Ben Bernanke and Bear Troy

Here's a new one for Stocks & Commodities. What we have here is Ben Bernanke using some crafty techniques to do battle w/ the economic crisis. I'm a huge history buff so naturally this was a lot of fun to work on. Hopefully it'll be on the cover some time next month.



Some details:




Thanks everybody!

Hair'em Scare'em

Some of my art is included in a book released this month by Gestalten. It's called Hair'em Scare'em, and it's dedicated to contemporary art and design themed around hair. Here's the publisher's description:

Hair'em Scare'em presents an extraordinary exploration through the fascinating beauty and inventive possibilities of hair as a medium for artistic expression in contemporary art and design. The book documents this palpable trend into a visual sourcebook that presents a captivating collection of hairy works in graphic design, photography, illustration and art as well as interior design, fashion and jewelry design. The extraordinary works featured in this book are the best indication of trends in hair outside the mainstream.

Here are some of the featured spreads from the book's website. Click here or on any images to be redirected there.

Time Out Chicago and the Progressive again

Just finished another one for The Progressive. This one is about foreclosures particularly in black and other minority communities.


Here are three color variations of Kendal Duque I gave to Time Out Chicago for their Hot Seat Column.

Stocks and Commodities and The Progressive

It's been awhile since my last post, but I've been keeping pretty busy this past month so I have a lot to show for it. This first piece, for Stocks and Commodities Magazine, was about the uncertainty and immobility of the stock market of the past year. I love drawing bears and bunches of little people, so naturally this was a lot of to work on.



I especially like working on projects that involve creating images for social issues and/or current political events. This illustration is for the October issue of the Progressive and is about how bad the unemployment issue is in New Orleans right now.

More Portraits

Here are a few new portraits along with several color options. The first accompanies an article in BusinessWeek Small Business about opposing sides on small businesses providing health care to their employees.



And here are two more portraits drawn for Time Out Chicago's "Hot Seat" column that features a different chef from the Chicago area every week.



Thanks and enjoy!

Barry

Hot Seat Portraits

I've just started a regular portrait gig at Time Out Chicago for their column "The Hot Seat." Each Article features an interview with a chef in the Chicago area. Here are the the first two illustrations of Art Smith (formally on Top Chef) and Rick Spiros. More to come!

The Progressive and some recent portraits

It's been awhile since my last post, but here are some new illos. This one is for The Progressive which is a client I've been wanting to work with for quite some time. The article was about the recent violence in Pakistan and how it's created thousands of refugees.


This drawing was for a local Miles Davis cover band called The Petit Machins. To hear some samples click here.


And finally here's a commissioned portrait.

Gold again?! And Silver too?

I just found out that I won Gold for the third year in a row from the Richmond Illustrators Club's 2009 Annual. The crazy thing is that I also won the Silver award which I didn't know was allowed! The very awesome illustration master Marshall Arisman was the sole Juror this year and supposedly really liked my work (or maybe I bribed him? You'll find out ten years after I'm dead). The winning pieces were Muqtada al-Sadr and his Mahdi Army and Jan's Cats.



Thanks RIC and Marshall Arisman!!!

Spread the Word

Here are two new ones I did for Santa Barbara Independent and for BusinessWeek. The first Illustration was sort of difficult in concept since it's about religion in schools, but I was not allowed to use any kind of iconography (i.e. crosses, bibles, churches, etc.). The client decided to go with the sketch that showed how religious organizations are trying to get young kids into their after school groups through peer pressure.

The second illo was a quick one in that I had 24 hours from sketches to finish. Luckily it was conceptually simple and the client just wanted a few narratives. The finished piece shows several ways that companies are are creating incentives for those who have been laid off. What's shown below is a very savvy man who is taking up these businesses on their offers of refunds for recently purchased items and clinics not charging for medical bills.

BusinessWeek Illustration

As of late I've been doing some work for BusinessWeek. Here's a recent one about marketing towards Hispanic consumers.

Website Update

I just finished updating my website. I pretty much only touched the illustration section, but I also added images and links to Team 8 Press in the store section. Enjoy!

www.barrybruner.com

FUNS WANT Interview

I have a feature interview in the Taiwanese magazine Funs Want Vo. 9. You should check out their very cool website. However unless you can read traditional Chinese you're going to need to use babel fish to translate for you.

Some New Stuff

The top illustration is for the cover of Inland Empire Weekly. The featured article reports that in areas of California the military is conducting routine DUI checkpoints, which is illegal. According to of Posse Comitatus the military isn't supposed to be used to enforce the law domestically except for under martial law.


Here's a small portrait for BusinessWeek.


And lastly, I was interviewed by alongside artists, Nathan Kanne and Chanae Owens in regards to the "Cost of Living" show at Gallery 5 (opens this Friday). Our interviewer, Tim Bowring asks us questions about the show, the economy and what it means to be an artist in these strange times. The radio show airs Friday, March 6th at 12:30 pm on WRIR 97.3 (Richmond's local independent radio station)



Also, here's an illustration for Beer Advocate Magazine. It's of Bill Brand, a late, great beer journalist.

Feeling Desperate?

Here's some recent illos I did for Time Out Chicago for their Valentine's Day singles issue. The cast of characters are a bunch sleeze balls that you may just decide to subject yourself to this Valentine's Day if desperation outweighs good judgment.The greatest part about working on this was that I based all the drawings on people I know.

The Cost of Living finished

I finally finished my sculpture which has taken me forever to complete. I was invited to participate in a group show called "The Cost of Living" at Gallery 5 in Richmond, Va which will include a lot of the local talent around these parts. I've been wanting to work three dimensionally for quite some now, and felt that this was a perfect opportunity to experiment. I admit that I'm not the best photographer so hopefully I'll get some better photos up here soon that don't included backgrounds of my messy bedroom. This is totally new territory for me so let me know what you think. Thanks!

The Cost of Living

Lately I've been working on a sculpture for a show coming up at Gallery 5 in Richmond, Va (Opening on Friday, March 6th). The show is centered around the theme of "The Cost of Living," so I chose to create a bunch of little figures working in this unfinished building/giant king. Essentially it's saying the king's wealth is created by the combined labor of the many. I wanted to try something new with media, since I feel like I've been messing around with pen and ink almost exclusively for the last few years. It's been a lot of fun building this thing and I've learned a lot about working with an added dimension. In this image the piece still isn't complete, but I'll post an update once it's finished.