Beana Bern in Berlin (sort of)

Every now and again I get the chance to be in 2 places at once.  Tonight I am at home in Hong Kong while simultaneously gracing the street posts and dirty night club walls of Berlin.  Namosh radio’d in for an image I shot of him back at p.m.k.  Rock.

Namosh - Live in Berlin

Here’s one of my favorite shots from that show and, if inclined, you can see the rest right here…

Namosh @ p.m.k. - Innsbruck, Austria

The Movement to My Still

How I waited until now to share this collaboration with you, I have no idea!  I am honored and privileged to share a platform with an extremely talented archivist of all things rock (and roll, etc.).  The movement to my still.  Take a look at the new and improved website for Brown Dog Films….within which I am most humbled to have a place.

Brown Dog Films

Changing the way you see the music industry…

Andy curated the Beana Bern gallery featured here out of a big portfolio of work.  These photos represent his favorites and gave me the lucky opportunity to see my work edited by someone whose work I also admire.  I’m looking forward to the collaborations to come (most likely when I am back in the good old USA, but that’s not a requirement) and will make a more concerted effort to find some rock to shoot in Hong Kong so I don’t lose my game.

Beana Bern on Chocodog

always brings me joy to participate in any little way with the best band in the world…how about clicking here and celebrating a sweet collaboration by buying some Ween merch!!

If You Want to Sing Out, Sing Out

There’s a million things to be…you know that there are.

  (Dont see the player?  click here)

I had good intentions to get outside today but a surprisingly late night last night and a surprisingly large amount of photos this morning kept me pretty well planted today.  I did manage a couple things other than sleep and photo editing but not by much.  Last night I headed to pmk for a line-up that wouldn’t normally see me leave my couch…but I wanted to support B and get a little Ubung with the rock pix.  Im not too moved by the genre powerpop, it seems, so I’ll spare you my uneducated and uninterested opinion.

Batman & Robin (Click here for the whole album)

Mondo Ray (Click here for the whole album)

Miss Chain & the Broken Heels (Click here for the whole album)

…not sure what got into me, but i got a little graphic.  this one is better bigger.

Merry Happy Slippery Frohe HoliDAZE

I have been playing the same song now over and over again for the last 3 days.  It was the track my alarm clock woke me up with today and, as I write this, I think it’s been playing for the last 3 hours without stopping.  It happens sometimes that I hear a song that changes my body chemistry…alters my perception and completely consumes me.  It happens a lot actually.  This time its a rare Dylan track called Blind Willie McTell and before I can tell you about any of the other stuff thats going on with me, I have to share this song with you.  Facebook peeps will have to visit my “real blog” to hear the track…

I have no idea if it will infect you as it has me.  I was just talking to a friend about it and the best I could come up with was that this song is like wind.  It blows right through me.

I can get away with laying in bed for hours on end listening to Bob Dylan because the week is over, the holidaze are upon us and I have nothing to do today.  I worked while everybody else I know elbowed their way through over-crowded super markets and stores frantic for last minute gifts and some magic antidote for massive expectations, family drama and not enough time for people they love.  That might sound very ‘bah humbug’ but I dont mean it that way, I just hate to see how a single day can spin people so far out of orbit.  I will partake in some holiday merriment, to be sure, but at this stage in the game I have come to the conclusion that it’s all a little too much.  A little Hanakauh or Christmas or Festivus *everyday* would be better than drowning in it for a couple weeks every winter…don’t you think?  Why not just tell the people that you love that you love them?  Why not just tell your friends you’re grateful for how they put up with your bullshit?  Why not buy that Album for your friend who you know will love it for no reason at all?  Why not bake cookies just because it makes your lover happy and your house smell nice?  Seriously, don’t save it all for this already overloaded season.  That said, this is me telling you that I love you…Im grateful for you…I wish you strength, laughter, adventure, health, peace, love and light this holiday season and for years to come.  Merry Christmas.   Happy Hanakauah.  Merry Kwanza.  Slippery Festivus.  Frohe Weinachten and all that jazz…

Now onto other pressing matters…I *finally* saw some music!!  It had been well over a month since I saw a show, let alone photographed one so you can believe me when I tell you it felt great to be washed in sound and static and noise for a spell.  I caught a folk concert last week at the Bierstindl with a fellow auslander at the helm, a worldy hangdrum session at Triebhaus and then some Berliner’s rocking the likes of The Band and Townes Van Zandt at the pmk.  I didn’t photograph Christine’s show but I enjoyed it anyway…shes a very talented song writer.

The gig at Triebhaus was a guy called Manu Delago and he plays these amazing “hangdrums” backed by a band consisting of an upright bass and piano player.  It was a really unique show filled with very talented musicians.  Here’s a couple of my favs, but you can click here to see the whole album.

In addition to the regular set, Manu also did a series of duets with local Tirolean musicians with interesting interpretations of chirstmas songs.  The sitar and digeridoo (spelling??) tune was beautiful.  It was a really special concert.

I still smell a bit like whiskey and red wine from last nights rock and roll adventure and my voice has that low, raspy sound that comes with the talking too much and saying too little common at noisy rock shows.  My friend Matthais’ band called Son of a Gun opened for a band called No Horse No Rider and all of this was followed by a DJ set by a taleneted guy from Berlin called LITWINENKO (i think).  Albi and Co. were on the turntables in the other room so it was a full night of tunes.  As always, you can see the whole album from last nights pmk show here…here a few of my favs

I am reminded every time I step out of my house that I am a lucky Bean.  Surrounded by good, creative, connected people with dear friends everywhere I go.  It was a fun night.  It was a fun year….

We Are the People We’ve Been Waiting For

…it must have been all those issues of 5 to 9 that got my juices flowing but tonight, as I caught this past sunday’s edition of This American Life I took to the photoshop with the notion of making a holiday card.  The result was not a holiday card but, instead, a moody and dark piece.  Not sad or melancholy but wintery and cold…kind of like Innsbruck tonight.

One of these days I’ll introduce myself to the silkscreen studio in town and throw my hat in the ring with a Beana Bern original I can feature in my next screenprint round up…

Guten Nacht…

5 to 9

I get lucky sometimes and stumble into things that end up making my day.  Graphic design and photography (when its good) has a way of taking me away and I just came across something that might take you away…This zine called 5 to 9 began in early 2007 and curates work that creatives make in thier free time.  What do you create when nobody’s watching or nobody’s paying?  Each issue has a theme and I ended up downloading all 12 issues and having my own little private gallery show.  If you have a little time, check it out.

Issue 11

Far and away, the best trip today

Somethings sure got into me these last days and no, its not a new and hot Tyrolean lover…I should be so lucky.  Nope…nothing so exciting and juicy for you.  Instead I just finished my second painting in 2 weeks and the one I zoned out on tonight is the biggest piece I’ve tackled not couting my dorm room hallway at UCONN where I painted a huge mural of Dr. Suess’s Lorax circa 1994.  I wanted a big canvas and was surprised that a blank one at the art store was more than some generic art-on-canvas from our Swedish favorite IKEA.  I decided to pick up a huge nameless cityscape with the hope of transforming into another psychadellic Beana mindscape.  Mission Accomplished.  And not some W. style lame-ass-unfinished mission accomplished.  I mean, really, its done.

Sitting sick in my apartment for weeks on end away from the happy distraction of work and email and german and people it would seem as though my subconscious was doing some exploration and the end result is pretty odd and also pretty pretty (If I do say so myself).

A combination of an unknown city, acrylic, oil, oil pastel, gouache, postage stamps, marker, rubber cement and a few of my favorite magazines morphed into a piece I call, “Far and away, the best trip today.”  Definitely a throwback to days gone past but also pretty contemporary.  I never vere too far from my comic book sensibilities and insane colors but Im not trying to curb it anymore…Ill swim in it until I reach the shore and enter some new phase.  For now, this is what comes so Im letting it.

I had to get it out of my workspace and up before Doozer dragged his tail (or ass) through the wet oil paint, as he is prone to do.  Im not sure that it will live on the wall over my couch forever but that’s where it will stay until its dry and ready to find its home somewhere in my quickly shrinking wall space.  I had the same thing happen in my Orchard St studio…once all the walls are filled its time to sell them and wipe the canvas blank…Maybe that’s something nice to shoot for.  I appear to be on the path since a thrid canvas is already in place to catch whatever hyper-pigment fall out occurs from my return to the world which will inevitably happen next week.  Here’s a couple more pix to offer a little scale and give you a closer look…

Want to get up close and personal?  Click here and don’t be afraid…

My neck is killing me…Ive managed to get turquoise oil pastel all over this keyboard and my eyelids are succumbing to gravity’s pull.  It’s time to go dream.

I Love Poster Art! Part. II

It’s been some time since I shared some of my silkscreened inspirado with you all but I’m always on the lookout for posters that make my mouth water and hope that one day I have a loft space big enough where I can hang the ones I do own plus all the ones I find and make along the way. I have one UBER favorite in this bunch, I wonder if you can guess which one it is. Regardless, they are all interesting in their own right and if you want to learn more about any of the prints, click on it and it will take you to the artist’s or galleries page.

Patchwork by Eltono

The Hills Are Dead by Danny Sangra

My New York Neighborhood by

Track Record by mwedge

Sleeper by estasketch

untitled (blue) by David Corbett

Mondrivan by RYCA

Specimen 3. Globigerina/Merganser by wondercabinet

Bear in Mind by Luke Chueh

The Tube Station by Cyril Power

Far and Wide by Ann Tarantino

(This print is part of a very cool project run by Jen Bekman called 20×200. She has a cool gallery around the corner from my old flat on the LES and has found a way to make limited edition art available to peeps without a bankroll. $20, $200 and $2000 editions of some beautiful artwork. Check it out.)

Fruits of My Labor

yo.

still in frantic mode and looking forward to chilling the hell out this weekend.  its my own fault for spinning in other peoples static and letting the crazy sweep me away but, such is life, and at the moment im weak and going with the flow instead of swimming against the hectic stream.  peace is on the horizon.

a while back i might have mentioned that i was collaborating with some filmmakers on a documentary film called Rcokumentary.  It was made during the first ever Paul Green School of Rock Music Festival in Asbury Park, NJ.  I happened to document the same fest in photos and found these guys right after I moved to Austria.  I ended up doing the graphic design, cover art and a slammin photo slide show of my work from the fest.  Did I just say slammin for real?  what an ass.

in any case, the film (and some dough!) just arrived in the mail and it always makes me happy to see the fruits of my labor. this was a very cool experience and im hopeful to do more collaborating in the future.  speaking of that…i almost forgot that i am in the process of collaborating as we speak!!  its too soon for details but my buddy Andy and I are making some Trans-continental video art.  You will surely hear all about that when the time comes.

Now I am stepping away from the imac that i should rename Vortex instead of C3PO…this bitch is hard to get away from!!

The Show Must Go On

To my (and many peoples) dismay, the Transmission Fest was canceled yesterday. Politics, money and bureaucracy triumphed over art, music and culture and everybody lost…well, almost everybody.

Upon learning of the cancellation it was natural to think that my show would be affected as the whole reason for the show in the first place was to compliment the festival. I forged my way to Kufstein anyway, art in trunk, and hoped for the best. I arrived to  Herr Ainberger and the whole team of Transmission ready to help install the show. Humbling, fun and amazing are the three words that come to mind first.

I make art and photos all the time. I even share them all the time but making and sharing do not feel quite the same as seeing a lovely gallery space devoted to your work and your perspective. It’s still sinking in. Deciding where to hang each piece, discussing why it goes there, adjusting the height and the light…watching something I made come to life and emerge as a 3D experience was so cool. From 4 white walls to a Parallel Universe…

The show opens tomorrow morning and will remain on display through the end of July. After seeing the finished product, Herr Ainberger asked if “i would mind” leaving the work on display for another 3-4 weeks. I certainly wouldn’t mind that at all!

I will re-visit the work tomorrow night with some proseco, some friends and a very full heart. For those of you too far away to join us in Kufstein, click the photo below of us assembling the show and catch a glimpse of Parallel Universe.