THE ONLY WAY IS
ALL-IN.

A LIFE IN WORK · 1986 — 2026

From a confiscated pen under the bed to gold-leaf on silk in Dubai. Each year, a new room. Each room, the same line.

1 9 8 0

Los Angeles.

Moves to LA on a football scholarship. A motorbike crash ends the sport; painting becomes a recovery.

Fashion →

Top Designer.

Nominated West Coast's top designer while still a student. Dresses P!nk, Eva Longoria, Shakira. Stocked at Barneys, Fred Segal, Henri Bendel.

Fashion →

Burning luxury logos.

Places an ad in Women's Wear Daily — burning luxury logos. Shown alongside Calvin Klein and Donna Karan. Refuses a BCBG offer. Leaves LA.

Fashion →

DAR the BOOK.

Retreats to remote places to complete the sketches that become the first DAR the BOOK volume — six years of hand-drawn geometric work.

Art →

Johny Dar. Rankin. Tuuli.

Founds the eponymous brand with himself as the face. Collaborates with Rankin on the Tuuli by Dar calendar; reviewed by Franca Sozzani.

Fashion →

Berlin. Dubai. Gaga.

Body-paints seventeen models in a day for Berlin Fashion Week. Body-paints an Arabian stallion in Dubai — the Horse Whispers series begins. Collaborates with Lady Gaga on G.U.Y.

Fashion →

Berlin gallery. Beijing.

Opens a gallery in Berlin. Horse Whispers exhibited at MOCA Beijing. Launches the Love Your Body campaign.

Art →

Jeans for Refugees.

Hand-paints one hundred celebrity-donated denim jackets — Elton John, Woody Allen, and more. Shown at the Saatchi Gallery.

Fashion →

Dardelica.

Founds Dardelica — original electronic music in his own invented language. Introduces Dar-Time, a 32-hour day designed to reduce stress.

Music & Books →

Liquid Gold.

Completes Liquid Gold — forty minutes of his invented language pressed into a meditative soundscape. Body-paints twelve horses for Horse Whispers 2.

Music & Books →

AOI.

AOI — the light-and-sound chamber — expands to Dubai, Berlin, Ibiza, Austria, Costa Rica. Wim Hof leads a session. Four-hour lines form.

Experience →