October marks Long Beach Arts Month and the Long Beach Post has partnered with the Arts Council for Long Beach to celebrate the image makers, the painters, the dancers, the designers, the musicians, and the countless other artists who make our city vibrant and cultured. Our homepage will feature an artist’s own unique interpretation of Long Beach daily so make sure to check back every weekday to discover or rediscover a local talent.
Dave Van Patten began making comics when he was in the second grade. Filling notebook after notebook, he eventually created a full-on graphic novel that he sold (yes, sold) in the third grade—a piece that was so popular, it led him to amass more content (even a comic about a chainsaw murderer with a skull face that was banned).
Van Patten’s work is arguably one of the most prolific throughout Long Beach: his surreal, sinewy figures, creatures, and people can be found in children’s books, on coffeeshop walls, in the historic Dr. Rowan Building downtown, in the Long Beach Post, in LA Record, in zines, on CD covers, in music videos—even on hard cider bottles.
“I just like to experiment with media and styles to keep it continually fresh for me. If you have a style that is identifiable, a lot of artists end up being one-trick ponies. It’s some marketing bullshit where artists are trying to be like “Obey” and get people to like their art by pushing the same image in their faces. I obviously do this also, but for my own satisfaction I like to play with other styles, even though sometimes people are displeased with my new work.”