James Marshall, AKA Dalek, is an American-born artist heavily influenced by Japanese pop culture, the punk rock world and street art. He is most closely associated with the "Space Monkey" image which he paints, photographs and creates digitally. It explores the push and pull dynamics of opposing forces—the play between rigidity and fluidity.

A variation on the creation, now synonymous with Dalek, was first put on display on a wall in Connecticut in 1995 and gained the support of Shepard Fairey. Shortly after, Dalek went into an apprenticeship under Murakami to further articulate himself.

"While developing work for a Jonathan LeVine Gallery exhibition entitled Desperate, Rejected and Angry in 2007, Marshall grew frustrated with the iconic image he had created and felt the need to break apart, cover-up and slowly dissolve the Space Monkey. This resulted in layers of geometric shapes and an explosion of his color palette. Free from the constraints of the character, geometry and color became larger driving forces in his work."