Büb was born in 1985 to a small Romani family in a New York alley. Both of his parents were victims to the clutches of laziness and refused to work, therefore resulting in Büb’s homelessness until his early teens. At the age of three he learned to read by staring at the label on a dumpster all day and by the age of four he was finger painting using toxic waste. His parents often called his work remarkable, as they could often remark how he wasn’t begging for change to support the family. While his parents were strongly against Büb’s creative outlet, often cited as pure jealousy, the artist perspired and by the age of twelve was being recognized by the likes of Andy Warhol. At the age of thirteen he had sold enough radioactive art to move out of the alley and buy a small studio apartment in Queens. This marks a huge turning point in Büb’s career, as he was able to buy actual art supplies and prevented any further radioactive damage.

While his art had previously been quite experimental, there was often little to no avant-garde. However, without the supervision of his parents, he was exposed into the avant-garde scene after Andy Warhol bummed him a cigarette. This cigarette is heralded by Büb as the most mind expanding experience in his life, noting his ability to taste color and see light. His art was even more admired by critics, but it wasn’t until Büb was exposed to the uncensored knowledge of the Internet where he truly opened his fifth eye. In 1999, Büb bought his first computer, an NES, which he connected to the internet through the use of old soup cans, as taught to him by Mr. Warhol. He spent the better part of a decade browsing forums to acquire art techniques and in 2009 came out with follow you’re memes, his first art piece in eight years. This piece marked a turning point as it had the perfect balance of experimental and avant-garde.

This piece, which was recently auctioned off at $4,025,843.71, cemented Büb’s name in the experimental avant-garde handbook. While he has released very few paintings since then, noting his lack of needing more money, he has delved into other mediums of art such as music. Despite his music not having nearly as big of a following as his art, critics have noted the strong influences from Warhol’s pop punk project in the early 2000’s and hypothesize the release of singles would turn him into a hit sensation. However, in a recent interview, Büb stated that while he enjoyed the experimental avant-garde scene he felt that art was “becoming too mainstream” and had hopes of “creating [his] own island from extracted art with an exclusive population of only the most influential and ground breaking artists.” Most people speculate that this bout of mania can be attributed to the cigarette he consumed at a young age.