Sean Danconia

Hello Taipei, Kitty Xiexie

Sean Danconia has built a seductive visual universe by marrying his love for cult-cinema, comics and animation to a wild pop-art aesthetic. His irreverent, prolific, and explosive imagination—based on an encyclopedic knowledge of popular culture—has produced a compelling array of fine art, apparel, collectibles and multimedia experiences across the globe. Born in Montreal, Canada, Danconia was named after another “Sean”—Connery—by his mother, an intrepid James Bond fan. This early “Bondian” bullet would fire itself throughout Danconia’s life, creative pursuits and visual style. After living and working in Italy, Hong Kong and Vancouver —this bold, iconoclast Canadian designer/artist/cine-visualist burst onto the LA art scene in 2008, lending his signature style to official programs for Disney®, New Balance, Hello Kitty, the Bob Marley Estate, King Features, Warner Bros and Marilyn Monroe, among others – in addition to various independent projects. ☆ Danconia started his career managing Montreal’s iconic Diesel Jeans boutique—Paris Texas—while attending McGill University. During his summers, Danconia travelled to Italy, scouting out brands like Invicta, Ferrari, Momo Design and the original Seven—introducing multiple collections to North American markets. After graduation, Danconia enrolled at the renowned Brooks Institute in Santa Barbara, where he studied film, photography and design before being recruited by Senior VP of Miramax, Paul Rosenberg, to head the story department at his newly formed production house—Saratoga Entertainment—developing properties like “GO” & “The Mexican”, all the while fighting for his own artistic vision within both fashion & cinema. Realizing that no one would produce his movies until he made them himself, Danconia “put them up” on a screen of his own choosing that would include Fine-Art, apparel, accessories and original animation. ☆ With a knowing eye for trend undercurrents years before they hit, Danconia’s creative arsenal integrates hand-painting, illustration, and photography with 3D & digital mediums, culminating in his unique ‘UltraMod‘ stylization—an irreverent rebellion against the SuperFlat and traditional PopArt movement. In addition to Mouche Gallery (Beverly Hills) and Animazing (Las Vegas), Danconia art collections have been featured at Sotheby’s, LAB ART, Gallery 1988, Spoke Art (San Francisco), Wonderground Gallery (Downtown Disney®), ArtInsights Film Art Gallery (Virginia) and KOJAWAN (London). Sean Danconia works out of the Hong Kong-based DANCONIA CREATIVE, along with ateliers—ENJIN FACTORY (Dallas) + Her Majesty’s Secret Studio (London)—and is represented at his newly established DANCONIA GALLERY by Rebecca Hilton of HILTON CURATION. Recent projects include a limited-edition series for Godfather of Manga, Osamu Tezuka’s Tezuka Productions (Astro Boy , Kimba The White Lion) in addition to prep for the recent ‘MOD as HELL‘ and ‘Kitties, Mice, Robos and Rice‘ exhibition, launched at Mouche Gallery. Modified from an original article by Jeff Britting (2011)