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