Mike Kungl Biography

Michael L. Kungl - From Sofa Art
To Twenty First Century Art Deco

Even at the age of four, Mike 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.

An artist was born.

Eighteen years later, fresh out of the Spokane Falls College of Art, Mike returned to Southern California, where he applied his graphic arts education to advertising at Cochrane Chase Livingston.

Mike liked it. In fact, he liked it so much, he set out on his own as a freelance designer, illustrator and art director.

Along the way, he dropped his pens and air brush and picked up a turbo-charged Macintosh. His career took off. He was firing on all cylinders- logo design, package design, illustration, advertising, 3D animation and multimedia CD games. And he was doing it all for some of the biggest companies in America.

Then, while cruising down Melrose in LA, he saw a spectacular, original 1930's poster of the Normandie by A.M. Cassandre in the window of an art gallery. It was lust at first sight. Mike had to have it. When he learned the price was $18,000, he decided maybe he didn’t have to have it.

But he had to have something like it. So he focused his attention on creating Art Deco and Moderne influenced posters- adding a touch of the Twenty-First Century to create a style that is uniquely his own.

And that brings us to today. Mike currently works in his high tech studio with command-z at his fingertips, shaping and refining each of his meticulously crafted posters- creating works of art that capture the magnificence of the world's most stylish era.

After 15 years, he's still passionate about his work and sharing it with others. For Mike, that's what life is all about.