We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Robb Ortel. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Robb below.

Robb, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. We’d love to hear the backstory behind a risk you’ve taken – whether big or small, walk us through what it was like and how it ultimately turned out.

I remember a few years after my kids were born while I was working a 9-5 job managing a group home for developmentally challenged adults, that I made the risky decision to quit my job and commit, full time, to following my dream of being an airbrush artist. My kids were only 2 and 5 years old. My wife, at the time, was only working part time. It was a scary scenario to risk the job security I had to follow a dream. But had I not taken that risk I would not be where I am today. I have a successful career custom painting motorcycles and guitars, I was the in-house airbrush artist for Orange County Choppers and on the reality show American Chopper, I created a successful clothing line, and I have a really cool television show on Amazon Prime that I created called Robb Ortel’s Art Attack.
Had I not taken the risk and fully invested in myself I honestly don’t think I’d be the person I am today.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I was born the youngest of three boys in Bronx, NY, the son of late artist and retired FDNY firefighter Peter Ortel and artist Madelyn Ortel. I started drawing as soon as i was able to pick up a crayon. As a child i quickly began creating comic book superheroes in the styles of DC and Marvel, an influence i attained thru my father, who himself, as a boy dreamed of being a comic book artist.

Having no interest in traditional studies during my high school years, I spent half the school day in a Votech school majoring in Advertising Design where I first picked up an airbrush. It was a marriage made in Heaven. That experience changed my life and drove my passion in believing I could make a living as an artist. By 16, I started my first business, custom painting denim and leather jackets.

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

I spent the first 15 years of my professional career working along side my father, Peter, who had built a reputation as one of the finest gold leaf artists in North America, 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 had ever made. Being my own boss allowed me the advantage of turning down less creative projects for more challenging and different airbrushed work. As my skills as an artist excelled, my artwork earned numerous national awards and recognition within the industry. My reputation and clientele quickly grew nationwide and soon gained celebrity clients.

After several offers throughout the United States to be an “in-house” artist for some reputable companies, in July 2008 my career hit a new high and I was invited to join forces with Orange County, New York resident Paul Teutul Sr., owner of Orange County Choppers. My airbrushed artwork can now be seen on hundreds of motorcycles built by OCC on their reality TV show American Choppers. In 2011 I was featured on the show, when asked by Tuetul to design a futuristic styled motorcycle for St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital. The finished bike proved once again my diversity as an artist.

In late 2011, I felt a need to find a creative outlet outside of my 50 hour work week at OCC and started to launch the “Robb Ortel” brand. Creating Robb Ortel’s Rotten Icon, a clothing/merchandise line emblazoning artwork, characters and slogans created by me.
Never one to rest on my laurels, I then came up with a concept for a docu-series style television show entitled Robb Ortel’s Art Attack, an action-packed travelogue that features some of the most shocking, awe-inspiring, and physically demanding art forms in the world. In each episode, I, as the host, travels to two destinations to apprentice under two extraordinary artists, trying my hand at unfamiliar, and often times dangerous, forms of art.

In early 2024 I will be relocating to the Myrtle Beach, South Carolina area to open up my new custom paint shop called Robb Ortel’s Art Attack Custom Shop where I will continue to design and custom paint anything and everything from motorcycles to wave runners to RVs and boats.

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

There was a time in my life that forced me to change direction both professionally and personally

In 2013 was a time in my life where I had to change direction both professionally and personally. I had parted ways with Orange County Choppers and a was going thru a divorce. I moved into a small apartment and had no place to store the years worth of artwork or inventory of my clothing line. A fellow artist and “friend” had offered to store my things in a building he was occupying. After about a year I had inquired about picking up my belongings and was told everything was destroyed by water damage from a leak. Shortly after that I had found out not only was that a complete lie, but he had sold my paintings.

I was devastated. I had lost everything. My job, my marriage and now all my artwork. I had felt defeated and deflated. Feeling depleted of creativity I needed to step away from my business and a career in art and focus on a simpler life by being an automotive painter. This gave me the opportunity to relax a bit, alleviate the stress I had been put on myself for several years and replenish the creative aspect of my brain.

Life often times throws us some unforeseen curveballs. We just need to step away for a bit, re-adjust, and re-evaluate the situation.

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

The most rewarding aspect of being an artist is watching my ideas go from concept to a finished product. Especially when that finished product turns out better than I had hoped.

Being a compulsive perfectionist is both a gift and a curse. I strive to put out the best product I can for myself and customers. But I also need to know when to say “OK, that’s enough. It’s finished.”
It’s a bit of a maddening process, especially when money is involved. I always go the extra mile and give the customer more than what they anticipated or paid for. But I also need to put food in my family’s mouths, so there are only so many extra miles I can artistically go.      

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://instagram.com/art_attack_custom_shop?igshid=OGQ5ZDc2ODk2ZA==
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/RobbOrtel?mibextid=LQQJ4d

Image Credits
Ashley Wamsley