Mike Kungl

Even at the age of four, Michael L. Kungl knew he wanted to be an artist. Using the family sofa as his canvas and his mother's lipstick as his paint, he was already deciding between hues of red and pink.

After completing an education in fine art and graphic design, Kungl achieved a successful career in the advertising field. He became a well-known name in the industry for his dynamic design and illustration style and created award winning work for some of the world’s biggest companies, including Johnson and Johnson, Bank of America, and Panasonic.

The turning point in Kungl’s career came when the artist saw a spectacular, original 1930's travel poster of the S.S. Normandie by A.M. Cassandre in the window of a Los Angeles art gallery. This small event was a pivotal moment. The artist was inspired to craft his own poster art, capturing the essence of the world’s most stylish era. He received rave reviews from his peers, clients and associates over his beautiful neo-retro images. As a result, Kungl developed a relationship with a publisher and shifted his focus completely toward fine art. He created a style blending Art Deco and Modern influences while adding a touch of the Twenty-first Century to craft art that is uniquely his own.

A succession of honors followed as cities like Miami Beach, Florida and Laguna Beach, California commissioned Kungl to create murals and special event artworks. Kungl’s reputation as a collectible artist grew across the country and around the world. In addition to international sales of his popular images, Kungl’s fine art limited editions and paintings are highly collected in the United States, Europe, Japan and Australia. Kungl

has also been profiled in numerous articles in design and décor magazines, feature films and television shows including Ashton Kuthcher’s Beauty and the Geek series, CSI, Law and Order, Gilmore Girls and The Big Bang Theory just to name a few.

Kungl has also had the honor to paint the characters of Disney, Star Wars, and Warner Bros. He was selected by George Lucas to contribute to the Visions Book. Kungl painted Boba Fett with a bright color palatte and distinguished textures. He was also commissioned to create and design ten spectacular Art Deco panoramic murals for the World of Disney in Paris, France and 8 Bas Reliefs that decorate and embellish the outside of the building.

Kungl’s inspirations come from his vast resource library of books, old photos, vintage advertising and a selection of nostalgic sources collected over the years. Starting from a rough sketch, he works and reworks each image with diligent precision. The result is a rich and unique interplay of textures, and a beautiful contrast of lush curves and streamlined objects.

Although he considers poster artist A.M. Cassandre, and our forefathers of industrial design Henry Dreyfuss and Raymond Lowey as influences, M. Kungl’s artworks are infused with a vitality and freshness that echo the artist’s personal energy and contemporary viewpoint. Kungl is among the world’s finest artists in the Art Deco tradition and he currently works in his Southern California studio shaping and refining each of his meticulously crafted images creating fun, entertaining and colorful works of fine art.