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Autonomie Project Artist Bio: Coni Oppo

M. Johnai iDaniel was born in New York City in 1969 and raised in Greenwich Village, the son of a playwright and family court Judge. He went to Oberlin College, studying English and Fine Art and then went on to train in drawing and painting at The Art Student’s League of New York. In 1996, he left New York for the west coast and began to show in galleries in Portland and San Diego and take up the practice of yoga. By 2000, he made his first trip to India and this was the beginning of how art, yoga and meditation would begin to break down, integrate and re-invent his work.

By 2007, Johnai had made his second trip to India, had abandoned easel painting and teaching yoga, took an odd job and worked exclusively from journals. It was from this embryonic process and a series of strange synchronous events that a path emerged in wearable art. He enrolled in fashion school and from there produced a collection of hand painted vintage dresses for the graduating class fashion show. Pretty soon, he was transforming old shoes into original art pieces. During this period he started his company Coni Oppo and began painting Converse Sneakers and taking the collection to various trade shows. This process evolved and developed into what is currently a series of energetic line drawings that deals with themes of soul emergence, the ominpresence of Buddha nature and Oneness underlying the illusion of duality and ego in the mind. He uses sharpies on a variety of canvas sneakers and shoes.

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