Cyprus (The Bird that Cried Meeps), 2024
We recently finished our largest and most ambitious project to date. This painted sculpture is approximately 4 by 2 metres and took over a year to create.
Huge shoutout to @christos_y_ioannou for your incredible painting and intellectual contributions—this wouldn’t have been possible without you! 💙Also, a massive thank you to the entire Ioannou family for commissioning the work. We are so grateful for your support! 🙏
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#AddictedToTheBeans #ArtCollaboration #ContemporaryArt #AbstractArt #SculpturalPainting #ArtistsAtWork #CreativePartnership #CyprusArt #ArtCommunity #ModernArt #MixedMedia #ExperimentalArt #CommissionedArt
Small biro series, ballpoint pen on paper (2021)
1) Waste
2) This is Shit
3) Gaff
4) Mine
Long post for anyone interested in our process:
To divide the labour in this case, we each worked on a separate piece and swapped drawings whenever one person called ‘switch’. There were no rules as to who could draw where. These smaller scale environments confined us, generating the disputes that arise from uncomfortable proximity.
One example of this conflict is evident in Waste. O wrote ‘waste’ in several places on the page, concerned that this entire enterprise might be pointless. In opposition, A censored these words. O then wrote them back bigger. After the next switch, A scribbled out the W and S leaving the word ‘ate’. O rewrote the letters on top of the scribbles. With a ballpoint pen, it seems one can always get a darker line by scribbling more. And back and forth it went until eventually the paper disintegrated, leaving two holes in the page where the W and S used to be.
In This is Shit, O carefully constructed a field of parallel perspective volumes as well as a sun with rays to the corner of the drawing. A then drew 3 more suns in all the other corners of the piece, but without the same meticulousness. O, disappointed in these additions, labelled each sun with ‘poor effort’ and other negative slurs. Rising to the challenge, A responded by scribbling out the one well drawn sun and then embarking on a destructive rampage, generally scribbling all over the page. This brought an end to the battle. O stopped drawing, exclaiming: “this is shit”.
After the tempers had simmered down, we had a quick discussion on the piece, and O’s outlook shifted. In fact to this day we feel This is Shit is one of our most successful drawings. Conflict may feel unpleasant, but sometimes, the passion required to fight creates an energetic aura around the work. Picking sides and clashing heads allows us to tap into a potent stream of energy that can only be reached through confrontation. Where energy is the goal, contest can be the means.
SHOES OFF (a.k.a. foot painting) - 05/21
Recently installed in the entryway of Bean HQ
Shout-out to the helping hands @jakeintrater@mahalians@ryanbeeler
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#feet #beans #antwork #installationart
