Шаблон:Short descriptionШаблон:Infobox personBren Bataclan is a Filipino-American artist. Based in Cambridge, he is the creator of the street art project Project Smile. He has left more than 3000 anime-inspired paintings in public spaces for passers-by to take for free if they "promise to smile at random people more often." He has given his paintings away in 80 countries and in every state in the US. [1]
Bataclan was born in the Philippines and moved to Daly City, California with his family when he was 12. As a child, he watched the Giant Robot television shows Voltes V and Mazinger that later inspired his art. He received a BA in design at UCLA and an MA in computer animation at the Ohio State University. [2]
Career
Bataclan began his career teaching design and computer animation at UMass Amherst.[3] He became a fulltime artist in 2003 with the launch of Project Smile. In addition to the Project Smile paintings, Bataclan has painted murals at more than 300 schools, hospitals and community institutions.[4][5]
In 2021, Bataclan's book, Fe: A Traumatized Son’s Graphic Memoir, was published by Philippine American Writers and Artists, Inc (PAWA, Inc.). Fcused on Bataclan's relationship with his mother, NPR wrote that Fe was a "brilliant, sensitive story of a mother and son."[6][7] An elementary school textbook about his artwork was published by Heinemann Press.[8]
