Background
Johanson was born in suburban San Jose, California in 1968. He grew up skateboarding, attending punk rock shows, drawing, and with a dry yet sharp sense of humor.
Johanson was born in suburban San Jose, California in 1968. He grew up skateboarding, attending punk rock shows, drawing, and with a dry yet sharp sense of humor.
He has no formal training in art, learning some technique by painting skateboards and houses. He was a prominent "zine artist, and his publication "Karmaboarder," a skateboarding and art zine he published in the early to late 1980"s, helped shape what later became initial well-known works. In 1994, Johanson did one of the initial board graphic runs for a new San Francisco-based skateboard brand, Anti-Hero, which brought his art to a wider audience.
Also, during this time, he played in a band called "Tina, Age 13," which was scrawled on a drawing the band came across randomly.
The band toured several times, and record numerous 7" records, an European Parliament called "The Alcoholic Father of My Inner Child," and a full-length LP, "Good Feelings," which remains officially unreleased. In 2004 he bought a home and moved to Portland, Oregon.
He is a member of San Francisco"s Mission School art movement. He moved to San Francisco, California"s Mission District in 1989, where he became a member of the local art community, initially drawing cartoons on lampposts and bathroom walls using black Sharpies.
