Category: Art Stories

As with any career, being an artist comes with its own package of unique frustrations. For Ringelstetter, his biggest frustration is commission work. While he loves to create for his fans, he has a hard time with project like these because it seems that nine times out of ten, the client isn’t quite happy with the finished product, if they say anything about the piece at all.

Ringelstetter officially stopped taking on commission work about four years ago when he went fulltime with his art career. However, with the Forbidden Effect series he’ll be able to customize pieces in a way that he believes will please all of the involved parties. He hopes to be able to keep his style and integrate the client’s vision in the new line to come.

Darienne Keniece

Skateboarding holds a special place in Ringelstetter’s heart because it opened him up to a whole new culture, a new way of life. Because of this, Ringelstetter was now able to express parts of himself he didn’t have an outlet for previously, and this led him down a new avenue. When Ringelstetter was still doing freelance work as a graphic designer, he became involved with DC Shoe’s, and gradually came to learn the whole business side to the art world, which set him up nicely when he embarked on his journey as a painter. Putting his unique style of artwork on skateboards is a way for him to blend different aspects of his life and express multiple facets of himself.

Darienne Keniece

Thanks to his participation in the Stone Arch Bridge Festival, Ringelstetter was offered a project by one of the sponsors, Polaris, and they sent over a helmet to have Ringelstetter revamp in his image. He had been working with an alien/tribal style, which he used as inspiration for this helmet. The gig didn’t pay, but it did pay off by landing Ringelstetter a better spot in the show for the following years to come and added recognition to his artwork. 

Darienne Keniece

Before Ringelstetter was an artist, he was an avid Ebay customer. He found that Ebay was one of the best places to purchase paintball equipment, and he could always sell it back if he needed to. For a while, this was the focus of Ringelstetter’s Ebay experience until he started creating art. Shortly thereafter, he discovered that Ebay had an arts category, and learned that there were different ways to sell. Ringelstetter elected to set up a webstore.

For the first three years Ringelstetter wasn’t focused on making money so much as he was focused on making a name for himself. He priced his pieces at ten dollars, and allowed for bids, which put him on the front pages of Ebay as the bids got higher, thus giving him more exposure. Because he was selling so many pieces so frequently, this allowed him to be recognized and publicized by Ebay’s algorithm.

Ringelstetter had assumed that without selling during 2018, his standings on Ebay would diminish, but he was delighted to discover that he’s still top rated. Missing the thrill of the auctions and the fun of selling on Ebay, Ringelstetter plans to return to this selling platform in the next year to come.

Darienne Keniece

While Ringelstetter was working a show in Fitchburg, Wisconsin he was approached by a fan, Ian Murray, who offered his services as a web developer, should Ringelstetter ever need them. Once things settled down after the show he reached out to Murray and they set up a meeting. They decided that they would barter service for service, but specifics were never discussed.

When the site was completed, Murray presented Ringelstetter with a mannequin he had found while he was at the Tyrol Basin Ski Resort. They had been doing some purging and discarded the mannequin, leaving it up for grabs, and Murray jumped at the chance because when he saw it he knew this was the thing he wanted painted in exchange for his work. Ringelstetter was thrilled to practice on a new medium and accepted the project eagerly. The mannequin went on to travel with Ringelstetter while it was being revamped, and was dropped off with its rightful owners just in time for Christmas.

Darienne Keniece

In 2016, Ringelstetter found himself in Wisconsin, tightly within the clutches of seasonal depression when he saw a friend Adam Egenolf of his posting on Facebook from Coconut Grove, Florida, working an art show. Ringelstetter reached out immediately and began to dig into the details in order to figure out how he could put himself in a similar position. He had just recently joined the Spring Board in his hometown, whose aim was to attract more tourists in the winter months, but he felt it was too early in his life to settle down into the winter lull when he could still be pushing his art in warmer climates.

He knew that he was taking a big leap, but once he was accepted into enough shows he left the state with $200 in his pocket and a heart full of hope. He quickly came to find that this was the peak season in Florida, and the rates for lodging were high in the few open places that were left. But it would seem that something was determined to keep him there, as a friend reached out while Ringelstetter was traveling with the details of an artsy air BNB. The stars aligned and they had plenty of space for Ringelstetter, who wound up making friends with the owner and her daughter Lilly, whom he still visits with when he’s in the area.

Darienne Keniece

A friend of Ringelstetter’s since the sixth grade, Jake Leek came to Atomic7 seeking a new venture after deciding that he was in need of a change. Ringelstetter happily welcomed him aboard and together they worked on the prints, frames, and canvas stretching. During this time, Ringelstetter expressed an interest in screen- printing, but went on to say that he didn’t really have the time for it.

They began discussing this in greater depth and soon Ringelstetter learned that Leek had been teaching himself the ins and outs of screen-printing. It wasn’t long before he launched his own company, Sicks Printing. Ringelstetter found this inspiring and is still so grateful for the time Leek spent with Atomic 7, and the work they’re able to do together with Leek’s new business.

Darienne Keniece

In Ringelstetter’s experience the Ann Arbor Art Show can be a fierce entity all on its own. This show spans four days and accepts 1,200 artists, making for a lot of competition. However, in 2019 the Ann Arbor show proved itself to be an untamable beast when a wild storm hit hours before its projected arrival time, causing chaos amongst the artists when they and all of the patrons received a jarring weather warning on their phones, instructing everyone to evacuate the area and seek shelter
within the following 15 minutes.

Ringelstetter adhered the advisory and began packing up his booth as quickly as he could manage. When he was finished he rushed through the show and helped everyone he could, but the storm hit quickly. 60 mile and hour winds caused the unsecured tents to fly away. Ringelstetter began filming the events because he wanted to show what artists go through while trying to pursue their dreams. He had no idea that the video would go viral.

Thanks to his iconic pink hair, Ringelstetter was recognized from the video frequently, and went on to make new friends because of it, giving the traumatic events a positive outcome.

Darienne Keniece

One of the first themes for the famous crates Ringelstetter uses to tote his work around was inspired by one of his first paintings, the Space Hitchhiker. The Space Hitchhiker was about an alien that bounced around from universe to universe to help the civilizations grow for the better before moving on to the next one.

A secondary inspiration for the crates was introduced to Ringelstetter while he was in Cedar Key, Florida. Many of the structures had been repainted countless times due to the weather, giving the area a “thrashy” and vibrate feel.

The idea for creating the crates was, like most ideas, born from a need. As a traveling artist, Ringelstetter needed to be able to fit a whole gallery’s worth of work in his van without wasting any space. Initially, he had been buying cardboard boxes, but found that to be a waste since they didn’t hold up for very long. He switched to large, plastic totes, but found that they looked tacky and didn’t benefit his booth.

He and another artist from Atomic7 decided to hand-make the crates that Ringelstetter uses now. This is the fourth model and they’re the best ones yet. He’s able to fit two shows worth of work in the van because of them, and they have multiple uses. Aside from easy transport, they can also be stacked to make a table or shelves. The lids are carpeted so Ringelstetter can stretch canvas on them, and he can assemble prints at a show with them.

In a lot of the shows Ringelstetter participates in, artists are graded on how their booths are set up and because of these crates, Ringelstetter has won a handful of awards for his sophisticated but high energy and unique style.

Darienne Keniece

The first year Ringelstetter received his first ever National Award he went on to receive two more shortly after, but the first one was a life altering moment for him. When the awards were being announced, Ringelstetter was so focused on the customers in his booth he didn’t hear his name being called. It wasn’t until a woman on the board approached him in his booth and congratulated him that he realized what had happened. Ringelstetter was so blown away that he couldn’t keep his mind on what she was saying, and had to have his father chase her down after she left so that she could reiterate the specifics.

As it turns out, Ringelstetter had placed so high in his category that he beat out other top placers in different categories, which led to him receiving an invitational award to return to Art Fair on the Square in Madison, Wisconsin. Out of 450 artists, Ringelstetter placed 13 th , and still feels that this was the moment that he truly transcended from his comfort zone and became the juggernaut that we know today.

Darienne Keniece