Bio

Joe Castro  is a Philadelphia based artist, musician, designer and filmmaker. His paintings and collages have been shown in galleries and art spaces across the United States and Canada and have been described as “intelligent and brooding, the subjects are often just a little-bit skewed–leading you to take a deeper look.”

Originally from Delaware, he was the guitar player in several bands including Nero, Swingline and The Situation. Formed in 2001, The Situation signed with Elephant Stone records in 2004, releasing The Reece Nasty EP, followed by their self titled full length in 2006, both garnered critical praise from Pitchfork, The Big Takeover,Skyscraper and Magnet. The band toured the states, and opened for bands such as The Strokes, The Libertines, Nada Surf, BJM, The Make-Up and Arthur Lee & Love. Their music has been featured on shows for both MTV and Fuel TV. The group disbanded in 2006.

Taking a keen interest in the visual representation of the band, he was responsible for most of the group’s flyers and album graphics and soon found he was receiving as much notice for his art and t-shirt designs as for his guitar playing. In 2006, he began to show his paintings in area galleries. In 2007, he was commissioned to paint a mural for grammy nominated producer Jim Salamone’s new recording studio, Cambridge Sound Studios in Newtown, PA. In 2009, he was invited to be a founding member of the contemporary art, skateboarding and street culture website, clubmumble.com. And in 2010, he was one of 6 artists selected (from over 450 applicants) by Vans and Color Magazine to customize one pair of canvas sneakers, which were displayed in art shows in Vancouver, Montreal and Toronto.

When not working on new paintings and collages, he runs his own graphic design business, Red Attic Studios, where he has created gig posters for bands such as She & Him, Echo and the Bunnymen, Josh Ritter and Pavement. He has won numerous awards for his design work, which has been featured in Graphic Design USA. He hosts a popular music podcast via his website, mightyjoecastro.com, and recently co-directed the music video Truth Is for The Sky Drops, which was shot entirely on super 8 film. He is a board member of the Wilmington Skate Project, where he curated two benefit art shows, one of which was featured on Fuel TV’s What’s Happening with Chris Pastras show.