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Beer In Art #37: Rob Sheridan’s Cereal Mascot Reunion

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art-beer
Today’s work of art is by Rob Sheridan, who is the art director for the band Nine Inch Nails. But in his spare time, Sheridan maintains a wonderfully weird sketchblog. That’s where this week’s artwork, Cereal Mascot Reunion comes from, a digital work featuring a number of cereal box characters having a reunion, and drinking a few Budweiser cans in the process.
Sheridan_cereal-mascot-reunion

Here’s how Sheridan describes the work:

For some reason this image has been swimming around in my head for a few years now, and finally – after chipping away at it bit by bit over the last couple months – I’ve brought it to life as a large, absurdly detailed print. It’s kind of about the strange, uncomfortable feeling of reuniting with old friends only to find that the magic just isn’t there anymore – and in turn, about the melancholy “nothing will ever be as good as it used to be” type of nostalgia, of which I am increasingly fond. And of course, a tribute to the late, great, wood-paneled, shag-carpeted 1970’s rec room.

If you want to see how he created the work, there’s an incredible detailed step-by-step account called Anatomy of a Digital Painting.

And here’s what he has to say about himself at the Sketchblog’s ABout Me pge:

My name is Rob. I’m 29 years old, I live in Los Angeles, and I’m a professional art director. While I work mostly with graphic design and video, illustration has always been my favorite means of expression. I grew up an only child of a single mother, so my sketchbook and my imagination were often my best childhood friends. My brain was raised on a hearty diet of comic books, toy robots, Saturday morning cartoons, Star Wars, and Nintendo. And not a whole lot has changed since then, really, except that my sketchbook has gone digital.

I originally made this SketchBlog as an exercise in creative discipline – an attempt to get myself to draw more and play around with images and ideas that wouldn’t fit in my professional work. A playground for the side of my brain that never really grew up, I suppose. It’s proved to be a tremendous motivational tool, and I’m really pleased with some of the art that’s come out of it so far.

In addition to his Wikipedia page, Rob Sheridan also has an online portfolio, the sketchblog and a flickr gallery of his illustrations.

Beer In Art #36: Edgar Degas’ Cafe Concert

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Today is the birthday of famed Impressionist artist Edgar Degas. Born in 1834, Degas is considered to be one of the founders of Impressionism, though he himself disdained the term. Though he’s most well-known for his paintings of ballet dancers, women at work and female nudes, I did discover one work he did where there’s beer in the painting. It’s one of his more obscure works, but it made the art world news when it was recently acquired by the Art Institute of Chicago, which is how I know about it, and is entitled the Café-Concert (The Spectators).
 

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Click on the image above for a larger view.

It was painted around 1876-77 and is done in pastels over a monotype on buff wove paper, laid down on a tan card. It’s only 201 x 415 mm (which is about 8 in. x 16 in.).

As described by Jeff Fleischer in Chicago Magazine; “Degas depicts the scene of a crowded concert in brightly colored pastels. The complicated tableau includes details like the man in the center about to spill his beer and a singer visibly warm from the stage lighting.”

The most famous painting Degas did involving drinking was not of beer, but Absinthe. Painted in 1876, L’Absinthe was considered controversial at the time, especially when it was shown in England in 1893. See, for example, The Green Fairy at Absinthe Fever, which about halfway down the page discusses people’s reactions to the painting.

Degas-absinthe

For more about Edgar Degas, you can start at Wikipedia, the Web Museum, or even biography.com. The ArtCyclopedia has some good links and the Art Archive has another good biography. There are also galleries of his other works at Olga’s Gallery, Painting Here, and Ricci-Art.

 

Beer In Art #35: Heartland Art

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Today’s works of art are by a variety of artists. The common element is that all of them were created for a concept bar in Japan called Beer Hall Heartland, a part of Kirin and a separate brand of beer they make.

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The beer was first brewed exclusively for the bar in 1986. It has a proprietary green bottle.

Every other year, beginning in 2003, they’ve sponsored an art contest through the Wakita Museum of Art. Known as the Heartland Karuizawa Drawing Biennale.

The painting below is the first one I discovered, the one that led me to the rest of them. It’s called Aneuheart and is a watercolor pencil by Kazuhiro Kikuchi. It’s one of the 2007 winners.

heartland_kikuchi

Here’s what the artist had to say about it:

The subject was Heartland Beer, so I drew it with this thought in my mind: “Let’s create a new, cool 2007-version heart symbol.” However, this was very difficult, and it was hard to get away from the traditional kind of heart symbol. I went through some trial and error before eventually settling on a design that uses the traditional shape. I think the overall picture represents the concept of Heartland Beer, which is “the original values of things that are not at the mercy of fashion or popular opinion.” This picture is also a personal favorite. The title should be read as “a new heart,” meaning new or fresh heart. My commitment when I drew this picture was to create something for which I could congratulate myself, like: “I love this picture” or “this one is so cool,” after completing the work-and that is what I always have in my mind.

It reminds me a bit of Keith Haring, but with more pastel colors.

Another one from 2007, entitled “Carbonated Bubbles of Heartland Beer” by Ryosuke Matsuya. It’s also done in watercolor pencil.

heartland_matsuzono

Matsuya explains it:

I named this picture “Carbonated Bubbles of Heartland Beer” because I sensed some pathos in these carbonated bubbles. First they fizz and burst out refreshingly, but when it comes to an end, bubbles disappear and even the taste changes. I thought “this resembles a person’s life,” holding a Kaki-pea snack and a beer in my hands. I like this picture very much.

And here’s yest another one from the 2007 winners. This one is called simply “Beer,” a watercolor pencil by Ken Tajima.

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Here’s Tajima’s description:

In times of celebrations and delightful events, people loudly open a liquor bottle. For us, opening the seal on a drink has a special meaning.This time I drew exactly that moment of Heartland Beer. I tried not to make it too dramatic because life is not totally filled with delightful events. Even when you are feeling bitter about something, the crown caps on beer bottles will pop. However, in either case, each of those moments is a happy moment to a greater or lesser extent. It would be a great pleasure for me if those who look at this picture can feel and taste these moments.

All of the 2007 winners can be seen at Heartland’s website or at the Wakita Museum.

Here’s my favorite from the 2005 contest. It’s called “Bomb” and was created by Kentaro Izumi in acrylic paint, spray paint, and oil-based ink.

heartland_izumiweb

This is Izumi’s take:

By drawing beer bottles spreading out into all directions, I rendered the great taste that spreads throughout the mouth at the moment of drinking beer. I think the situation when people drink, differs according to each person, but basically, I used beautiful colors to describe a type of beer that can be drunk pleasantly and delectably.

All of the 2005 winners can be seen at Heartland’s website or at the Wakita Museum.

From 2003, the watercolor pencil work below is called “837 Heartland Bottles (a year’s worth)” and is by Jun Mochizuki.

heartland-1

This is Mochizuki’s biography:

Born in Tokyo in 1955. Wins the Gold Prize at the JACA Japan Illustration Exhibition in 1984. Started work on as an illustrator. He has held personal exhibitions at venues including Space Yui, Ikebukuro Seibu Atelier Nouveau, Yurakucho Seibu Creators’ Space, and Shinjuku Gallery Genkai. From around 1990, he has been engaged in developing computer software, and currently he mainly creates web content, and also likes playing with his dog on the beach at Minami-Boso.

The remaining works of art are also from 2003 but I don’t know the artists either because they aren’t given or because I can’t read Japanese.

heartland_zyuumonzi

The one below is called Dream Time.

heartland-3

And this last one is “Untitled.”

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All of the 2003 winners can be seen at Heartland’s website or at the Wakita Museum.

Beer In Art #34: Faye Yong’s Rivers Of Gold

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Today’s work of art is by Faye Yong, an illustrator and manga graphic novel artist who’s originally from Malaysia, but who came to the UK for art school and has remained in Cambridge. The title of the work is Rivers of Gold and is the fourth painting in a series of six called Wonderland Lost.

Yong_rivers-of-gold

The series deals with her “experiences since coming to the West.” Rivers of Gold she explains is about “Drinking culture, sometimes I feel like I’m drowning in beer.” The art is done using Adobe Photoshop and took her approximately 40 hours.

It’s interesting that she chose Stella Artois as the beer, but it is fairly popular in the UK where she lives. That’s her inside the pint glass, of course, as she appears as a diminutive version of herself in every one of the six paintings. But its got some great surrealist weirdness in it, from the fountains of beer, the soccer sun to the flying beer cans.

The other topics include fashion, hooliganism and uncivilised behaviour on the streets, shattered illusions and sexual promiscuity and overindulgent young people.

According to her website:

I’m an illustrator and comic artist specialising in the field of digital art. My interests and influences come from digital painting, concept art, fantasy, fashion as well as manga. I believe in creating beautiful artwork for the betterment of mankind, and am always looking forward to learning new things

This is the biography of Yong at the website of Sweatdrop Studios, the publisher of her first graphic novel Murphy’s Law.

I’m a former pianist who escaped the muggy tropicals of Malaysia to pursue an Illustration degree in UK. I dream of a world filled with eye candy and I believe strongly in creating more beautiful illustrations for the betterment of the universe. It is my lifelong goal to improve artistic & storytelling skills.

I recently won the 3rd place & People’s Choice Award of Tokyopop Rising Stars of Manga UK & Ireland 3.

I have a terrible weakness for shoujo manga and anything with a happy ending. I place much importance on visual gratification and tummy happiness.

There’s not much more biographical information online, but there are samples of her comic work and other graphic work in a gallery. She also illustrated version of Shakespeare’s Merchant of Venice. She was also Artist of the Month on a British Manga website, Mangaka. And Sweatdrop Studios has a Wikipedia page.

Beer In Art #33: Rik Olson’s Saint Of Beer

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Today’s work of art is one that I own and is hanging on the wall in my kitchen. It’s by a local artist, Rik Olson, who’s an illustrator as well as a fine artist. Olson has a studio in Sebastopol and I’ve been to it a few times during the annual Sonoma County Art Trails, where artists open up their studios two weekends each year. The title of the work is The Saint of Beer.

Olson-saint_of_beer

According to his website:

For many years now Rik Olson has created strong graphic illustrations for corporate, advertising, and publishing clients. He is well known for both his black and white and color work in scratchboard, pen and ink, acrylics, linoleum cuts and other media. He is especially well known as one of the few living masters of wood engraving and has taught that art to appreciative students for over ten years. His work also hangs in a number of fine arts galleries, chief among them the Graton Gallery.

Rik’s work has been used for logos, packaging, brochures, advertising spots, textbooks, books, editorial, wine labels, web sites, signs, illustrative maps, and just about any other use you can imagine.

rik-photo-web

And here’s his biography:

A California native, Rik received his B.F.A. from the California College of Arts and Crafts in Oakland. He has studied under such masters as Barry Moser, John DePol, Richard McLean, and Ralph Borge. He has lived, studied and exhibited in Italy, Germany and the U.S. His influences include the years he lived in Europe and currently the beautiful countryside of Sonoma County, California. He enjoys pushing the envelope in printmaking and has recently been working on editions of multi-color linoleum cut prints. He recently took part in a fund raising event where the works of ten artists, whose over-size prints were printed by an actual steamroller, were featured.

Rik and his wife, Brita, live in rural West County with their two dogs and goldfish. He also participates in ArTrails, the annual artist open studio event in Sonoma County and invites you to visit his studio.

His stuff is great, and he’s become one of a handful of artists we like to visit each year. We’ve also bought several of his linocut prints, one of a starry night seen through trees, a winter moon seen through a bare tree, a Steller’s Jay and some poppies.

Olson-beer
Here’s another one from his gallery, but I’ve never seen this one at his studio.

There’s not much more biographical information online, but there are several online galleries of his work, including these at the website of his agent Ann Koeffler, another rep., Tom Maloney, and at Folio Planet. There’s also a Steamroller print he did for a charity auction that I saw in his studio the last time I was there.

Flag Day Buds

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You’ve probably seen this before, it’s been around since at least 2002, but it seemed appropriate for Flag Day. It’s from a “[s]torefront display in a West Virginian town situated along the New River.” It was taken by Marjorie O’Brien, who at the time was a photography major at Northern Michigan University’s School of Art and Design in Marquette. It’s a great photo, though due credit has to be given to the store for putting together such a simple yet effective display using cases of Budweiser, Bud Light and Natural Light in the front window.

 

 

Beer In Art #32: Flag Day Beer Art

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Since today is Flag Day, I thought I’d look at some beer art that also uses the American flag. The reason it’s Flag Day is because in 1777, “John Adams introduced the following resolution before the Continental Congress, meeting at Philadelphia, PA: ‘Resolved, That the flag of the thirteen United States shall be thirteen stripes, alternate red and white; that the union be thirteen stars, white on a blue field, representing a new constellation.'” Since that time, breweries (and all other business ventures) have been wrapping themselves in the flag to sell products, invoke patriotism or just celebrate living in America. It will probably not surprise you to know I’m also a flag geek, though I think I may have already revealed that tidbit before now (oh, yes I did).

 

Here’s a typical example from the 19th century, a New York brewery’s calendar for 1899.

But even in modern times, several microbreweries have used flag imagery on their labels, most notably Stoudt’s American Pale Ale. Stoudt’s flagship (pun intended?) APA uses a bold, stylized painting of an American Flag that looks like a cross between a Jackson Pollock and Jasper Johns.

I don’t know who painted it and there’s no information on the label itself. I could call Carol Stoudt and ask, but it’s Sunday and it can no doubt wait until tomorrow. They even extended the artwork to the six-pack carriers.

But I’ve always liked its jagged edges, the indistinct stars created from the white paint alone, and how the colors mix between all the ribbons of red and white while remaining clearly defined nonetheless.

Until I know about the painter, there isn’t much else to look at, unless you’re curious about Flag Day itself, in which case Wikipedia has a summary; or, if you want to know more about the U.S. flag.

 

Beer In Art #31: Mark Stosiak’s Beer Bottles

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I haven’t highlighted a contemporary western artist for awhile, so today’s works of art brings us forward once again for a painting completed just three years ago. It was painted by Canadian artist Mark F. Stosiak in 2006. It’s called Beer Bottles and features two Canadian beers, Moosehead and Le Cheval Blanc.

Stosiak’s website only reveals “I’m a Canajun, eh?” and at his Trollboy blog, he doesn’t tell us anything personal but he does talk a little bit about the process of his art:

The process of creating is what I find the most fun. The smell of oil paint, the texture, the act of mixing and applying colour to the surface. running out of paint and reloading the brush. The feel of the pencil scratching back and forth on paper. Smoothing clay with my fingers and detailing with various tools like dental picks, searching for different tools or making my own. Getting a colour or shape just right. Getting my hands dirty.

There’s a little more information on Stosiak at his biography at the Digital Consciousness Artist Database, which lists the following:

Biography: Living in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, he spends a great deal of time trying to get the world in his head onto paper and canvas. Country: Canada Birthyear: 1974 Media: oil Style: surrealistic Subjects: other, A variety of strange creatures, places, and situations

The majority of his artwork is actually fairly surreal, and in fact these beer bottles are a very small part of his online oeuvre that involve fairly normal subjects. He mostly does these delightfully weird creatures he calls Monstah’s.

 
Apart from his own regular website, he also displays his artwork at Trollboy’s Blog, which is where the beer bottles painting is shown. He also has a gallery at Deviant Art.

 

Beer Bottles Galore Recycled Art

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Last weekend, the family and I spent the holidays in northern California, near Gualala. As we’re inveterate art nuts, we couldn’t resist the Fine Arts Fair that was taking place at the Gualala Art Center. We found a cool black walnut bowl to compliment the Kauri bowl we picked up last year in New Zealand. Alice made a beaded necklace and we generally had a nice time looking at art among the redwoods. But perhaps the most interesting thing we stumbled upon was the “Bottles Galore” recycled art of Pamela Wheatley, who makes “usable objects from beer, wine and fruit juice bottles.”

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The main display showing her candle holders and drinking glasses made from recycled beer bottles.

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Candle holders from brown bottles with cork bottoms.

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A design for tapered candles using green glass. The middle was cut out, and the bottom and top sections glued back together.

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Glass tumblers and tea light candle holders (I bought a pair of them in brown).

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And a tall vase using a 22 oz. beer bottle (I bought one of these, too.) They’re very inexpensive and when I remarked about that as I was paying for my purchases, Ms. Wheatley remarked that she was “just selling fun.” What a great attitude. She told us that she only uses bottles she finds or that friends give her, which she says happens more and more once they see what she’s doing with them. She lives in Manchester, California, which is a little farther north from Gualala along the Pacific coast but still about 40 miles south of Fort Bragg, where North Coast Brewing is located. She doesn’t seem to have a website, but if you want to know where she’ll be selling her wares, you could probably ask her via e-mail, which is pam4mom (@) hotmail (.) com.

Beer In Art #30: Emblem of Beer Carriers Guild from Jerusalem Chapel

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Today we’re heading into the Wayback Machine again, this time to circa 1778 in Leiden, which is in the Netherlands. Back then, the town was spelled “Leyden,” and “like many other cities, had a Jerusalem Chapel, maintained by citizens who had returned from a pilgrimage to the Holy Land.” The Chapel is no longer standing, but part of it was preserved and today can be seen at the Stedelijk Museum De Lakenhal in Leiden. The particular bit from the chapel highlighted today is a Baroque sculpture showing the emblem of the Dutch Beer Carriers Guild.

Dutch-beer_guild-lg

There’s not much information about the work itself or even who created it. But the notion of a guild for a profession whose only job was transport beer I thought might of interest. Though not Dutch, here’s a description of “The Beer Carriers of Bruges,” from the website of Global Beer, who import several Belgian beers to the U.S.:

It was in 1477 that the municipal authorities forbade breweries from transporting beer within the boundaries of Bruges. At the same time, they created the guild of ‘biervoerders’ (beer carriers). The purpose was to control tax evasion. Tax on beer was the main source of income for a city. For example, at the end of the 16th century, these taxes
represented more than 60 % of the receipts of the city of Antwerpen. Because beer was the normal beverage for every one, with an average consumption of more than a half gallon per head per day, taxing beer was a guaranteed source of income for a city.

It must have been a picturesque spectacle in the streets of the inner cities, two men carrying a cask of beer, fixed to long poles resting on their shoulders. Not only the local brewers had to use their services, also the brewers from surrounding areas and the importers, who delivered beer to Bruges, stopped at the gates of the city and gave their loads to the carriers. The carriers had a typical uniform, with the logo of their guild, two casks, embroidered on the front and the back. The president of the guild was named ‘king’.

He had 5 deputies, one for every section of Bruges. Every month, a drawing of lots indicated to which section of the city each beer carrier-team was appointed. Each member of the guild was constrained to face certain obligations, that won them the appreciation of the brewers for their efficiency and their strict neutrality in respect of the different beers that they were appointed to transport. For the carriers, beer was only a merchandise like any other, and they were wise enough to remain outside the rivalries which prevailed between their clients.

A document of 1650 teaches us that a new member of the guild had to pay a certain sum of money, and had to donate a cask of beer during a feast he had to organize to celebrate his entry in the trade. The organization of trades in brotherhoods or guilds, was an early form of social security. Each day, work completed, the carriers met together in their local ‘thuyscken op de markt’ (the little house on the marketsquare) to submit to the paymaster the receipts of their deliveries. At the end of the month, the distribution of profits took place, and all carriers received an identical sum, even those who had been forced to interrupt their work during the month on account of illness.
It was only at the beginning of the 20th century, that the independent carriers disappeared and were replaced by the lorries of the breweries. The guild of the beer carriers was one of the rare guilds, holding a monopoly, that had survived the French Revolution

There’s some more fascinating information about Dutch beer carriers at the genealogical page, Barent Jacobsen Kool and Marritje Leendertse De Grauw, from which there are some interesting tidbits below.

Under the Court Minutes for 1654 (for the Burgomasters and Schepens of this City of New Amsterdam):

And in order to prevent all fraud and smuggling in the one and the other, the Burgomasters and Schepens aforesaid with the approbation of the Honble Director General and Council have appointed and accepted as sworn Wine and Beer Carriers Barent Jacobsen Cool and Pieter Caspersen van Naerden and no person, be he who he may, except such Beer Carriers, shall be at liberty to work at, lay in, or remove any wines or beer from one warehouse, cellar, or brewery to another or to bring foreign beer within this City’s gates on pain of forfeiting said wines or beer and arbitrary correction at the direction of the Court.

And here’s a table of how much they could charge for their services:

The appointed Wine or Beer Carriers for what they may convey here within the walls of this City from one Brewery house or cellar into the other, shall not be permitted to receive more than the following.

For one pipe of brandy………………………………………..24 stivers
one pipe of wine…………………………………………………Twenty stivers
one hogshead of wine…………………………………………Twelve stivers
one Aam (40 gallons) ………………………………………..Ten stivers
one half-aam……………………………………………………..Five stivers
one anker…………………………………………………………Three stivers
half anker…………………………………………………………Two stivers
one tun of strong or small beer…………………………..Eight stivers
one half-barrel………………………………………………….Four stivers
one anker…………………………………………………………Three stivers

And according to the “History of the City of New York in the Seventeenth Century: Volume I: New Amsterdam” by Mariana Griswold Van Rensselaer, there were beer carriers in New York City in the mid-1600s, too.