Malcolm Hollis

Illustrative and tattoo Artist known as Malcolm “Flex” Hollis was born in downtown Fort Lauderdale, Florida in 1991. His father being a professional boxer and his mother working in the medical field, he grew up active in sports, but at an early age it was evident art would be his true calling. He attended Walker elementary where in the second grade he took place in a county wide drawing contest for a school lunch poster, and won first place in the competition thus bringing to the light the potential illustrative talents he posseted at an early age. After the contest the school immediately placed him in the magnet program as an art major, and a band minor where he could begin to cultivate his talent from the second through fifth grades. His fascination with art began with watching Japanese anime shows such as Dragon Ball Z, and Gundam Wing. He was so fascinated with the way the shows were illustrated that he had to attempt to recreate the drawings every chance he could, learning to render and shade drawings to match the illustrative genius he perceived the works to be. After years of filling his illustrative memory bank with various genres of Japanese anime’s, and later American Marvel & D.C. comics super heroes, he reached high school where he met two of the most influential teachers in his development as an artist, illustrator Jared Paul Wilson and proven artist Deirdre Amari. These two teachers both showed Flex that there was more to his talents then drawing anime, and fictional characters created by other artists. Both teachers designed many rigorous drawing practices to teach flex how to draw from reality and to practice realism and still life drawings. Flex took to the practices well then discovered that he could reach new heights with the proper amount of practice and self-discipline. After high school Flex attended school as an illustration major and later gained an apprenticeship at Bombay tattoos in Lauderhill Florida under an artist known as Loso Dinero where he practice portraiture and tattooing. After a couple years of practice Flex became a state licensed tattoo artist with a heightened level of illustrative skill and has done work by commission for many customers including a personal portrait for Hip-Hop mogul Flo-rida. Flex’s inspiration for his works today generally comes from his love for music, and the feel he gets from hearing a musician’s passion for the song that they create.
Artistic statement
My works generally consist of pencil and color pencil illustrations. I at times will go further into mixed media with acrylic paints and oil pastel. My main strength in illustration is realism, with a hint of anime style illustrative elements. I love creating works in many different shades of grey or black and white with a hint of color. I intend to show high levels of contrast to catch the eye of the viewer aesthetically and to draw out raw human emotion when viewing my work. “Detail” is generally the first thing I aim to have my viewers think when they see my work so they can truly feel the level of mechanical skill and focus put into my works. Works are generally rich in shade value and tight in line work, often inspired by tattoo style of art.
I have been directly influenced by artists such as M.C. Esher, Akira Toriyama, Koichi Tokita, Steve Butcher, and Jared Paul Wilson, kid Cudi, the Weeknd, Coldplay and various other artists and musicians.