briefcase.

"When I originally moved from the suburbs or Jersey into New York, I remember taking the train into the city and reading a magazine. I think it was a Juxtapoz, or something of that nature. I was listening to The Clash and flipping through the pages. I came across this spread about Joe Strummer (ironically). The cover page had Joe sitting on a chair smoking a cigarette. The text above the image read “You can’t rush art, baby.” Below it, “That’s what Joe Strummer said to me.” I found it very inspiring and still do.

It’s been hanging over my desk ever since.

Easily put, I use inspirations of the past and present, my surroundings and my imagination. Inspiration can be found everywhere. Personally I could be looking at a magazine and in my head I think, “I would of done this differently.” Or sometimes it’s more like “I’m going to use this layout for my next work.” Either way, it’s about keeping your eyes and brain linked. Linking everything you see into what you do. Sometimes the best way to go about it, is find something that’s been done previously. Sure you can call it stealing but that good old quote that goes something like "Good artists borrow, great artists steal", tells me it’s okay to do what I do. Even film director Quentin Tarantino once said, “I steal from every single movie ever made. If people don't like that, then tough tills, don't go and see it, all right? I steal from everything. Great artists steal, they don't do homages.” So that’s what I do. No, that doesn’t mean I copy everything I see and claim it as my own. I take inspiration from everything. You could say I steal inspiration from everything. That sounds good.

I’ve been inspired by different forms of art since I use to spend every summer at my sisters apartment in Brooklyn while she attended The School of Visual Arts. I was young, probably around seven when I started doing that. I remember reading books on constructivism, propaganda art, street art, and graphic arts. Those were my earliest inspirations and I tend to go back to them for inspiration most often."

-Mahalo Dono

In 2007 while Studying at RVCC, he started nationincorporated. It became a commercial stable for his artwork. It involved many ideas from his time in RVCC and lifestyle. In Spring 2009, He started up the "followMD" campaign, a personal stable for his artwork. A few months later he earns his AFA in Graphic Design from RVCC. Mahalo Dono enrolled as a full time student at SVA (school of visual arts) in NYC. In the fall of 2010, MDono left SVA in pursuit of different education. Currently M.Dono is enrolled in Mason Gross School of Art, part of the Rutgers University.

showings.
Popdeck.com: monthly skateboard design finalist. [2006]
Popdeck.com: monthly skateboard deisgn winner. [2007]
Raritan Valley Community College: Spring Student Show. [2007]
Raritan Valley Community College: Fall Student Show. [2007]
Raritan Valley Community College: Juried Student Show. [2007]
Raritan Valley Community College: Spring Student Show. [2008]
Raritan Valley Community College: Fall Student Show. [2008]
Raritan Valley Community College: Juried Student Show. [2008]
Raritan Valley Community College: Juried Student Show. [2009]
Raritan Valley Community College: Trashed of Treasured show. [2009]
SVA: End of Year Show. [2010]
Undisclosed. [2013]
TripleS. [2014]

ART. [ahrt]. noun
1.the quality, production, expression, or realm, according to aesthetic principles, of what is beautiful, appealing, or of more than ordinary significance.
2.the class of objects subject to aesthetic criteria; works of art collectively, as paintings, sculptures, or drawings: a museum of art; an art collection.
3.a field, genre, or category of art: Dance is an art.
4.the fine arts collectively, often excluding architecture: art and architecture.
5.any field using the skills or techniques of art: advertising art; industrial art.
6.(in printed matter) illustrative or decorative material: Is there any art with the copy for this story?
7.the principles or methods governing any craft or branch of learning: the art of baking; the art of selling.
8.the craft or trade using these principles or methods.
9.skill in conducting any human activity: a master at the art of conversation.
10.a branch of learning or university study, esp. one of the fine arts or the humanities, as music, philosophy, or literature.
11.arts,a.(used with a singular verb) the humanities: a college of arts and sciences.b.(used with a plural verb) liberal arts.
12.skilled workmanship, execution, or agency, as distinguished from nature.
13.trickery; cunning: glib and devious art.
14.studied action; artificiality in behavior.
15.an artifice or artful device: the innumerable arts and wiles of politics.
16.Archaic. science, learning, or scholarship.