Any Way You Want It

Bees and Trees are sending our creations out into the world and they're ending up in all sorts of crazy places. Two of our girls are now available as prints from Urban Outfitters. So if you've ever dreamed of having an angry librarian adorn your iphone or a shy nerd grace the cover of your MacBook Pro, your sweet fantasy can now become a reality.



Check them both out at the urban outfitters print shop.

High Design

Bees and Trees have made our first foray into web design. We designed and built the website for the Asheville NC band Kovacs and the Polar Bear. Visit the site and listen to their album “Loathsome Teeth.” They are breaking out new material at their shows, so get to one if you can.

Imagine a scene in which two drunk kids in a purple jeep are chasing Dave Matthews around a muddy field. Now, imagine that those kids are listening to their favorite sad song at top volume. Kovacs and the Polar Bear are performing that song.
kovacsandthepolarbear.com

And here is a site that features a picture of the feet of someone in Kovacs and the Polar Bear:
lydia see

Danny Heller - Palm Springs Exhibition

Last summer, we posted a feature about the paintings of Danny Heller. The essay is published on the back cover of the exhibition catalogue of Heller’s 2010 solo exhibition at Terrence Rogers Fine Art in Palm Springs, California.



Heller’s paintings in the Palm Springs exhibition, Heller’s third solo show with the Terrence Rogers Gallery, depict Mid-Century Modern suburban architecture and furnishings of Southern California. This group of paintings is Heller’s most complex and alluring.



Many of these new paintings feature hard-edged shadows that bisect the compositions. The effect is similar to that of the formal shadows of film noir. As in many noir films of the late 1940’s, Heller’s Palm Springs paintings suffuse scenes of Southern California opulence with paranoia and secrecy.

Stills from He Walked By Night (1948)

Some paintings depict scenes at dusk or at night. The visual language is that of drama, suspense, and fear. Heller’s Palm Springs paintings have roots that reach more aspects and attitudes of Mid-Century Southern California than the subject matter immediately suggests.




See the paintings here:
Danny Heller Art

Or on the Terrence Rogers site.

Phish on Phriday-- photos by Justin Horne

These are recent photos by Brooklyn-based Justin Horne. He sent them to me the day I finished watching the “Phish: Live in Brooklyn” DVD’s.

“Song I Heard the Ocean Sing,” which opened the first Brooklyn 2004 show, particularly reminds me living in NYC-- but in a good way! This combination of “Waves > Song I Heard the Ocean Sing > David Bowie” from Knoxville 2009 seems appropriate today.



I didn’t see the two Brooklyn shows when they happened in 2004, but Justin Horne did. He has a supernatural level of luck when it comes to getting good tickets (frequently miracles) to sold out shows, like the Brooklyn shows.



Like Mr. Wizard or MacGyver, Horne makes disproportionately cool things happen with what seem like small gestures. Natural principles are corralled and focused by simple means. Horne combines a strong color sense with minimal techniques to make a variety of formal works that deal with chance, transition and transformation.



See more at JustinHorne.com

Lance Link Does it Again!

Watching Lancelot Link, Secret Chimp the other day I noticed something kind of neat.



The Dragon Lady (an evil chimp working for CHUMP) was receiving a custom camera. I love cameras, so I was very excited to notice that she was handed a Diana! The camera was originally produced in the early 60's to mid 70's and I've never seen one actually being used during that time period, much less by a chimp! So, of course, I was really psyched. Luckily the Diana is so simply constructed that a chimp probably really could use it.




The Dragon Lady's Diana has been modified to spray some sort of sleeping gas at her victim, a foreign ambassador. She's planning to intercept him on a plane and knock him out after they land.



As you can see this modified Diana is the non-flash version. It's very hard to tell if it's an actual Diana or a Diana clone. I'm leaning toward clone because the film advance looks slightly rounded, but some Diana's were like that. It's hard to say since the proliferation of clones was enormous. Even Reader's Digest gave out branded clones for free!



Lance Link and Mata Hairi are guarding the ambassador on the plane, and they do not recognize the disguised Dragon Lady. Lance gets friendly and asks to borrow her camera. Oddly, she says that the camera is very expensive (about a dollar retail) and not to touch it.





But touch it he does! And he knocks out the Dragon Lady with her own camera!



The day is saved!