Book excerpt: Nathan Ota has gained a following over the last 20 years for his prolific work as an illustrator, painter and grafitti aritst. The surrealist world he creates contains recurring figures like a blind bird in a striped dunce hat, a gelatinous robot and a sprouting egg. Dark and engaging, this is a world of struggle that continues to clash and commune within each new painting. Ota combines his early influences of vintage comic books, punk rock fliers and his grafitti-obsessed high school years with formal training at the Art Center College of Design.