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clamdiggin, Los Angeles

           Kevin Johnson and Alexandra Fisher began working under the name clamdiggin in 1999 in Chicago. The environment is the main source of inspiration in their art, from indicator species that comprise the local biome to the places they work and live in the urban environment. They began painting billboards filled with images of with biodiversity in Chicago to introduce the name clamdiggin.  In 2005 they moved to Tucson, Arizona and had a child. After three years in the Sonoran Desert, a few exhibitions, including MOCA Tucson, they taught rainwater harvesting workshops using art and science (Kevin has a Bachelors degree in Biological Science) in the Tucson public school system. In 2009 they moved to Los Angeles, California, where Kevin started hand painting Wallpaper for interior designer Kelly Wearstler and took a job at the Chateau Marmont on the Sunset Strip. The history of this landmark hotel and the strip grabbed his attention, and has been a muse for the past 14 years. They use watercolor, ink, pastel, charcoal and acrylic to capture these storied places, Canter’s Delicatessen on Fairfax, Sunset Tower Hotel, and Tower Records (R.I.P.) before they are gone forever. It has only been 60 years since Ed Ruscha made his piece “Every Building on the Sunset Strip”, but the change is staggering. They have also designed and painted large murals in Spago, City of Beverly Hills, for Avalon Bay Properties and many private residences, working with Waldo Fernandez, Clements Design, House of Honey, Simone Harouche and Courtney Applebaum Design along the way.