Seligman, AZ

Rick Monzon is a Los Angeles-based contemporary painter whose style is influenced by the psychedelic movement and art of the 1960s. He started his career creating commercial art for publications and entertainment agencies. Attending the Art Center College of Design in the early 70s, he pursued commercial art and went on to work for many Los Angeles publications and entertainment agencies including Warner Brothers CW network.

It wasn’t until the 1990s that he picked up the brush. His Echo Park studio was right next door to a small startup gallery that gave him his first show. Moving to neighboring Highland Park he became part of the Arroyo Arts Collective.

In 1999 his fluid, dreamy depictions of Southern California suburbia received coverage in the publication New American Paintings. This brought art gallery representation in Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco and Seattle.

Monzon’s work has appeared in film, print and television and in collections both public and private around the world.

The origins and inspiration behind “Seligman, AZ” are numerous road trips over the years through the Southwest. Seligman is a forgotten little stop on the Old Route 66 detour stretch of highway, east of Kingman, Arizona that still exists as it was 60 years ago. The artists finds mystery and history on this old road.
 
“Driving through at night on one trip, I imagined a beautiful 1959 Pontiac Bonneville racing down the road. I painted it with my signature blur to show the ephemeral nature of the fleeting memories of Americana that this highway still holds for those who may take the Road Less Traveled.”