[citation needed] Born and raised in New York City, Gartel attended the High School of Music & Art.
Gartel has had many associations with musicians, including Debbie Harry (Blondie) Sid Vicious (Sex Pistols), Stiv Bators (Dead Boys) Johnny Thunders (New York Dolls), Ace Frehley (Kiss), and Wendy O Williams (Plasmatics).
Gartel was the artist on the NASA Magnetospheric Multiscale Mission (MMS) launch at Kennedy Space Center on March 12, 2015.
[4] Gartel has created groundbreaking artworks for the National Basketball Association, the Walt Disney Company, Forbes magazine, Coca-Cola, Philip Morris, and many others.
Gartel created the first National State Art Car at the Capitol Building in Concord, unveiling with New Hampshire Governor Maggie Hassan in the summer of 2015.