6 QUESTIONS WITH ARTIST/PAINTER JOHNNY BEE BADANJEK!

A Small Utopia (Portrait Of Mary Cobra.

In the top 2 of my favorite legendary rock drummers, Johnny Bee Badanjek (Mitch Ryder and the Detroit Wheels, Edgar Winter, The Rockets, Alice Cooper, Dr. John, Albert King, Nils Lofgren, The Romantics) is also a very accomplished artist/painter.

"The Pipe Smokers Go Stark Raving Mad." 

Bee's work has been featured at Art Prize in Grand Rapids and many other galleries. I really enjoy his work and am excited that Detroiters will get an opportunity to see Bee and his art on display this coming August 2-31 at the Detroit Artist Market. 

Was thinking the other night that I really don't know much about Bee's art process and this new 6 question Q&A was the result. Thanks, BEE!!

RK: Who are some of your personal art heroes?

BEE: Art is a long history! There may be hundreds of painters I like, but I'll just name a few. Caravaggio, Eugene Delacroix, Vincent Van Gogh, Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse, Arshile Gorky, Jackson Pollack,
Willem De Kooning, Joan Mitchell.

Chaålis Abbey

RK: What are your top 5 favorite tools to work with?

BEE: I work in Oil and Acrylic Paint. Prismacolor Pencils, Black Ink, and Pastels.

"The Boy With The Moon Rock Eyes." 

RK: What motivates you to paint?

BEE: I always liked drawing as a kid. And I thought that I would be an artist. But I started playing the drums and got sidetracked for fifty years before I came back to art. I think it's (art) just something you have to do. In order to be a real artist, you have to close the door and throw your bank book away. And become an Isolated stranger to the rest of the world. " Painters are like magicians of Insecurity."

"Erasing A Cobra With Moon On A String."

RK: Do you sketch first or paint straight to canvas?

BEE: I do both. Sketching helps the mind loosen up and start ideas flowing. And other times you just start painting and see what comes out. Most of the time you end up in a different place from where you started.

"The Artist And His Mother."

RK: What artist/genre do you most identify with?

RK: I like artists from the Mid-century who came from the New York School. Abstract Expressionists! I would say my painting is like an Abstract-Figuration with squiggles and scumbling!

Transcendental

RK: What’s your favorite of your artwork

BEE: I have a few favorites. (1.) "The Boy With The Moon Rock Eyes." (2.) "A Small Utopia (Portrait Of Mary Cobra." (3.) "The Pipe Smokers Go Stark Raving Mad." (4.) "Erasing A Cobra With Moon On A String." (5.) "The Artist And His Mother."

Event information is HERE

Johnny Bee Badanjek Official Website

TOP 5 ABSTRACT ALBUM ART COVERS

Music albums often deliver some of the most iconic pieces of artwork in modern culture.  The links between music and the rest of what are collectively known as “the arts” is usually plain to see when you look at some album covers.

Some become iconic because they are brutal in their simplicity and meaning – think the cover for Nirvana’s Nevermind album – while others because of their elaborate nature and almost over the top design, like The Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.

Abstract art designs are also commonplace when it comes to album covers. Here is a rundown of what we believe to be the top five such examples.

 
Muse – The Resistance
Muse are one of the biggest and most popular bands in the world, and they love artistry and the spectacular, too. Anyone who has seen them perform live can attest to that, while those who haven’t only need look at the vast array of “Best Live Band/Performance” accolades they have won in addition to all the other times they have been nominated.

This passion extends to their album covers, too, and while many of them make you think, 2009’s The Resistance ticks the abstract box better than all the others, and even has separate yet still abstract cover art for anyone buying the vinyl version.

Radiohead – In Rainbows
When Radiohead released In Rainbows in 2007, it got more attention for being available using the now popular “pay what you want” model than for the album art, because it was initially an exclusive digital release.

Again, a number of different album covers are available, but all are abstract and make great use of colour and effects, and like most of Radiohead’s material, they are fun to experience, and great to try to discover the meaning to.

Coldplay – Mylo Xyloto
While Coldplay have been critically and commercially successful for all their careers, they still carried around the dreaded “middle of the road” and “boring” tags like millstones most of the time.

These were finally cast aside when they released Mylo Xyloto, and while the artwork itself isn’t the most standout piece of abstract expressionism you’ll ever see, it is eclectic yet thoughtful enough to provoke your mind, while the music fit the artwork to perfection, too.

Röyksopp – Melody A.M.
Electro music is often the best place to turn when you want abstract inspirations, and Norwegian duo Röyksopp delivered it with a re-release of their Melody A.M. debut album. The idea behind the artwork is devastatingly simple, yet brings colour and something unexplained into your thoughts while not being so over the top and abstract as to be dismissed as ridiculous
.

Keane – Perfect Symmetry
Probably winning the award for the title that is most likely to make use of abstract design (without having the word abstract in the title) is Keane’s Perfect Symmetry. The simple use of photography and shapes on the album cover brings it to life, the only problem is you find yourself dealing the people who argue that the cover isn’t symmetrical!