Today we’d like to introduce you to Beast Syndicate.
Hi BEAST, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I grew up in a family of musicians, designers, and artists so self-expression has always seemed a natural part of life. As a kid, I loved to draw cars, imagining how they would be restyled through different iterations. As a teenager, this gradually morphed into me drawing my favorite surf logos and skate graphics and creating collage-style Xerox flyers. I wasn’t very skilled at painting or illustration but did enjoy what I later discovered to be graphic design. In the late 1980s/early 1990s my high school had very few computers and certainly no graphic design classes. On my own initiative and just for kicks, I developed a collection of graphics for my own Surfival™ surf brand which I operated for a few years, designing all the apparel art, as well as marketing assets, product sourcing, sales, etc.
After graduating university with an economics degree, I realized that if I was going to be passionate about my career, then it would need to involve graphic design. This was the late 1990s so I bought myself a copy of Illustrator 8 and Photoshop 5.5 and took a new-fangled ‘online’ course to learn basic HTML. Since then, I’ve been largely self-taught, learning on-the-job and gleaning insight wherever possible.
What is now Beast Syndicate has its roots in ATX/Aesthetix™, my first freelance design business, created in 2003. (In retrospect, it was an interesting choice of name given that I was based on the east coast for over a decade and had no idea I’d eventually be living near Austin, TX!) Over the years, my favorite projects have been related to surf/skate, hip hop and other independent, non-conformist lifestyles.
Over the last 5-8 years, I’ve gradually been able to move away from client-based projects and pursue more self-directed art. As a means of creating something non-digital (and therefore unique) I have embraced printmaking as my medium of choice. I began to screenprint in 2015 and then in 2016-17 spent an instructive year at the infamous Burning Bones print shop in Houston. I continue to screen print in my studio occasionally though for practical purposes, I’ve been developing an alternative congé print process that uses very little water and minimal equipment.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
I never went to art/design school so it’s been a continual challenge to gain the necessary skills and knowledge that other formally-trained artists and designers have – the so-called ‘imposter syndrome’ is an ugly monster with whom I am very familiar!
Over the years, I’ve personally struggled health-wise, relationally, etc. and, at the risk of sounding cliché, this has deepened my life experience and definitely continues to inform both my worldview and my artwork.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
Working under the studio moniker Beast Syndicate (BEAST), my art is inspired by the ‘Do-It-Yourself’ ethos and associated aesthetics of skateboarding, punk and other counter-culture social and political movements. I combine appropriated, customized pop culture iconography in a collage of metaphor and symbolism that explores the promises and contradictions within Western cultural messaging.
Through graphic emulation and/or the actual production process, I incorporate the distressed textures of street art and print-making as an allegory for the decay of the American dream. Born and raised in the UK but living almost half my life in the USA, I’ve experienced the American experiment from a unique perspective that continues to inform my work.
While much of my work incorporates existing elements (found images) I believe that what makes my work unique is the way I use them to create new meaning – perhaps similar to how a DJ like Cut Chemist combines random audio samples to create a new track. Drawn from a personal library of 1000s of clippings from vintage comic books, cold-war era clip art and other ephemera, my source material is often vaguely familiar yet customized and used in unintended combinations to create new meaning.
What matters most to you? Why?
The act of creation, from concept to final execution, is so energizing and I experience a sense of freedom throughout the process. Discovering that people actually connect with what I create is a huge encouragement and inspires me to continue. I love to hear how people interpret my work and what elements resonate with them personally.
Art can be both visually enjoyable and mentally stimulating and that is something I strive to accomplish in my work. An example of this, and one of my favorite pieces is Better Betty (see photos), a graphic that encourages defiance of expectations and the rejection of stereotypes. It’s been very satisfying to find that this piece seems to resonate with lots of people from many different walks of life.
Over the last few years, I’ve gradually been introducing a new concept into some of my work: BEAS.T.™ – an acronym for Be a Serious Threat. A founding principle of Beast Syndicate has been to ‘Abandon The Stereotypes’ and question authority. With mounting social and environmental issues such as fake news, prejudice, climate change, and growing inequality, now more than ever, we all need to ask questions and challenge the status quo. “Whatever you do, Be a Serious Threat!”
MORE INFO:
You can always see a wide selection of my screen prints, xerographs and congé prints at Austin Art Garage. https://austinartgarage.com/collections/beast-syndicate
BEAST recently appeared in the European design magazine 46pgs. https://46pgs.com
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.beastsyndicate.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/beastsyndicate
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/beastsyndicate
- Other: LATEST: https://linktr.ee/beastsyndicate
Image Credits
Alex Garza excluding the Houston mural photos (which should be credited to Morris Malakoff). My ‘personal’ photo is of me in front of the mural I designed for What’s The Buzz. Blue/orange mural for WindowWorks in downtown Houston, TX. Maroon/tan mural What’s The Buzz Coffee Co in College Station, TX. Custom congé-printed wooden panels: Better Betty, Boy Fortune, Bright Future (Bear) and Champions Created Daily – all signed, original artwork sized 18×24.
