User:Robbortel

Robert Ortel (Robb) (Puerto Rican/Irish; born March 28, 1969) is an American artist and television personality. He is best known for his work as the in-house airbrush artist on the reality television show American Chopper on Discovery where he is known for his unapologetic candor and never being afraid to speak up for what he is passionate about.

Early Life: Robb Ortel was born in Bronx, NY, the son of artist and retired FDNY firefighter Peter Ortel and artist Madelyn Ortel. He started drawing as soon as he was able to pick up a pencil. As a child he quickly began creating comic book superheroes in the styles of DC and Marvel, an influence he attained thru his father, who himself, as a boy dreamed of being a comic book artist.

Having no interest in traditional studies during his high school years, Robbie (known by those closest to him) spent half his school day in a Votech school majoring in Advertising Design where he first picked up an airbrush. “It was a marriage made in Heaven”, remembers Robb. “That experience changed my life and drove my passion in believing I could make a living as an artist”. By 16, Ortel started his first business, custom painting denim and leather jackets.

In 1988 Ortel was accepted at the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York City. He spent most of his time in the dorm, playing guitar while continuing his clothing business, earning money for school and subway fares to Greenwich Village, where he drew inspiration from other artists.

Early Career: He spent the first 15 years of his professional career working along side his father, who had built a reputation as one of the finest gold leaf artists in the United States and Canada, mostly lettering, scroll work and striping of fire trucks. As the father and son business and reputation grew, so did the demand for Robb’s airbrushed mural work, incorporating caricatures of fire department mascots and realistic murals into the gold leaf emblem work. He quickly expanded his work to motorcycles, cars and trucks.

2005 was the grand opening of Robb Ortel’s Hot Air Graphixx, a small custom paint shop in Middletown, NY. “Opening my own shop was the best business decision I ever made” says Ortel. Being his own boss allowed him the advantage of turning down less creative projects for more challenging and different airbrushed work. As his skills as an artist excelled, his artwork earned numerous national awards. His reputation and clientele quickly grew nationwide and soon gained celebrity clients.

Current Career: After several opportunities throughout the United States to be an “in-house” artist for several reputable companies, in July 2008 Ortel joined forces with Orange County, New York resident Paul Teutul Sr., owner of Orange County Choppers. His airbrushed artwork can be seen on hundreds of motorcycles built by OCC on their reality TV show American Choppers. In 2011 Robb was featured, when asked by Tuetul to design a futuristic styled motorcycle for St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital. The finished bike proved once again his diversity as an artist. In 2011, Robb felt a need to find a creative outlet outside of his 50 hour work week at OCC and was approached by long time friend Drew Whitney to manage, promote and help launch the "Robb Ortel" brand. Deciding to focus on a specific project the team formed a partnership and created Rott'n'Wear, a horror themed clothing line emblazoning artwork created by Robb Ortel, with story lines of the "Zombitch" characters created by Whitney. This gave the ability to showcase both their talents in multiple arenas. With money financed by Ortel and his wife, Sherri, Rott'n'Wear clothing was no longer simply an "idea" and, as a result, an inventory of apparel was now ready to be sold to the public. After being dissatisfied with the lack of progress and momentum, the joint venture dissolved early in 2012. All existing agreements between Robb Ortel and Whitney were subsequently terminated. Resorting to his original plan Robb Ortel chose to pursue outside opportunities without the need of a partner. Robb is now persuing his ventures with what Robb terms "the right tools for the job".

Robb Ortel is currently in the process of taking his brand world wide and is in the pre-production stages of his art-themed reality show, Robb Ortel’s Art Attack.