It was literally the rise of the Phoenix. All these places that we knew and loved, they dissolved and died. Everybody had so much energy because we were mandated to stay in the house. When we made the announcement that we have a store, people were coming up, masking up, and they were buying shit.
Format is a specialized online portfolio platform for creatives. With more than 50,000 industry leading illustrators, artists and designers having chosen Format as the place for their work, it's easy to find inspiration looking through their international roster. As part of our partnership for the 2025 Illustration Awards, Booooooom worked with our friends at Format to choose some of the best, most renowned illustrators we feel are leading the industry.
After months of struggling with my boss over creative vision, which typically ended in him telling me I was uncreative and unintelligent and me crying in a corner, I was unceremoniously fired. At this point, I felt like I was dangling on a dangerous precipice. Pittsburgh, the city that had once seemed so full of possibility for me, was feeling more and more like a wasteland both professionally and personally.
Outside artists have established significant galleries, notably Roy De Forest's Nut Art Movement and Clayton Bailey's First Psychoceramic Church, contributing to the region's vibrant culture.
