Here are some photos of the crowd and artists that attended Bots vs Beasts. We also have a few really great photos of the evening entertainment Supercommuter. I’m still waiting on video footage from the opening night. More to come!

You can now purchase a selection of my Hobo-Eaters tees from my Coalesce Clothing line as well as my Pulp Street design from Defiant at Rotofugi Chicago! Rotofugi is your one stop shop for designer toys, urban art, and the goods that keep the inner child in you squealing for more. Owners Whitney and Kirby Kerr are simply amazing and do a phenomenal job of selecting quality merchandise. I’m super stoked to have some of the Beery apparel at Rotofugi and work with such passionate people. Rotofugi Designer Toy Store & Gallery, established in July 2004, is located on the border of Chicago’s Lincoln Park and Lakeview neighborhoods in a beautiful vintage building. Since opening, Rotofugi has grown to become one of the world’s premier sellers of designer toys from artists all over the world. Rotofugi features a diverse selection of vinyl figures, capsule toys, plush and more from both eastern and western designers. The adjoining Rotofugi Gallery features monthly art exhibits by a range of both local and nationally known artists.

Pulp Street

Pulp Street ©2010 Nick Beery | Defiant

Lumbering Jack

Lumbering Jack ©2010 Nick Beery

Rubix Dude

Rubix Dude ©2010 Nick Beery | Coalesce Clothing

Vapor Trails

Vapor Trails ©2011 Nick Beery | Coalesce Clothing

An enormous thank you to all who attended our opening for the Bots vs Beasts show at Urban Light Studios. The amount of people who came out to the show was incredible. The gallery was packed out from the moment our doors opened and we kept the good vibes rolling with Supercommuter playing live upstairs later in the night. Most of the local Seattle artists were in attendance and their respective fans were present to meet them and buy some of the originals that were dished out for the opening night. All in all it was an amazing show and the attendance was huge! I’d like to personally thank all the artists who brought their best bots and beasts to the battle. The balance was tipped with the Beasts taking the win for the show (see photos below). Extra special thanks to Supercommuter for killing it with their brilliant session (video to come!). Big shout outs and thank you to Kevin Law at Urban Light Studios, assistants Autumn and Elise, our booze sponsor Bear Flag wine, our sound and audio gear manager Ian Graves, and Tommy Swenson for putting together an amazing montage of cult monster/robot projected videos.

The artists and their works for Bots vs Beasts 3/11/11:

More photos of the crowd and entertainment at Bots vs Beasts to come!

Join myself and a unique selection of brilliant Seattle artists for Book Club. Come see the visual interpretations of the book Good Omens “the Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch”. Artists were asked to read the book and select an passage from which to draw inspiration for a personal rendition on scenes, moods, characters, and interpretive illustrations. The opening reception is Friday March 11, 6-10pm at Bherd Studios in the Greenwood Collective Seattle. The show will be up until the end of March and will then be transported to the 619 Western building for an encore showing.

Book Club • Good Omens • BHerd Studio

Continuing with my new exploration of media utilizing old photographs from the early 1900′s I’ve delved deep to reveal my very own character interpretations from the Good Omen’s graphic novel. Mixing up the media by layering acrylics on top of the relic photos was a bit of a challenge. Achieving the exact antiqued tones that vary from monochromatic sepia to faded warm grey tones can be a tough balance. Getting the gradations, textures, and form is pertinent to create a seamless blend of paint on print. Below are my character renditions which will be at the show. I’ve chosen to frame each original piece with antique frames to further heighten the vintage aesthetics.

SATAN aka BEELZEBUB:

Beelzebub is introduced as “A Likewise Fallen Angel and Prince of Hell” (13) in the Dramatis Personae. He is briefly mentioned when a worried Crowley, trying to get his mind off misplacing the Antichrist puts on a tape in the Bentley. The first line is from Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody, “Bee-elzebub has a devil put aside for me” Crowley begins to introduce Beelzebub but is cut off at “he’s the Lord of–” (349). The Hebrew origin of the name, Baʽal zĕbhūbh, literally means lord of flies. In the Old Testament, Baalzebûb was the Philistine god of the city Ekron, also called lord of the flies because he drove flies away from the sacrifice. In the New Testament, an evil spirit named Beelzeboul “destroys by means of tyrants, causes demons to be worshiped, arouses desires in priests, brings about jealousies and murders, and instigates wars”. He is also called the prince of demons. Though it is unclear whether Baalzebûb and Beelzeboul were intended to be the same figure, elements of both are included in this novel’s Beelzebub, as well as generally in popular culture today.  My Satan is rather a mixture of Death and Demon.

Beelzebub • Acrylics on relic photograph • ©2011 Nick Beery

As an investigator of evil and darkness it was my pleasure creating the 4 Horsemen of the Apocalypse characters. I blended Death with Satan as the sinister dark side is prevalent in either mentioning. The following character pieces represent the remaining riders of the apocalypse. I dug deep in my collection of age old photos to get the perfect feel for each.

FAMINE:

The sophisticated Horsemen who goes by the name of Dr. Raven Sable, at least during canon: if he’s had other names, they’re not mentioned — looks like a “pleasant, thrusting, successful businessman” (338). He’s thin, of course. He has black hair, a short black beard, and he dresses all in black. He has “dark grey eyes” (63). The International Express delivery-man finds him from the description of a “tall gent with a beard, nice suit.” Famine comes off as the most human of the four Horsepeople, perhaps because he has the most interaction with humans (War also deals with them, but those meetings tend to be short-lived by nature). When he first appears, he’s doing drinks with his accountant Frannie after having dinner with her. He knows her well enough to have bought her a laptop computer “as a personal present,” (64) which implies a certain amount of familiarity. Famine’s earlier internal meta-commentary suggest that the Horsepeople are aligned to one of the sides — namely Hell — in the coming conflict.) He takes pleasure in his job: “Sable grinned, the honest, open grin that goes with job satisfaction, perfect and pure. He was just killing time until the main event, but he was killing it in such exquisite ways. Time, and sometimes people” (64). Famine is a most deceptive character and fits the suit of an astute pre-depression gentleman quite swimmingly.

Famine • Acrylics on old photograph • ©2011 Nick Beery

WAR:

In the Good Omens universe, War isn’t a man, but a woman, who calls herself Scarlett. She is perhaps the most deceiving of all Horsemen on the surface. She has an air of danger about her: her voice sounds like “something that lurks in the long grass, visible only by the twitching of its ears, until something young and tender wobbles by” (45), her laugh is like “machine-gun stutter” (314), and though she’s described as beautiful, it’s “the way a forest fire was beautiful: something to be admired from a distance, not up close” (104). My depiction of War isn’t literal of the descriptors in the book, but my take on the “two-faced” and disingenuous qualities of the character. A seemingly beautiful flower from the front with a hidden dark demon lurking behind and from within.

There’s no sense that War regards the people around her as anything other than playthings for her amusement. She’s polite enough if she talks to someone, but the closest to prolonged interaction with anyone besides the other Horsepeople is with her (human) fellow war correspondents: “Ms. Zuigiber just smiled and bought another round of drinks for everybody, on the National World Weekly. And watched the fights break out around her. And smiled” (100). Only with the Horsepeople does she act anything like human, comparing Armageddeon to “waiting for Christmas. Or birthdays.” When Famine reminds her that the Horsepeople don’t have birthdays, she retorts, “I didn’t say we do. I just said that was what it was like” (236). War is the car-crash you can’t help but watch.

War • Acrylics on old photograph • ©2011 Nick Beery

POLLUTION:

In the traditional reckoning of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, this horseman is Pestilence. However, apparently Pestilence retired in 1936, “muttering about penicillin” (263), and Pollution took over. He looked like Victorian Romantic poets looked just before the consumption and drug abuse really started to cut it” (185). “His skin was pale, his hair a faded blond, his eyes light gray. He was somewhere in his twenties at a casual glance, and a casual glance was all anyone ever gave him. He was almost entirely unmemorable” (64). “Farther down the riverbank sat a young man dressed all in white. His hair was white, his skin chalk pale. For the most part, however, nobody notices him. That’s how he works. “He was unobtrusive; his presence was cumulative” (65). He’s responsible for massive oil spills, for nuclear plant meltdowns, for the development of “the petrol engine, and plastics, and the ring-pull can” (65). I decided to further push the sense of Pollution’s essence and motive I would include a smoking cigar jutting from his pale and ugly face. Modeling the tones of paint on the awkward head of a late 1800′s countryman was a great undertaking. The photo was relatively miniature which meant breaking out the one-haired brushes.

Pollution • Acrylics on old photograph • ©2011 Nick Beery

These suckers will be hitting the streets soon. What streets you ask? Keep your eyes peeled. If you spot ‘em take a photo and shoot it over to me. You’ll score some stickers from the Beery Studio! Happy Zombie Rapper hunting yall’z!

Thug Life in the ghetto box while I rocked these out!

Thug til I die!

Beery | Biggie

Big Ammo!

R.I.P Eazy E! ...with love, Beery

Eazy Ammo!

Below is the Decuki Gunslinger sticker I will be distributing to those of you who spot the Zombies and hit me up with your photos of their resting place!

Sticky Fingers | Decuki Gunslinger Stickers

Ol Decay Bastard and Jam Maggots Jay will be posted out as well …  didn’t get shots of those bad boys … but you will recognize!

Beery | The tireless creative engine!

Stay tuned…and if you see me on the pavement pass the 40, the L, and don’t forget to call Five-0…word!

I had the pleasure of putting together a graphic for screen printed collaterals for Seattle based scale-out storage and solutions company Isilon Systems. Isilon recently launched a new product this year called Blue Flame | Wing Foot. The project involved creating a blue flame vector element that was incorporated into the company’s existing Isilon Rings Logo. The end result was a visually pleasing logo iteration that respectively reflected the concept of the new products title and release. We settled on a 2 color design that was printed to the front of the tee and incorporated the company name and product title small on the sleeve. It was gratifying working with Isilon and they were super stoked on the end product as was I.

Isilon Blue Flame ©2010 Nick Beery

Although UPS tried to put the kibosh on my coffin deadline, by trying not to deliver, I finally received the lil vault and put my mark on it accordingly with an ode to a timeless master of horror / macabre literature … H.P. Lovecraft. All you Lovecraft fans know the Cthulhu Mythos which is the true inspiration for a cult-pop coffin dweller. Titled “Death May Die” the piece incorporates the hand built coffin (by Duffy from Electric Coffin) painted texturally to evoke the elder ones and a removable “Shoggoth” character/toy. The title is a clipped reference to one of the truly great Lovecraftian quotes “That is not dead which can eternal lie. Yet with strange aeons even death may die.”

Shoggoth Toy / Vault of Cthulhu Coffin ©2011 Nick Beery

After putting together a graphic novel 5 years ago with writer Scott Beem and comic artist Zac Atkinson titled Vault of Cthulhu I continued to arouse my dark side with other Lovecraft inspired pieces. Paying a bit of homage to our book I decided to use the highly coveted title graphic which is integrated into the upper part of the coffin where the creature extends his cyclopean tentacles. This works perfectly as I see the coffin as the true “vault” that holds the aeon aged beings of the Cthulhu Mythos. It is always satisfying jumping into the 3D work and bringing some layers to my visual repertoire.

Vertical Coffin "Death May Die" ©2011 Nick Beery

Check out the gallery below for close up details of the Cthulhu Coffin and the Shoggoth Toy.

Boxes of Death II /// ElectricCoffin /// Seattle

Duffy from Electric Coffin with a little insight into the production of the show and artist line up:

Boxes of Death 2 from Andrius Simutis on Vimeo.

Duffy’s recap of Boxes of Death II … a most EPIC show!

Boxes of Death Show from Andrius Simutis on Vimeo.

A retrospective of my paintings and prints are on display and for sale at Victrola the entire month of March. The show includes past oil paintings from my mechanical animals series as well as a few new wood burned and stenciled pieces from this new season. The show will hang from March 1 – 31st. Great coffee and rad art all in one fantastic joint. There is something for everyone at this show!

Agents of Chaos Retrospective Show /// Victrola /// March 2011

These killer Octo Coal stencil panels are available at the show. 3 color choices of Ltd Ed I. Hand Signed, numbered, and ready for a good home!

Octo Coal • Aerosol Stencil / Ink / Wood • ©2011 Nick Beery

As a lover of the classic martial arts genre films it was my token of appreciation to create I Saw Right Through You as design paying homage to not only the films but the most famous martyr Bruce Lee and his fury. This design was painted on a blank skateboard for the Deli / Manic “Blank Canvas” show and is also in a digital / graphic form for printing stickers, posters, etc.

I Saw Right Through You Skate Board ©2011 Nick Beery

My favorite scene from the film is when Bruce is surrounded by a dozen punks giving him reason to pull out the best of tools for death, aside from the modern day version chainsaw, and ferociously puts a jagged saw through the head of one of the attackers! The image for the design is based on that particular scene with a few additional elements to bring it together compositionally. Bruce dawns a bandana around the mouth giving him a little more street finesse. I decided that since the film was relating to the the juxtaposition of Chinese and Japanese martial artists it was necessary to add the Japanese Characters which mean “Big Boss” or “Boss”.

The actual deck was painted with acrylics and some use of inks. There are some iridescent layers that really shimmer and change in the light that aren’t recognizable through this post. To emphasize the power of the saw blade and Bruce’s vengeance a nice lil word bubble with “ ! ” does the composition full justice. Some drippy sun bursts at the flanks of the board really tie in the Asian connection on the design. You won’t find me doing a ton of black and white paintings so this is truly a one of a kind deck and design from the Beery Method Studio.

A little about the film and it’s appeal to me:

The film that was originally slated to release titled Fists of Fury in the States had its new title switched with that of THE BIG BOSS, which was retitled The Chinese Connection to riff off of the then-current The French Connection and its heroin-related content. Seeing this film as The Chinese Connection lead to a bit of confusion as this film has nothing whatsoever to do with drug smuggling. Instead The Chinese Connection which I prefer to call The Big Boss is an archetypal “You killed my master!” revenge flick that has Bruce Lee as the top student at a kung fu school in Japanese-occupied China whose master is poisoned by the dastardly Samurai assholes at a local karate/swordsmanship/Japanese dojo. Bruce and his schoolmates endure all kinds of shit from the intolerably obnoxious Japanese because their teacher did not believe in vengeance. Since this is a Bruce Lee movie it’s only a matter of time until Bruce puts his slipper-clad foot right up the collective ass of every punk ass in the dojo, all while firmly standing up for Chinese pride in the face of imperialist racism and all-around douchebaggery.

I love the intensity and violence in the film that doesn’t come through so hard-core in latter Lee movies. Complete with some of Bruce’s, and martial arts cinema’s, most spectacular fights and the mother of all downbeat endings, this is simply the best film Bruce Lee ever made.