Dancing Beers

“Dancing Beers”

In collaboration with Collective Arts, as well as BC’s Bottle Lodge.

I was approached by Collective Art with the task of designing and painting a mural for the beer garden of BC’s bottle lodge. The client (BC’s bottle lodge owners) wanted something retro 1980’s, especially cartoons from the 1980’s. They also wanted the design to incorporate elements of beer (hops, bottles, etc).

My foundational inspiration for this design was the “Dancing bears” logo made famous by the Grateful Dead in the 1980’s

In the design I had care bears dancing from one end of the composition to the other, interweaving through these silhouettes of different sized and shaped beer bottles. As the bears pass behind the bottles, their forms distort and change colors, to give the effect that curved glass has on forms that pass behind it. There are hops and leaves throughout the composition to aid in the movement of the bears.

The background is the pattern of a Rubik’s Cube, made famous in the 80’s, which created a disco feel to the dancing bears. The shadows cast in the foreground radiate out in all directions, creating the same effect as a disco ball and over theme of this dance party from the 80’s. The 80’s boomboxes and sunglasses help push home this theme.

-Mural is located at 8175 Hetz Dr., Cincinnati, OH 45242

-Acrylic on 6 wood panels

-24’ x 8’

-2020