Born in the South Suburbs of Chicago, IL, Danny J. Martinez (aka Van Dam One) is an artist whose work blurs the line between realism, illustration, cartoons, comics, and absurdity to create a blend of tangible surrealism that pulls the viewer into each piece. His work across different genres and mediums fuses together contemporary subjects with traditional mark-making techniques that focus on both universal and individual understandings of the world. He uses this blend of surrealism as a means of self-discovery, drawing on his own experiences and the experiences of his community, to convey emotion and storytelling through multiple visual mediums.