Christian ‘Bees’ McGowan is a major young American artistic talent who can go from sculpting a perfectly detailed dragon, to painting beautiful watercolours of animals, to drawing hilarious cartoons featuring vomit in a single day. She is a veritable Renaissance-woman!

We discovered Bees’ and her work through Mr. Chance Priest of ‘Victory Comics’ – as Bees has collaborated extensively with Chance on his art toys, painting figures, character art, display backgrounds and more.

Aside from her work with Chance, Bees has an interest in animation, runs her own comic brand – ‘Pigeon Comics’ – and works in almost every artistic medium known to man.

Whilst capable of being aesthetically varied as mentioned, all of Bees’ vast and varied catalogue of works are soft yet strong, feminine yet tenacious, full of movement and detail; and oh so damn funny. We fell in love immediately and know you will too!

Explaining what led her to become an artist, Bees states:

“When I was around 4 years old, I saw a behind the scenes clip of Disney’s “The Lion King” where a group of artists were sitting in front of a wall of tiny drawn out thumbnails and I was entranced.

 How could thousands of these small drawings become one big movie?? I had to know!

I’ve been drawing ever since.“

(Some Overwatch inspired art by Bees below)

Wanting to know more about her work, we asked Bees some questions about working with Chance, growing up, love, sex, gaining a foothold in the art scene; and much much more! Read all about it, via the Art Talk Interview, below…

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James M. Wisniewski aka Jim Wiz is a self described life-long working artist hailing from America who has been active in the industry for over 40 years now – beginning in the early 1970’s. In that time Jim has worked in advertising, cartooning, story-board art and greeting cards – all whilst also being involved in the comic book industry. There he has also worked for years as a character model for his friend and fellow artist Mr. Alex Ross, worked on his own works and also notably on the ‘Ghostbusters’ comic series.

Indeed Jim is living proof that you can not only make a living as a full time commercial artist but also have a whole lot of fun along the way.

Now after a lifetime of primarily working for others, Jim has recently semi-retired and is finally spending time working on his many personal projects – stating:

“I’VE N-E-V-E-R,  E-V-E-R, BEEN SO CAPABLE AND CREATIVE. THINGS I WANTED TO DO YEARS AGO, I NOW DO.

I’M WRITING, ILLUSTRATING MY OWN STORIES FOR THE FIRST TIME, AND AM BUSY WITH LESSER PAYING WORK, BUT IT’S ENOUGH BETWEEN MY WIFE’S THING AND ME.

I AM DRUNK ON CREATIVE HAPPINESS, AND PRODUCING ART.

I’M 66, AND JUST GETTING STARTED ALL OVER AGAIN. I MEAN HOW COOL IS THAT?“

Jim, it is very cool indeed sir! Inspiring even.

Now we must here admit that we discovered Jim’s art thanks to our ego… we were trawling the internet one day for mentions of well… ourselves, and stumbled upon a brilliant cartoon depiction of an ‘Art Whore’. It was vibrant, sexy, funny and unique. We fell in love immediately. From there we found Jim on Facebook, sent a friend request and promptly begged for an interview. Which he was happy enough to oblige us with!

(The very art that made us fall in love with Jim, below)

So without further ado, read all about the life of Mr Wiz in his illuminating, funny and very insightful Art Talk Interview, below…

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Edwin aka Redwine is an Australian artist, vandal and all round mensch currently living in Britain. Edwin creates beautiful and thought provoking art in all mediums – graffiti, painting, sculpture, video, mixed media, collage and illustration.

We got hipped to Edwin’s work thanks to fellow Australian artist Elliot of ‘Loser Unit‘ – and boy are we thankful. As Edwin is a damn talented lad. He has the ability to paint like a Renaissance master, draw like a Cubist, sculpt like a toy-maker and vandal like a doped up 16 year old child prodigy.

(Graff by Edwin below)

With his graffiti Edwin is fighting back against the current intricate and beautiful mural trend – stating:

“The new wave of commercially successful painters that, without knowing, are playing a willing (or naively innocent) role in the devastation of the impact of public art.

Commercial muralism is so easily confused with corporate advertising and to have people complicit in the latter does not help.“

To this end Edwin refuses to make his public works beautiful – leaving this instead to his private works. Instead his graffiti is bold, simple, in your face, huge and impactful: letters and graphics placed eloquently in their urban surroundings. Commenting on gentrification, class and the street art scene with a wit that references the acidic humour of Quentin Crisp and a style that harks back to the French Situationists. It is amazing and wholly unique.

Get to know all about Edwin and his art by reading his Art Talk Interview below, you will be glad you did…

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RJ Williams aka ‘A Nameless Force’ (previously ‘The Massive’) is an Australian artist, designer and vandal well known in the Australian scene thanks to his eye catching graphics and ability to get his art up all over Sydney, Australia and even the Globe. Indeed, there is something magical about RJ’s work – all symbols and bright colours. As if all his art is just part of a never ending spell or sigil. To what end – only RJ knows.

(Photo below of RJ’s huge tag done by the famous Hollywood sign – check top left of photo)

Born in 1980 RJ grew up on hip hop, toys, body-boarding and surfing – activities that continue to influence his art today.

And currently? With RJ having recently re-branded to ‘A Nameless Force’ and pushing his art hard all round the globe – now is the perfect time to get to know the man and his art by reading the Art Talk Interview, below…

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Lewis Morley Jnr aka Lewis P Morley is an Australian artist, sculptor, toy maker, special effects craftsman, prop maker and all round creative wizard. We were introduced to Lewis thanks to our mutual acquaintance Mike McGann – as Mike, Lewis and fellow artist Marilyn Pride all lived together during the 1970’s in a self described sci-fi fan commune in Sydney, Australia.

Lewis was born in 1957 and is part of the first generation of children to grow up with television. He importantly also came of age in the 1960s, a time of sci fi, space exploration, pioneering work in stop motion / visual effects, comic books and toys – all inspirations that guide Lewis’ creative work to this very day. With Lewis himself stating:

“The wonder of childhood is still an important motivator for my work, on some level almost all the stuff I do is satisfying my inner child!“

Importantly, both of Lewis’ parents were also artists. His father being celebrated photographer Lewis Morley Snr, and his mother Patricia an accomplished illustrator. So it is safe to say that Lewis was destined by the gods themselves to lead a creative life! And indeed he has done just that.

(A photo of some of Lewis’ recent miniature art below)

Lewis has only just retired from his professional work, and is still making art of all types at a furious pace. So we decided to ask Lewis some questions about his many years in the Australian film industry, his father, Mike McGann, toys, comics, fandom, giant robots, and much much more.

Read it all, in the Art Talk Interview, below…

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Steve Carter and Antoinette Rydyr are the immensely talented duo behind ‘S.C.A.R’. As individuals, and collaborators Steve and Antoinette are Gods in the Australian underground art scene. Working as artists, publishers, musicians, script writers and editors for over 30 years now!

Their art is full of the vibes of greats such as Basil Wolverton, Ray Harryhausen and George A. Romero to name a few. Look wise it’s beautifully detailed, unique, surreal often tongue in cheek, occasionally soft, but often brutal. Very very brutal.

We love it and so does the international comic community!

… sadly, however, many of the Australian populace and the very Government itself have had, and continue to have, knee jerk reactions to the art of S.C.A.R; resulting in their work being banned, ostracized and also vilified by the press, members of the moral outrage brigade and general wowsers. Also for over 30 years now!

Indeed, S.C.A.R are makers of creations that can objectively be called polarizing – an attribute attributable to the most important artists since time immemorial.

(Some art by S.C.A.R below)

So get to know all about both the origins of the Australian outsider comics scene, and the works of S.C.A.R by reading their eye opening interview, below…

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Chance Priest is an American artist, sculptor and man of many talents – weapons making, hunting, snake wrangling, antique dealing, law enforcement and a whole lot more.

We fell in love with Chance’s art immediately upon discovering it early last year. We had never seen anything like it: 1960’s bold comic colours, cubist lines, storyboard-style movement, photo-realistic details and a unique singular vision.

As a result, we fell hard into the glorious rabbit hole of Chance’s creations. It’s a whole world – comics, paintings, sculptures and toys. All interconnected yet able to stand on their own.

Simply put? It’s pure art and we have never seen anything else like it before.

As Chance himself states, art for him is an unrelenting force. Something that he can’t ignore and must pursue above all else:

“I’m a 100% dedicated to my vision. And to be honest if nobody buys it I really don’t care; I’m at total peace with what I consider success. I will build on “my world” till the day I die, if my art sells then wonderful because I really want to share it. If it doesn’t sell then if will not hinder me in any way except for the time it takes to make end meet.“

(Photo below of Chance and some of his art)

With Mr. Priest our new favourite living artist, and the fact that the man himself is always working on something new to blow the mind of his fans – you must, we repeat MUST get hip to the man right now, by reading his Art Talk Interview below…

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Matthew Bourne is an Australian artist making major waves in the local scene with beautiful works that combine surf culture, graffiti, hot rod art and comic style graphics; into a wholly unique and eye catching style.

Works that are full of intricate detail, imbued with a sense of movement and usually topped off with vibrant colour. Oh so much colour!

Whilst a lifelong creative, it was only recently, in his late 30’s and 40’s that Matt decided to venture hard into the art game, with the man himself stating

“As I headed into my late 30’s I was missing my creativity a lot. I had a stable job, so for me to kick start my art felt right..but it would have to be after hours, late night hustle….fuck it, don’t care, I need to do this, now.“

(Art below by Matthew)

With ole Matt quickly on his way to becoming a major presence in the global scene, and currently a featured artist in the 2018 ‘Bein Narly‘ festival here in Australia – now is the perfect time to get to know the man and his art by reading the Art Talk Interview below…

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Ben Mitchell is an Australian artist, designer, writer and comic book slinger from the Australian coastal town of Newcastle.

Recently Ben published his 3rd self released comic – ‘Ghost Beach’. A beautiful object in every regard: it’s murder-mystery-meets-punk-scene narrative, unique and bold art style and art-like production quality.

Indeed, aside from all his work in the art world, Ben sees himself as an ambassador and guide to the indie comic world, for those who haven’t yet given ole funny-books a try. Something that we greatly admire.

With Ben stating,

“I like being an introduction to comics for normal people. I do live readings of my comics all the time, and I’ll usually have the panels projected onto a wall as slides while I do the dialogue and narration, and usually commentary regarding the dumb stuff I hide in the backgrounds, and people will come up to me afterwards like “Oh, I get it now!” Sometimes when people aren’t reading your comics you have to do the reading for them.“

(A photo of Ben’s most recent comic, Ghost Beach, below)

With ‘Ghost Beach’ freshly off the press and available for all of you out there to buy – which you should do, right now people! – now is the perfect time to get to know the man himself, by reading the Art Talk Interview below…

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The ‘Bein Narly’ festival is on all throughout March and April this year, in multiple venues in Sydney, Australia. It is DIY + Punk as fuck and 100% Art Whore Approved!

As head curator Glenno states:

“This festival is un-apologetically D.I.Y. – arts and craft, folk art (art that folks like) irreverent and heartfelt (low-brow if you like) and just fun in general. The core of this festival is a handful of amazing sponsors – no government funds – no waiting for things to magically happen – no huge axes to grind – some small but strong venues – a few volunteers and a whole heap of focussed enthusiasm.“

Well we thought it would be good to find out more about ‘Bein Narly’ by speaking to the show’s aforementioned curator, the ever epic Glenno – so we shot him a few questions about art in general and the ‘Bein Narly’ festival specifically.

(Photo below of a deliriously happy Glenno)

Read all about it below…

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