iamdrewbennett

otto@facebook

Otto Aresnault came to visit and had a chance to take a few photos of the facebook office murals i did now that the paint has had a chance to dry. i think this is the closest thing to a tour your going to get for those of you still asking. Thanks again Otto, Chris, and the facebook team, it was quite an experience. [flickr album=72157613977533088 num=30 size=Square]

hOM YOGA STUDIO!

I was invited by Caley and Erin to come and shape the environment for their newly opened yoga studio at 3102 California up in Pac Heights. They did a great job with the interior design and I got to throw up some work. Its a great place to do yoga with a lot of amazing teachers, check it out! http://www.homyogasf.com/hom/

wish, i had better shots of this back wall, it was space-o-rific!

finishing out the stairwell

spring cleaning

This is what my studio looked like sunday morning. now its got a lot more white. All this shit is a general growth and decay of my space over the last 6 months or so. I miss it but it has already started to grow back anew.

facebook production shots

I recently had the great opportunity of painting all night for three months on the walls of one of Facebook’s office buildings! These are just some pictures I took at 5 in the morning to remember what I was working on. Once I get magic Otto on the scene I will post much more legit photos. Checkout the high resolution shots at Flickr

final sunday sound series

For the final sunday sound series I had some out of town guests. My family came in from all over and my dear old friends and fellow Footsteps LLC lackies, otto arsenault and taylor cohen, made the trek from LA. (Otto was also kind enough to lend his photo-magic to capture all the good images of this post)The afternoon started with an arousing performance from 60 Watt Kid. Kevin and crew freaked out the squares standing outside of the confines of the space with their telephone mics, sonic and physical energy. Birds and Batteries was next, short one member of their cast, but still put on an arousing set. Their sound, although highly original can be simply put as an intertwining neil young and daft punk kinda sound. Tussle jammed out on a few themes they put together during a pow-wow for the show. This was the first time I met any of these guys, and damn, they are sweethearts. Images of this set are few because they played in the near dark, with occasional flickering light from Josh Churchill’s light installation. The whole series ended with a grandstand performance from Jascha Ephraim Memorial Library (myspace). His 13 piece band ran through Jascha’s original scores magically, they also had a great visual effect on the space. It was sad to have such an inspirational series come to an end, but it was definitely nice to have such a big full sound to close on, with all my family and friends, both brand new and very old there with me. A deepest thanks to the dozens of warm and talented people who made this possible. Much love and respect.

clouds carved the mountains III

sunday sunday sunday @ base base base… how I like things in 3’s. Mark Deutsch brought out his Tea Set to start the afternoon off with his diy cali-positive singer/songwriter rock. I was always impressed how the earlier acts of each day would set up and get right into it no matter who was around or not. the music usually had a way of collecting a crew pretty quickly. Kushi Puri then took thinks to a most experimental place of the day. Charlie Callahan kept near break-beats going through a mirage of oboe, guitar, and balloon brought from above. Nobody Beats… well that kinda says it all, they played, does anyone what to challenge that? Hannah and Raven brought things in closer with their gentle acoustic stand-up bass/guitar/vocal duo magic. I had never seen these girls play before but I think they naturally touched on the initial ideas behind the project just in the nature of what they do. The quieter you are, the more you are asking of the audience in terms of listening and audience volume level. The day also felt more fall like than some others in the way that the warmth of the room brought on by everyone’s body heat was particularly comforting in contrast to the crisp air outside. Pale Horse played next. They have gotten more into plugging in their sound and went for mics over the acoustic thing. This was a good call as the two were fighting illness and needed to save whatever strength they could for the fight raging within. These two’s performances and music are strong enough that feel comfortable saying this was not one of their best performances ever, but it was still an honor and treat to get them to share with us. The house came down with Snowblink, and to start they’re performance they came jumping down off higher place. I think this was instigated by the influential interview Daniella gave me months earlier over space and sound engagement. She proceeded to play in one of the bays while the boys, Frank Lyon, David Wilson, Andrew Connors, and Max Goldberg(my favorite 4-pack in the bay), congregated loosely over the enchanted sitting audience.

clouds carved the mountains

These are shots of my installation, The Clouds Carved the Mountains, at Triplebase Gallery. I created this space with the intention of making an environment to receive the sounds of music friends. Documentation of these happenings soon to follow.

together we can cross hot lava

My friend Rocky De Anda, of Galleria de Raza, recommended I propose a project to the Mission Cultural Council, so I did. I had been looking for a way to interact with the community and still produce my own work. So I offered my leadership facilitation skillz to a handful of after school programs around the mission. After working through trust, leadership, and self awareness games activities, I had the kids write or draw the things they valued and feared most in their lives. Promoting, organizing, and scheduling my renegade art-related leadership program proved to be much more difficult than anticipated. Once I got the chance to run these sessions, I frequently found myself in a room of uninhibited kids 7-14 years old spazzing out on some of the more creative vulgar language I have ever heard. The best experience I had was with The Beacon after school program’s Power Eyes group. These girls had they’re group leader present and had a pre-existing foundation together. In the end I found the images of them working together to be the message I wanted to convey most so that’s how I ended up with this product. Now that I have one experience with community-engaged and public art project, I look forward to the chance of doing another with greater foresight. Check out the whole together we can cross hot lava! set of pictures on Drew Bennett’s Flickr