Joe DeVito was born on March 16, 1957 in New York City. He graduated with honors from Parsons School of Design in 1981 and studied at the Art Students League in New York City. He is the founder of DeVito ArtWorks, LLC, an artist-driven transmedia studio dedicated to the creation and development of multi-faceted properties including King Kong of Skull Island, War Eagles, and The Primordials. DeVito ArtWorks is exclusively represented by World Builder Entertainment.
Joe is also the co-author (with Brad Strickland) of five books, which he illustrated as well. The first, based on Joe’s original Skull Island prequel/sequel, was KONG: King of Skull Island (DH Press), published in 2004. The second book, Merian C. Cooper’s KING KONG, was published by St. Martin’s Griffin in 2005. In 2017 DeVito ArtWorks published the third book (the first under its own imprint), the very Limited Edition hardcover King Kong of Skull Island, the most comprehensive Kong history to date. King Kong of Skull Island covers the origins of the Kongs and the human civilization on Skull Island, the building of the great Wall, and the in-depth prequel/sequel story of King Kong himself. In 2019 the LE book was split into a two-part paperback version for the mass market: King Kong of Skull Island Part One: Exodus and King Kong of Skull Island Part Two: The Wall.
The year 2022 saw the announcement of a new King Kong of Skull Island–based live action TV series from Disney+, gaming development with GameMill Entertainment, continued expansion of virtual reality platforms with Raw Thrills, Inc., along with a new Kong comic book series and board game with Dynamite Entertainment. These follow BOOM! Studio's highly successful comic book series Kong of Skull Island, and various special issues delving into events along the Kong timeline, including a six issue series Kong on the Planet of the Apes in association with 20th Century Fox.
Over the decades Joe has painted many of the most recognizable Pop Culture and Pulp icons, including King Kong, Tarzan, Doc Savage, Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Spider-Man, MAD magazine’s Alfred E. Neuman. He has illustrated hundreds of book and magazine covers, painted several notable posters and numerous trading cards for the major comic book and gaming houses, and created concept and character design for the film and television industries. DeVito continues painting covers for the Wild Adventuressaga(written by Will Murray), featuring Doc Savage, Tarzan, The Shadow, Pat Savage and King Kong–including King Kong vs. Tarzan, the first-ever authorized meeting of these iconic characters, and The Spider.
Deeply rooted in the fine arts, DeVito has sculpted several traditional statues and reliefs while restoring many others. These include two monumental statues of the Madonna and Child. One is placed in Domus Pacis at the Our Lady of Fatima Shrine, in Portugal. The second sculpture resides at the World Apostolate of Fatima (WAF) Shrine in Washington, NJ. Also of note was a full restoration of the historic Russian icon known as the Odessa Madonna for the WAF, which now resides in Kazan, Russia.
Other prominent sculpture commissions include Doc Savage/Giant Python and Hogarth Tarzan statues for Graphitti Designs, the official 100th Anniversary statue of Tarzan of the Apes for the Edgar Rice Burroughs Estate, The Cooper Kong for the Merian C. Cooper Estate, Superman, Wonder Woman and Batman for DC Comics and Chronicle Books’ Masterpiece Editions and other notable characters.
To augment his various creative endeavors, DeVito has contributed essays and articles to such collected works as Kong Unbound: The Cultural Impact, Pop Mythos, and Scientific Plausibility of a Cinematic Legend and “Do Android Artists Paint in Oils When They Dream?” in Pixel or Paint: The Digital Divide in Illustration Art. He occasionally lectures and has taught in the graduate illustration program at the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York City and as an adjunct professor in the illustration department at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia. DeVito is also developing his newest creation in words and images, a faction world of truly epic proportions titled The Primordials. His paintings and sculptures have won numerous awards, and are exhibited in museums, galleries and private collections around the world.
