0009 (American, b. 1984) is the alias of Chris Maestas, a Los Angeles artist and designer who makes AI-generated images that grow out of 1990s graffiti and skateboard culture. His work treats fabric, especially the technical sportswear worn by New York graffiti writers in the 1990s, as a way of holding memory, identity and the texture of urban life.
Maestas grew up as a graffiti writer and skateboarder in Los Angeles and graduated in 2013 from the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, where he studied automotive and industrial design. He began in acrylic, oil-based enamel and spray paint before moving into digital and, later, generative AI, and describes himself as part of the last generation trained to sketch on paper before digital workflows took over.
