kHyal was born as “Kyle Ann Braun.” When she was 19 years old, she changed her name to “Khyal Braun,” and later legally to “kHyal” only. She began the process of trademarking her name in the 90s and also used the pseudonym “kHyal™.” In the past, she worked commercially under the business name “kHyal Inc.” as a graphic designer — and was far ahead of the curve of the current trend of personal branding. In fact, 16 years before the phrase was coined. She is currently using the registered trademark “MegaGlam®” as an umbrella identity for much of her creative work.

Since the early 80s, kHyal’s analog and digital work have centered on a combination of:

• Self-portraiture
• The use of Text
• Typography and Graphic Design as Art
• Collage
• Assemblage
• Lowbrow Technology
• Character Design
• Art as Fashion as Art

Self-taught, but at the cutting-edge in many mediums:

STREET ART
1985: Commissioned dumpster paintings at Ankrum Gallery (near The Pacific Design Center) and Artspace Gallery (near Paramount Studios), Los Angeles

INSTALLATION ART
Beginning in 1987, including experiential design using multi-media, hand-built and found objects and other materials. Heavy use of astroturf, plastic snow, large-scale photographic murals, mid-century film and slide projectors, MIDI soundscapes, projections, digital video, character animation, and custom lighting. (Now popular via entities like colorfactory.co and 29rooms.com — 30+ years later.)

COMPUTER-BASED ART
Among the first wave of artists to use commercially available personal computers to make art, and an active member of the Yale Amiga Users Group in 1985. (Influenced by greats like John Cage and Nam June Paik, along with Saturday morning cartoons, spaghetti westerns, and Japanese films like Godzilla versus Mothra.)

ZINE CREATOR
Produced and published a computer-generated zine called “Squid Florentine at Large” beginning in 1986 that also incorporated older industry techniques and materials like hand-coloring, press type, rubber stamps, and industrial stickers.

GRAPHIC DESIGN AND TYPOGRAPHY AS ART
Incorporated graphic design, lettering, and type into art practice since 1981, which is now very common. (She began this practice in third grade when her parents divorced and she used press type and markers given to her by her father, a graphic designer and illustrator, to write him letters and create mail art.)

SELF PORTRAITS
Used photographic self-portraiture as an art form since the early 80s via Polaroid cameras, copy machines, photo booths, stat cameras, webcams, digital cameras, smartphones, toy cameras, and video stills from a camera tethered to an Amiga computer. Created daily self-portraits using the first Apple iSight when it launched in 2003, years before the iPhone launched — and, before “selfies” and daily personal documentation became part of the mainstream.

ART AS FASHION AS ART
Used apparel as a form of self-expression in childhood and developed those concepts into performance and self-portraiture as a young adult. Launched new wearable work at major art fairs in New York, Miami, and Los Angeles every year since 2009, and at special events in South America, Europe, and Asia.