In preparation for my Urban Undead show that will be an unveiling of the Hobo-Eaters in Cali I decided to customize a pair of ol school Puma Romas for fun. Using a couple of my characters from the series along with some smooth design elements I was able to transform an otherwise blank pair of black sneaks. A little 18 kt gold inking and blammo! we have some beautifully reflective kicks for the street. This pair will be on sale post the Oct 1st show. If you’d like a pair of sneakers with custom artwork let me know!

Custom Hobo-Kicks by Beery Method

It’s been a long time coming…but it’s all gonna pop off this week. That’s right, put on your desensitized eyes and get ready for the best beginning to any Halloween/horror month you ever knew. I’m raising the dead and bringing them to San Francisco right smack down in the center of the Haight district to boogie with the dark masses on Friday October 1st. All the righteous creatures will be getting served real proper like at D-Structure where we are bringing the freshest gear from the wicked land of DEFIANT!

This is a dually killer occasion as it marks the SF launch of Defiant wear in the Bay! So you may remember that zombie rapper series I put out a bit ago?…well now they are available on our finest tees and will be for sale at the show. 3 of the living dead rappers Zombeazy, Zombiggie, and 2Dead are available now through the store and online. I also printed up a limited edition of hand silk screened posters just for the show which will be for sale. We will also be giving away limited ed silk screened bandanas and prints. Not only will Defiant be giving away a ton of swag, D-Structure is giving away grab bags, vinyl toys, free wine to the first 100 guests and more! Come for the gifts and stay for the art!

Seriously though there is more. One of the main features of the show are my beloved Pulp Street characters. I spent quite some time getting those giant parade-style muppet heads just right and now it is time for the public to enjoy them at their worst. Come out and get your photos with the duo and upload them to www.defiantwear.com for a chance to win some tees! Come have a mobile mixer with Bert (Jules) or a glass of wine with Ernie (Vincent). These hit men are just for the party…sorry you can’t rent them!

There will also be an after party and an after, after party…

So COME OUT to URBAN UNDEAD and join myself, my hobo-eaters and zombies, DEFIANT, some bloody muppets, and D-Structure for the fall art/horror/fashion partay of 2010!

Urban Undead

Hot off the presses…a lil preview of the DEFIANT zombie rapper tees…teaser…

Zombie Rapper Tees • DEFIANT 2010

Pre-opening photos of my installation and window displays:

Lycosa Master Installation Mural • Urban Undead • 2010

I had a blast working my booth over at The Bravern in Bellevue this past weekend. The event “Fall for Fashion” at The Bravern was a smattering of visual artists, fashionistas, media, and those who prefer champagne as the beverage of choice. I showed out with a ton of prints, my own limited apparel line, and customized tees and tote bags for the masses. I ended up doing a ton of stencils for the custom tee shirts. A percentage of the sales went to the Sunflower Children charity. It was a really great event and an even better cause to perform for. Fellow street artists Solace and Weirdo were there to bring the flavor as well.

A special thanks to Ian, Kat, Kristie, Hope, the Sunflower Children, and the entire Bravern crew for all your assistance. Oh, and thank you sun for showing up as well!

For more on the event: http://www.thebravern.com/fall/

Here are some of the custom color stencil tees and bags:

Octo tees...the most popular of all my designs offered at The Bravern

close up of some octo stencil action!

Chic design was second most popular...the ladies particularly enjoy!

the red and black made her lucious!

Chic on a canvas bag...I think so!

damn that wrinkle!...ah well...adds character.

Firebird, phoenix, thunderbird...ahem...it rises from the ash..and yes slightly skewed on this tee!

I’m working on a series dubbed Pop Fiction which is centered around parody-type concepts of imagery from my youth that has been engrained not only in my mind for life, but into American culture as well. Bringing characters, shows, music, and movies together is nothing short of fantastical mash ups that leave the mind bent for a few seconds and then percolates the inner child which is tickled by the juxtaposition of the selected subject matters. For example, the piece titled Pulp Street had to do with my love of sesame street as a very young child to the affect of the cult classic Pulp Fiction on my teenage years. As someone who grew up in the midst of these societal-pervading entities I have to regurgitate new meaning on the details of what specifically made these programs so successful.

My second installment to the Pop Fiction series is an ode to the hip-hop culture with a take on Lil Wayne. If Animal from the muppets had a more ‘human’ aspect to his character the personality and raunchiness of Lil Wayne would be a spitting reflection. Animal was a crazed muppet who was always making a statement with his ‘animal-nature’ and this definitely crosses over into the marketing of a huge rap-superstar such as the aforementioned. I always pictured Animal off-stage cracking a 40 oz., firing up a blunt, and acting in his maniacal fashion.

Lil Animal ©2010 BeeryMethod

This series falls into the Rated R category, but it cracks me up how much kids connect with these paintings just because of the muppet characters portrayed. It seems to bewilder the sponge-like mind of the youth and intrigue them enough to question why these characters they enjoy and know so well are ‘out of character’. I like to tell the audience and viewers who come to my shows with these pieces hanging that the work is not “G” and if anything it is “O.G.”. The point obviously is to create humor with a dark spin and I think it is important for every young human being to be able to negotiate the always seemingly happy side of everything…including their favorite cartoon and kid-show characters.

I decided it was necessary to show a bit of the process involved when screen printing posters. For my Urban Undead SF show Oct 1 2010 and a variety of shows around Seattle I hand silk screened 60 posters as well as a limited number of wood panels. If your unfamiliar with the process of screen printing I suggest doing a web search as it is a bit too much info to plug it all in here. Although, the shots below will give you an idea of how I accomplish large 1 color oversize signature art posters.

Growing up as a youngster in the 80′s and then a teenager in the 90′s of course has it’s era-culture-candy as I like to put it. Yes I was a child who was hooked on Sesame Street (who the F wasn’t?). And yes I was the ripe age of 16 when Pulp Fiction came out (lucky me!). So here I am 15 years later when the cult classic and childhood nostalgia parodies are running rampant and speak massive volume to the Millenials (aka generation X) and I have to do my part to keep the mash up of memories alive in what I dub my Pop-Fiction series.

What better to start off this series than mashing up that infamous puppet duo Bert and Ernie with that other killer duo Vincent and Jules of Pulp Fiction? What I find hilarious about Bert being portrayed as Jules is that there was always this subdued underlining that Bert was just a hint on the angry/evil side. Ernie always seemed a little more passive aggressive and fit the role of Vincent perfectly. This painting was a blast to work on and I have moments of reflection when I look at it and say to myself, “what the hell is it that I do again?”, and laugh. This piece made it’s debut as part of the Malice In Wonderland show I curated back in July and had a huge impact on the crowd who came through the venue. I had a number of people who said they had a shitty day and when they saw this huge 4×4 foot painting their ill-affects were immediately lifted. I’m proud to make art that makes people laugh and feel good as I also work on a lot of edgy and dark pieces as standard.

There is a lot more to tell on this painting and I will be sharing more of the Pop-Fiction series soon. This piece is now for sale from Defiant at www.defiantwear.com and will also be featured in Big-Up magazine in Oct 2010. I’ll be updating the thread as news comes in!

Pulp Street oil painting ©2010 BeeryMethod

The word bubble says in Japanese and Yakuza: “Say what again, asshole!”

If your in the Seattle area Friday September 10 you have to come down to the Greenwood Collective and check out my new show. I’ll be showing in Yvonne Palermo’s new studio/gallery space for the evening. The show I’ve dubbed as Killa Illos is a conglomerate of my past oil painting works, some limited edition zombie rapper panels, and will feature new limited edition prints and screen printed posters. It’s gonna be an epic night of BeeryMethod mayhem. Come out and join me for a drink and see all the new work I’ve been holding out to blast the Greenwood/Seattle scene with!

Killa Illos Show

My teenage years took place in the midst of the grunge deluge during the 90′s. Needless to say that the music of the time had an adverse affect on me then and a rippling effect on me now. STP was one of those emerging bands that although more L.A. had that Seattle sound of the time. They merged in with the likes of Soundgarden, Pearl Jam, and Alice in Chains quite effectively. Many o’boyhood memories occurred with the perpetuating soundtrack backdrop of Stone Temple Pilots and I still listen to their pop-refined ear medicine today. So when contacted through the band’s merchandising company to do some design work for the band I damn near blew a valve right outta my brain pan! I was like “hell yeah, what’s the direction?”. The band wanted something psychedelic and that was all I needed to hear. After sending them a few mock ups I decided to work out one of the psychedelic-posteresque concepts I had roaming through the gray matter. What you see below is a near finalized version of the Oracle design I began for the band.

STP Oracle ©2010 BeeryMethod

Working with any band on covers, collaterals, and designs takes quite a bit of time. Not just on the creation aspect, but in just getting in touch and hearing back from such superstars. It took a while for them to finally get back with me about the design. It appears as though they may not be using this one on the merchandise as planned, but it was a hell of a lot of fun dishing out some psychedelic throw back material for one of my all time favorite rock bands!

I submitted a design to DBH called ‘Golden Hope’ which depicts a flying eagle made of intricate design elements. The design was dropped into a competition for H.O.P.E for the Gulf. Over 150,000,000 gallons of oil have spilled into the Gulf of Mexico since April of this year, causing immense devastation to communities, wildlife, and businesses. As the cleanup efforts continue and steps are taken to help put people’s lives back together again, DBH is doing its part by teaming up with H.O.P.E., Helping Other People Everywhere, to bring awareness and financial support to the Gulf Coast region with a shirt designed artists such as myself.

1st placement for all over discharge printing on a black tee:

Golden Hope ©2010 BeeryMethod

2nd placement for full front 4 color print on black tee:

Golden Hope Design for H.O.P.E.

Seeing so many of those horrible pictures of all the marine wildlife covered in oil and just visualizing the amount of oil out there and on the shorelines inspired me to do something a little different. When I think of the US and how it reacts to such situations I think symbology. When I think of ‘hope’ the mind conjures bright colors. I’ve taken the golden eagle, which is indelibly a symbol of strength and virility, and used it as a means to make a design that is highly fashionable and speaks clearly the statement of theH.O.P.E. foundation.

The eagle is flying proud, not bogged in a sea of oil, and grasps a ribbon representing the hope and salvation of our beautiful oceans and wildlife. This bird is also a symbol of a nation who makes strong efforts to correct the fallout of such catastrophes. Jump over to DBH to show some love for a great cause!

I recently finished up another classic album cover for group leader of The N.O.C. K Sos. The thing that I love best about working with Sos is that we have an unspoken kinship in the realm of visual imagery. When he commissions me for a cover he conveys his concepts in the best form he knows how, extremely detailed with full penmanship. K Sos not only raps hard off the ill beats on his records he puts a lot of thought into how he wants to visually reflect the library of work that he puts into each and every title. We do a lot of corresponding remotely to get each and every cover project just right. He usually throws me a page or two of specifics relating to the ‘theme’ of the album and then begins to illustrate his story to me with snippets of inked notes as well as floating me some raw tracks to get inspired.

His latest release, The Late-Nite Walrus, is no exception for our insanely syncopated symbiosis. What began as a few liner notes from K Sos turned into a deeply exciting cover to work on when it came around to the BeeryMethod Studio. His notes consisted of “a walrus (with sunglasses, a tuxedo on, tusks, and whiskers) walking forward in a desert. In the desert, he is surrounded by stacks of CDs (which appear like castles) and tons of random book shelves filled with books.” I decided to take this concept a bit further and ‘class’ it up a bit. Rather than stacks of compact discs I decided that the old vinyl was more proper. The walrus character was a depiction of a burnt-out Vegas act who had done his dues and is now out of his element yet surrounded by what he loves best, his words and music. This was a clever hint on the personality and desires of K Sos as well. We even hid a few book titles on the foreground shelf that are a few of Sos’s favorites.

The Late-Nite Walrus ©2010 BeeryMethod

Aside from the vinyl I thought the perfect compliment to this lounge-act-walrus was to add in a few other antiqued elements such as the old record player, radios, violin, and vinyl records stuck in the ground with K Sos’s other cd titles. Taking a reference from the Marvin Gaye album I Want You, I divided the top half of the cover with a simple white line and black rectangle. This also conveys the old record covers of the era and seemed like the perfect touch for the theme of this album. Along with the Vegas references I created lettering based upon the famous ‘Welcome to Las Vegas’ sign on the strip and even borrowed those neon star elements which really made the cover ‘pop’. Using our neon color trifecta which consisted of purple, green, and blue it was an easy task of strategically placing these colors and elements to keep the viewers I moving around the cover.

Last but not least I chose to utilize the crow element. The crows represent the vehicle of bringing knowledge, shape-shifting, eloquence, prophecy, boldness, skill, knowledge, cunning, and trickery as symbolism. The flock of crows is the unleashing of lyrical mayhem and fortitude K Sos brings to the mic and were worthy elements to bring intricacy to the sky and atmosphere. They float nicely in front of the moon.

When I finished the cover, after a few small revisions, K Sos sent me this message: “Do you have a portal into my brain?…is that a component of the BeeryMethod?…shit is fucking ridic!”