Gary Cascio

Gary Cascio is the owner of Late Nite Grafix, Inc. Gary has been in graphic design and advertising since his first job in 1978 at Miller & Associates, an ad agency in Shreveport, Louisiana. (The printers were still pouring hot metal type back in those medieval days of advertising.) After working as an art director there, he moved on to Carter Advertising. While at CartAdCo, as it was lovingly called, Late Nite Grafix came into creation. It occurred one morning at 2am, after finishing an illustration for a chamber of commerce publication. Gary's boss at CartAdCo did not allow his employees to freelance, so Gary signed his illustration, "Late Nite Grafix". With the stroke of a very sleepy ink pen, Late Nite Grafix was formed. In 1989, Gary, his wife Reneé and their two year old son, Dylan, moved to Albuquerque, New Mexico. There, Gary worked at Vaughn Weeden Creative, one of the largest and most respected design firms in the Southwest. Determining his heart was really 50 miles north of Albuquerque, Gary formed an advertising agency with three other partners in Santa Fe. Quickly discovering that four heads was not always better than one, Gary took a job as creative director at a company that specialized in the publication of computer-related books and magazines. But Late Nite Grafix was always around, one way or another, and in 1992, Gary established Late Nite Grafix, Inc. as a source of unconventional creativity for Santa Fe and the Southwest. His work has been featured in such publications as Communications Arts, HOW magazine, Print magazine and Print's Best Logos and Symbols. He has also won numerous awards and citations of excellence from the NAAN 100 Best, Printing Industry Association of the South and the American Advertising Federation (AAF). Among his awards have been Best Illustration, Best Photography and Best of Show. Whenever he can, Gary likes to float down rivers in the Southwest and to photograph rock art.