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Beer In Art #65: Mike Massengale’s Beer Thirty

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After nine days of eating and drinking through SF Beer Week, I feel like a vacation on a tropical isle would do me a world of good, but with one more day to go, today’s works of art will have to go tropical for me. Its title is Beer Thirty and is by South Carolina artist Mike Massengale.

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Here’s a short biography of Massengale from Absolute Arts:

Mike Massengale is a professional artist from Greenville, SC. His artistic skills sets have been learned and developed over twenty-five years of on the job experience. His advertising clients have been AT&T, Universal Studio’s and Disney just to name a few. He has also attained many awards from print designs to animation. His skill sets include, but not limited to: multimedia, animation, video production, creative design, illustration and painting. He is also very proud that of his latest accomplishment, which is completion of a MFA degree from the University of Hartford.

You can read a longer biography at the Fine Art America website.

You can also see more of his work at Fine Art America, and all of the art there is available as prints on canvas or paper, framed or unframed or even as a greeting card. You can but the Beer 30 painting, too.

Guinness Ads #5: Bear’s Beer

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The fifth Guinness poster by John Gilroy is one of many ads that are in a zoo. In this one, a bear has snatched the zookeeper’s Guinness and is trying to offer a trade, but the bear looks none too interested in giving up his beer for anything. The tagline is another common one, “My Goodness – My Guinness.”

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Beer In Ads #43: Budweiser’s Pick A Pair

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Friday’s ad is for Budweiser cans from 1963. You have to admire her ‘do and the mod frock, but “Pick a Pair,” suggesting that the “smart way to buy” is to purchase two six-packs implies that the 12-pack had not yet been invented. To me, that’s the odd notion. When did the 12-pack debut as a lasting package? I know breweries experimented with varying package sizes, before the sixer became the standard. I also seem to recall its victory had something to do with weight and ease of carrying. Though despite the obscenely happy face she’s wearing, she seems to be struggling a bit with carrying two six-packs, or at least they’re perched precariously.

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Beer In Ads #42: Schlitz Late Night Bear

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Thursday’s ad is another Schlitz ad from most likely the 1950s. I find it a little creepy, actually, though I’m sure that was not the intention. That fairy tale bear in his nightshirt and slippers just looks a bit eye. And while the house obviously has electricity to power the refrigerator, he’s still carrying an old-fashioned candle. Why? Wouldn’t the light in the ‘frig be enough?

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Beer In Ads #40: Coors’ Rocky Mountain Spring Water

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Tuesday’s ad is for Coors because it’s the anniversary of their merger with Molson five years ago. This ad is from 1977, the year I graduated from high school, and Coors was still considered a “cool” brand because we couldn’t get it on the east coast. It looks so amateurish now, and I love the tagline suggestion “refrigerate to retain brewery fresh flavor.” Was keeping beer in the refrigerator still uncommon enough that suggesting it was a prominent part of their advertising. It’s interesting that Coors’ obsession with cold is at least three decades old.

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Beer In Ads #39: Hurra! Bier!

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This Monday we’re still celebrating beer in the Bay Area during SF Beer Week. That’s nothing new of course, as evidenced by this last century beer poster entitled Hurra! Bier!. That translates as “hooray beer,” and that’s our sentiment for this week, as well.

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Beer In Art #64: Sam Yeates’ The Returnable

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Today’s works of art is cleverly called The Returnable, and is by a contemporary Texas poster artist named Sam Yeates.

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This poster was done for Lone Star beer in 1978, when the idea of the Space Shuttle being reusable was still novel concept. So the play on words for returnable bottles and spaceships is pretty clever, I’d say. According to his Past Works/Prints Available page, prints of the The Returnable are available for sale.

Here’s a short biography of Yeates from his website:

Born and raised in the Stephenville, Texas area, Yeates graduated from North Texas State University with a BFA in Drawing and Painting in 1974. After teaching at a private school in Dallas for about a year, Yeates moved to Austin and soon began working at the Armadillo World Headquarters, a music concert hall. Posters promoting shows followed and led to promotional art for Lone Star Beer during the 80’s. Through this medium, Yeates’ art traveled around the world. Through the years, he has continued to paint and show his work in the San Francisco, Dallas, Austin and Taos areas.

You can see more of Yeates’ work at his own website, along with the Cohen Rese Gallery and the Wilder Nightingale Fine Art Gallery.

Beer In Ads #38: Gangloff

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This Friday is also the three-year anniversary of The Sessions, a.k.a. Beer Blogging Friday. When I created the logo for the Session, I used this Gangloff beer ad from 1930. I chose it for its simplicity and clean lines. I think it’s worked well, and so it made the obvious choice for today’s ad.

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As far as I can tell, Brasserie Gangloff was an Alsatian brewery that closed in 1970. The only photo I could find of it was after it was bombed on July 16, 1943 during World War II.

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