"California Artist Creates Instagram Graphic Novel to Raise Sustainability Awareness"
Los Angeles born artist touches global nerve with endearing character who calls out polluters, chemical companies, and corrupt government officials.
SANTA BARBARA, CA (May 28, 2016) "” "The Creature NU" has blossomed into an international phenomenon on the image platform, Instagram, currently considered leading social media outlet for the Arts. Los Angeles native, Metrov"”renowned painter, filmmaker, writer, & designer who began his fine arts career helping pioneer Manhattan's fashionable NoHo district"”chose Instagram to launch his sustainability awareness campaign. With strong support from #organicmoms and other eco friendly groups, Metrov's unorthodox tale has quickly garnered an army of passionate "Green" followers.
"For quite some time," says Metrov, "I'd been looking for ways to integrate messages of sustainability into my work. I wanted to do my part as an artist. When Leonardo DiCaprio purchased an artwork on Instagram, the entire art world, it seemed, boarded the burgeoning social media platform. Artist Amalia Ulman's make-believe Instagram story about a troubled Beverly Hills socialite landed her a show at London's Tate Museum. I knew Instagram would be NU's stage."
NU, a small, loveable, noble savage, embarks on a mission to Earth to "find out what's gone wrong." In the beginning, he discovers spectacular, natural grandeur. But as he travels across America, he falls ill from toxic drinking water. He witnesses the horrors of strip mining, morbid obesity, and land forever destroyed by oil production. He meets other creatures who tell him he must go to Wall Street to find the perpetrators. When he arrives, however, he's taken in by a gang of uber rich, subterranean rats who secretly control the stock market. It's not until he falls for the allure of materialism, acquires his own wealth, then becomes homeless and nearly dies from cancer, that the Creature NU finally awakens to his destiny"”to become a sustainability role model for the youth of the world.
Metrov, who began his career as portraitist for superstars like Margaux Hemingway and Bianca Jagger, forwent the traditional gallery route, and instead forayed into motion pictures and self-publishing, as he determined to explore a "fascinating new world of artistic mediums and technologies." Besides broadcasting the ever-growing Saga of NU, he now works primarily as fine arts painter, sculptor, and filmmaker. You can see his life's work at www.metrov.org and follow the Creature NU at: www.Instagram.com/metrovart .
Contact:
Metrov Contemporary Arts
D. A. Metrov
805.968.2880
metrov@metrov.org
"For quite some time," says Metrov, "I'd been looking for ways to integrate messages of sustainability into my work. I wanted to do my part as an artist. When Leonardo DiCaprio purchased an artwork on Instagram, the entire art world, it seemed, boarded the burgeoning social media platform. Artist Amalia Ulman's make-believe Instagram story about a troubled Beverly Hills socialite landed her a show at London's Tate Museum. I knew Instagram would be NU's stage."
NU, a small, loveable, noble savage, embarks on a mission to Earth to "find out what's gone wrong." In the beginning, he discovers spectacular, natural grandeur. But as he travels across America, he falls ill from toxic drinking water. He witnesses the horrors of strip mining, morbid obesity, and land forever destroyed by oil production. He meets other creatures who tell him he must go to Wall Street to find the perpetrators. When he arrives, however, he's taken in by a gang of uber rich, subterranean rats who secretly control the stock market. It's not until he falls for the allure of materialism, acquires his own wealth, then becomes homeless and nearly dies from cancer, that the Creature NU finally awakens to his destiny"”to become a sustainability role model for the youth of the world.
Metrov, who began his career as portraitist for superstars like Margaux Hemingway and Bianca Jagger, forwent the traditional gallery route, and instead forayed into motion pictures and self-publishing, as he determined to explore a "fascinating new world of artistic mediums and technologies." Besides broadcasting the ever-growing Saga of NU, he now works primarily as fine arts painter, sculptor, and filmmaker. You can see his life's work at www.metrov.org and follow the Creature NU at: www.Instagram.com/metrovart .
Contact:
Metrov Contemporary Arts
D. A. Metrov
805.968.2880
metrov@metrov.org