates the mind and dances with the soul for an intimate moment in time.

The White Album is an invitation for you to experience and feel the world through my eyes.

Pieces include:

    Feather In Her Cap

    He's Got Her Keys

    Matchbook Dating

    Lie In Wait

    Heartaches Are Free

    Who's Got This Round

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW BY SOCO

TODD WHITE IS WHITE HOT!
Recently some staffers from SoCo TM Magazine toured the international art show known as Art Expo, located at the Javit's Center in Manhattan, NY.  They caught up with what appears to be the next American icon in the world of art, Todd White. Major networks, magazines, even Hugh Hefner has an appreciation of White's exaggerated and textured characters.  Keep your eyes on this guy because he's going places.
So Co TM:  Todd, what exactly is your inspiration for this unique style?
White:  For years I spent my time doing animation, design and drawing, and I believe that these skills delivered me to the point where I am now.
So Co TM:  You obviously can pull out the very essence of human nature with your work.  How do you do this?
White: I don't buy into being influence by other' styles. I basically show the spirit of my subject(s) and attempt to make the audience relate to the image.
SoCo TM:  Your work is a show-stopper; I've watched people here at the show gaze in amazement at the many pieces you have hanging today. What's the hook?
White: I'm self-taught, I paint about good times and I sell happiness. Everyone sees themselves and their friends in a rat-pack style of painting.  There isn't really a hook, rather, I make people do their own assessment of what they see.
SoCo TM: Where do you see yourself going from here?
White: Things have been great but I am still working on my craft. I can tell you that I am still improving and working hard to get closer to the top of my own talent.
SoCo TM: Many of your pieces emote a seductive quality, do you agree?
White: I paint about the issues of people. I guess that is what is on everyone's mind.
SoCo TM:  Thanks for your time, your work is outstanding.