Ringo 4u2c

Dan Funs -aka- Ringo 4u2c (For You To See) is an American Artist, Photographer, Musician and protege to the late Steve Kaufman (Former Assistant of Andy Warhol ). At an early age, Ringo was part of charity founded by Steve Kaufman (Give Kids A Break), which was established to help troubled inner city kids by working in his art studio. Ringo's love of Celebrity Culture and American Icons were his motivation for capturing and painting huge Collage pieces.  Starting out as a Hollywood street artist in the late 90's, at a very young age Ringo was painting action images and portraits on wood boards for the fast paced Hollywood Crowds. Making a show out of it, many times he brought in random people to either sing or draw themselves. Ringo loved entertaining people and drawing tourist's faces on Superman or Mickey and Minnie bodies. It was his way of doing what he loved and making money while doing it. Ringo would create " Picassoesque " style portraits using fresh clay and wire, mainly of Hollywood street landmarks like " The Grauman's Chinese Theater "  and " Ripley's Believe It or Not "  Museum with the infamous Tyrannosaurus Rex on Hollywood and Vine. Something that is now seen on Hollywood corners daily, was actually rarely seen in the late 90's, specially by a young 16 year old. Painting in form of collage, filling the canvas is his passion. He started painting his favorite characters at the time, which were the X- Men and Power Rangers . He loved them so much he would create " backgrounds of action "  depicting Daniel's own imaginary battles on canvas with main characters like The Wolverine and The Beast or the Hulk.  At age 18 young Ringo started co managing an L.A.X. freight Co. with an older friend. A year later the Sept. 11 attacks happenned and all freight and mail services were stopped and re inspected by a flood of agents. Closing the company down after huge losses, Ringo moved to his Aunt's home on Melrose ave. This is where Ringo met Steve Kaufman, a great humanitarian, pop artist, and former assistant to Andy Warhol. Ringo started working in Mr. Kaufman's art studio and both became great friends. Ringo's name was given to him by Mr Kaufman due to all the drumming noises that came from the back of his studio. All the brushes that were cleaned had to be banged to let all the remnants of thinner out. But Ringo had his drum rhythims that came with the cleaning. Ringo learned the art of Silkscreening and layering processes, framing and canvas making, and listing and embellishing. Kaufman saw the potential and ambition that his young assistant was showing, and Steve eventually named Ringo his protege. He was very hands on in many of Kaufman's projects, and now many of Ringo's works hang alongside his mentor's in Galleries around the World. In 2004, Kaufman and Ringo 4u2c joined forces to create a limited edition series - "The Legacy Series" - which celebrated Warhol and introduced Ringo to the Art World. Hand painted, embellished and screened by Steve and Ringo, their first limited edition of 100 sheets sold out within a few months. The next edition created inside the Melrose art studio in 2006 was Ringo's first solo project - "Les Origenales", which was a hit as well. Now, with more room to paint he has taken every inch of canvas he can to add all of his favorite Pop Culture and American Icons which are recognized  and loved around the World. Steve Kaufman and Ringo attended ArtExpo together from 2002 until 2007 when Steve fell ill and was recovering from a stroke. Ringo attended to his mentor's recovery but by the end of 2009, while Ringo was working in Europe, Kaufman fell ill indefinitely. Alongside Bob Womak, Ringo took charge of the Melrose studio to finish many projects Mr. Kaufman had not finished. Following in the steps as his predecessor, all of Ringo's events and exhibits have a form of help to his Community through Ringo's art sales. "Our Community is as important to me, as it is painting. Helping each other is the best thing we can do, One Step At A Time.."