Arik Roper

Arik Roper
The one they call "Moonhawk".
Background information
Birth Name	Arik Roper
Alias	Moonhawk
Born	1973
Occupation	Freelance Painter/Illustrator
Genres	Stoner Metal, Stoner Rock, Doom Metal, Sludge Metal
Instrument(s)	Bass
Years active	1990s - Present
Associated acts	Sleep, High on Fire, Buzzov*en, Weedeater, Under Satan's Sun, Koi Pond, Matta Llama
Website	Official Page

Arik Roper is a freelance illustrator & painter currently residing in New York City, known for his artwork within the stoner rock scene, primarily with the subject of mythical creatures and faerie legend.. Along with painting for several artists such as Sleep and Weedeater he played bass in a heavy metal band known as Under Satan's Sun in the 2000s, followed by the rock band Matta Llama and the experimental band Koi Pond.

Biography

After graduating from the School of Visual Arts in 1995 specializing in cartooning, illustration, and silk-screening, he began as a freelance storyboard artist for various ad agencies, and a storyboard revisionist for MTV Animation. Later he was able to exercise more creative and personal styles while shifting into the world of music-related visual art and packaging. He has since developed a name and devoted following creating seminal record covers and screeprint posters for a wide variety of bands including legends such as Earth, Sunn O))), Sleep, Howlin' Rain, High on Fire, The Black Crowes, Kvelertak, and Windhand among many others. His influences include a wide variety of artists and styles ranging from comic art and fantasy art to graphic design and classic illustration. He was a contributing artist to the highly regarded and cutting-edge Arthur Magazine during the mid 2000s. Arik has also designed hand-made screen-printed posters for a pantheon of concerts and events including Sound on Sound Fest, Roadburn Festival, Psycho Las Vegas and Desert Daze Festival just to name a few. Roper's work encompasses a diverse field of design and distinct style, ranging from graphic black and white illustration, to meticulous lettering and logo design, to rich abstract psychedelic color and landscapes that often seem to exist in their own universe. The imagery springs from the depths of a fertile imagination, invoking psychedelic visions, ancient dreams, and idyllic natural environments. With an interest in mythology, consciousness, psychology, religion and other timeless subjects, Roper mixes the light and the dark within his art to reveal imagery which is at once strangely unique, distantly familiar and always soaked with an earnestly fantastic aesthetic. His book, Mushroom Magick (Abrams, 2009), is a vividly surreal collection of exotic fungal species from around the world. His art has also appeared in books such as De Gotham City a Metropolis by French Paper Art Club, Juxtapoz New Contemporaries, and Revisionaries: A Decade of Art in Tokion.

Selected Discography Featuring Roper's Art

• Buzzov*en - The Gospel According... II (1997, Allied Recordings)
• Sleep - Jerusalem (1998, Self-Released)
• Nebula and Lowrider - Split CD (1998, MeteorCity Records)
• Buzzov*en - ...At A Loss (1998, Off The Records)
• The Atomic Bitchwax - The Atomic Bitchwax (1999, Tee Pee Records)
• Core - The Hustle Is On (1999, M.I.A. Records; Tee Pee Records)
• Weedeater - ...And Justice For Y'all (2001, Game Two, Berserker)
• High on Fire - The Art of Self-Defense (2001, Tee Pee Records)
• Weedeater - Sixteen Tons (2002, Game Two, Berserker)
• Sleep - Dopesmoker (2003, Tee Peel; 2012, Southern Lord Records)
• Bongzilla - Amerijuanican (2005, Relapse)
• High on Fire - Blessed Black Wings (2005, Relapse)
• Buzzov*en - Welcome To Violence (2005, Alternative Tentacles)
• Priestess - Hello Master (2006, Indica Records)
• Howlin' Rain - Howlin' Rain (2006, Birdman Records)
• Mammatus - Mammatus (2006, Rocket Recordings)
• Buzzov*en - Revelation: Sick Again (2007, Sounds of The South)
• Weedeater - God Luck and Good Speed (2007, Southern Lord Records)
• High on Fire - Death Is This Communion (2007, Relapse)
• Grand Magus - Iron Will (2008, Rise Above Records)
• Howlin' Rain - Magnificent Fiend (2008, Birdman Records)
• Ancestors - Neptune With Fire (2008, Tee Pee Records)
• Earth - The Bees Made Honey In The Lion's Skull (2008, Southern Lord Records)
• Astra - The Weirding (2008, Rise Above Records)
• High on Fire - Snakes For The Divine (2010, E1 Entertainment)
• Necromandus - Orexis of Death & Live (2010, Rise Above Relics)
• Weedeater - Jason... The Dragon (2011, Southern Lord Records)
• The Gates of Slumber - The Wretch (2011, Rise Above Records)
• Grand Magus - The Hunt (2012, Nuclear Blast)
• Corrosion of Conformity - Megalodon (2012, Scion A/V)
• Howlin' Rain - The Russian Wilds (2012, Birdman Records; American Recordings)
• Astra - The Black Chord (2012, Rise Above Records; Metal Blade Records)
• Cathedral - The Last Spire (2013, Rise Above Records)
• Weedeater - Goliathan (2015, Season of Mist)
• Windhand - Grief's Infernal Flower (2015, Relapse)
• Windhand - Eternal Return (2018, Relapse)

External Links

• / Arik Roper on Discogs