Becoming a "Recovering Bro"

I've often been drawn to working in teams, collaborating with other artists and art forms.
Since January 2021 I've taken on a new collaboration, this time with a start-up fitness cult… I mean brand, by the name of
Recovering Bro.

I've been helping to create the brand’s visuals. It turns out building a successful business is it's own art form... one I still have a lot to learn about. Good thing I joined a team with people much smarter than I. Here are just a few of the logos and supplement labels we've made over the past year.

We have an app! And it's free. It has an unbelievable amount of useful information about how to optimize your health: digestion, sleep, stress regulation, how to train, etc. There's new information being added all the time.

We have a store, offering a bunch of high quality nutritional supplements that meet or exceed all cGMP standards. I don't know what cGMP means, but our CEO says it’s quite important. If you want to be healthier, Recovering Bro is honest and funny and an amazing resource. Click here to learn more or join our self-care cult

I’ll leave you with one of my favorite assets, the “bro in the hole”:

Behind the Scenes: "Your Life as a Comedy"

Things are a little strange right now… I know I’m feeling a little stuck inside during this covid pandemic. What a pleasure to get hired to work outside in a Chicago summer and create a mural. I was fortunate enough to be contacted by Beauty & Brawn to work for their client, Supera Asset Management, to do a mural in the heart of the Logan Square neighborhood of Chicago. John Supera really liked the mural I did in Spring Green and was hoping I could create something with a similar feeling:

“Center Stage”
Spring Green WI

With the starting point of red curtains and nature, we began the mock-up process. The Family Dollar building is a much different proportion however: half the height and twice the length, we’ll need to see a lot more behind the curtain.

Family Dollar before picture - 100ft long wall

Here are a few of the process shots. I had a great deal of help from my assistant / videographer Ben Hood and Larysa as always. We had a few other friends come out to help as well.

Laying out the piece

day 2

day 2

day 3

filling in the wave

lots of helpers

halfway done

The final piece. “Your Life as a Comedy”

“Your Life as a Comedy” - Family Dollar / Logan Square / Chicago

Close ups:

“Your Life as a Comedy” may best be described as a cycle of hardships we all seem to go through: sometimes we’re in a desert, sometimes a flood. Heavy things can fall on us out of nowhere. 
But we find more balance once we climb out of the holes we fall in, and start to build a bit of safety and community around us.
Curation of this piece was by Beauty & Brawn for Supera Asset Management. It was such a pleasure to bring these ideas out into the public.

Location: 2274 N Milwaukee Ave / Chicago IL / 60647

Behind the Scenes: "Looming Large"

Explore Uptown was nice enough to ask me to do a piece for them for 2020. I loved the wall, but we were going to have to figure out how to get me up there to paint it. It was a squeeze high up between two buildings, and there was a regular sized door / gate we had to figure out how to get a scissor lift through.

The beautiful brick wall and the small door to get into the gangway

After much searching, I found a scissor lift that could just fit through the doorway and get me the 30 feet up I needed to go. Some pictures from the process:

The overall project was pretty flawless. The weather was great. The view was great. Justin from Explore Uptown made sure I had everything I needed to get the piece done. With the help of my assistant / videographer Ben Hood and my wife Larysa, we got the piece done in less than a week.

The final piece: “Looming Large”
Location: 4616 N Clifton Ave / Uptown, Chicago / 60640

Chicago Tribune article: Custom designed masks for charity with Threadless

I’ve created two custom masks for the Threadless.com campaign to raise $250,000 for MedShare.

The masks are $17. If you or anyone you know would like one, click here for the link

See the full Chicago Tribune article

"In the Red" - An E.LEE x Jenna Pollack x Hubbard Street Pro collaboration at the University of Chicago

I put away my brushes for a few weeks to help create a conceptual moving installation with choreographer Jenna Pollack and 26 dancers from Hubbard Street’s professional program. University of Chicago housed us for a two week residence at the Logan Center for the Arts.

Audience members were brought up to the 10th floor in small groups on the elevator. They were welcomed by a few of my paintings to set the mood, and then descended down the staircase through the performance.

photos by Peter Hinsdale

Together, with Jenna and Hubbard Street, we collectively reached down into that strange place that creativity comes from to mold this experience. It’s other-worldly yet draws upon many archetypes and metaphors you’ll recognize from your every day life. I hope you watch it and sit for a moment with the feelings it brings to the surface:

Click here to see the abreviated 6 minute version

A moment from Robyn and Melina’s creation. Photo by Peter Hinsdale

We shared the bill with an amazing collaboration between Robyn Mineko Williams and musician, composer, and designer of wearable art Melina Ausikaitis. If you'd like more information about how the evening came about, or images and videos from Robyn and Melina's collaboration with the Hubbard dancers, click here for a wonderful article from the University of Chicago overviewing the whole process.

The response to the show was overwhelming, with all show times sold out and over 400 people experiencing the installation. A special thank you to Alexandra Wells, Erin Harner and Kelsey Matsch for all their help making this experience possible.

News article about "Neighbors" in West Town Chicago

Click here to read the full article

"STOCKPILE: An Auction by Artists for Artists" - 2019

Interacting with art has had a profound impact on my life, and I want to help others connect with it as well. The idea for Stockpile started to take shape over a few beers with a friend and collector David Dowd. We wanted to bring people together for an art event that was beneficial to the artists, the collectors and the community. Myself and four other Chicago artists (Steve Seeley, Baldur Helgason, Zach Schrey, and Anthony Lewellen) focused our efforts to raise money for public school art programming in our home of Chicago.

We each came up with an image for an 8 x 10in screen print. The guys at Popink were really generous donating their time and resources to print us an edition of 50. This allowed us to make a box set of prints with 100% of the proceeds going to the cause.

I asked each of the artists for 3 to 5 pieces and we put the show on at my studio. It would be a blind-bid auction including 24 total works. 25% of each winning bid would also go to the cause, with each artist choosing which school they would like their 25% donated.

E.LEE - Stockpile 2019

Baldur Helgason - Stockpile 2019

Steve Seeley - Stockpile 2019

Zach Schrey - Stockpile 2019

Anthony Lewellen - Stockpile 2019

The idea and the evening was an experiment, and I was so happy it turned out a success:
- All 50 print sets sold
- 21 / 24 of the paintings found a home
- We collectively made over $5000 for public school art programs in Chicago:
(spread between Hayt Elementary, Palmer Elementary, and the Children First Fund)

A huge thank you again to Popink for graciously printing the print sets, and to Firestone Walker for providing the refreshments!
Thank you to David Dowd for being an amazing partner on this and helping from beginning to end. We couldn’t have done it without the artists: Steve Seeley, Zach Schrey, Anthony Lewellen, Baldur Helgason, and of course all of the wonderful art loving people that came out in large numbers, spending their hard-earned money to make sure art continues to thrive in Chicago. We had a great time and we hope to do it again soon!

"Not Just Another Pretty Face" at Hyde Park Art Center

I was very honored to a part of Not Just Another Pretty Face 2019: a show taking place every three years at Hyde Park Art Center. Patrons commission works from artists throughout the year, facilitated by HPAC, to be unveiled at a gala in December. The countdown to the unveiling:

It was a really fun atmosphere: all the artists and patrons in one room, excited to find their pieces after the sheets came down.

I ended up having two pieces in the show. One was commissioned by a staff member at HPAC. She told me she’d like to have a gold coin piece. They were $25 a coin at that time. I asked her how much she wanted to spend? She said: “how about $100?”

“4 Gold Coins”

The second piece is a longer story:
I’ve been wanting to make my own formal wear, by painting a pair of coveralls to look like a suit. The idea of blurring the lines of status by turning functional blue collar work wear into white collar dress is an intriguing one to me. Because of HPAC, I found out about Abigail Glaum-Lathbury: an artist in the world of fashion design (teaching at the art institute). She has created a project called the “Rational Dress Society”.

A few of the jumpsuit options in the “Rational Dress Society” - photos by Lara Kastner

I went to Abigail’s studio to see if I could commission her to make me a jumpsuit for NJAPF. After we talked and realized we were both examining a lot of the same questions in our work (status, value), we thought instead that trading pieces would be more fun. I had one gold coin piece I was saving at the time, and it just so happened to be the exact same price as her jumpsuits. It seemed meant to be. I also like to think this piece by Abigail was the first thing I bought in the real world with the currency I’ve created with paint.

Just needed a little spray paint and tape to take this coverall high brow

This trade would have never happened without Hyde Park Art Center and the Not Just Another Pretty Face show. They wanted to include the pieces and the story in the exhibition. Here it all is coming together: me wearing my formal coveralls next to the two coin pieces displayed in the exhibition.

Thank you to Maria at HPAC, Abigail, and Hyde Park Art Center. I really had a lot of fun with the show :)

Pictures and videos by Larysa Pyatnochko

Behind the Scenes - "Caution: Falling Rock"

I love Wile E Coyote. I see a lot of myself in him: coming up with grand ideas and consistently falling short of the target. I’m sure a lot of people in creative fields can identify with this feeling… failure is a major part of creating. But I think it's also really important we find humor in the curse and the blessing of this need to create (especially when our income is tied to the success of what we make). This particular image is also about patience, as Wile E is perpetually looking off into the distance, optimistically waiting.

I tried to incorporate as much of the existing wall as possible into this mural: using the brick as a major element in the piece, and painting a post to make the "please back in" sign screwed into the wall look like it was in the scene. I really love blurring that line between reality and make believe.

photo by @DrewInChicago

I’ve been wanting to make more Wile E Coyote pieces in Chicago for a while. This mural was made possible because a friend and collector, Ryan Dromgoole (who is getting married later this year) wanted to help paint a mural with me for his bachelor party. He and the members of the party all pitched in to help pay for the paint and assisted filling in colors the whole first day.

Help from the Bachelor Party. - Photo by Oscar Alejandror

"Caution: Falling Rock" is located on the east side of Five Star Bar on Chicago Ave in Chicago IL. At 32ft tall and 55ft wide it’s definitely one of my largest public works.

Here’s a bit of the process:

photo by Oscar Alejandror

photo by @DrewInChicago

Click here to see Street Art News’ article about “Caution: Falling Rock”.

Behind the Scenes - Painting with Oakoak in Chicago and NYC

I count myself lucky to be friends with Oakoak. He’s one of my favorite humans on the planet. So far we’ve traveled together and painted on projects in Amsterdam and Japan. We would assist one another and give advice, but never had the opportunity to create whole pieces together. Oakoak and his partner flew in from St. Etienne France toward the end of July to come spend three weeks in the States. We planned to do pieces in Chicago and New York City, including our first collaborations.

The trip started off with a bang! Within the first few days of arriving Oakoak found (in his words) “the best cap in the world”:

“The best cap in the world” - Oakoak

I was very happy for him. It was a fine cap indeed.

I’ve always loved Oakoak’s work for its simplicity, universality and sense of humor. We brainstormed and came up with some collaborations using my coins and his hearts, along with some trompe l’oeil and anamorphic effects we were both excited to try.

We started in Chicago with a little piece on a corner store just down the street from my studio. It worked perfectly with their “ATM Available” sign.

photo by Pyatnochkina

Next we created our first anamorphic piece, using the corner of a building. (Anamorphic art is created using perspective to give a distorted image an interesting effect when viewed from a specific view point).

Now it was time for all of us to load up the van and start driving (Oakoak, Tiffany, Larysa and me). Our first stop was Detroit. Oakoak had a few print runs to hand finish at 1xRun. I helped of course, and then we could head out to see the rest of the town.

Me helping

The rest of the town:

Shark Toof

Dan Witz

Piling back in the van, we head for New York City. After getting settled, we get quite a bit of Chinese food (Tiffany is obsessed, but we honestly don’t mind). We also visit the Whitney and the Met. Tiffany, Larysa and I enjoy our time and a number of the pieces in the museums. Oakoak however takes this time to create a few drawings:

We make our way down to the Lower East side to see a show opening at 212 Arts and talk with the owner, Marc. When he sees the kind of pieces we want to do, he offers us the front of his gallery. It’s a perfect place for this small piece.

We get a lead for another opportunity to paint from @just_a_spectator (on IG). He sends us an address to meet him in the Chinatown diamond district, and says we’re free to paint anywhere on the roof. When we get there, I’m very excited to see three Invader pieces on the front of the building (my favorite street artist of all time). And on the roof, there are even more great pieces such as this one from Fanakapan:

Invader

Fanakapan

@Just_a_spectator happens to be a great guy and an amazing photographer who’s taken some of the biggest names in street art around New York. Oakoak and I felt very fortunate to have met him. Here are the projects we did on the roof. Some photos by "Just a Spectator”

A really great unexpected part of the trip was that Oakoak knew Dan Witz from painting at a couple of the same festivals. I’m a huge fan of Dan’s work! He’s one of the only other artists I know creating trompe l’oeil work successfully both on the street and in galleries. He likes to create small unexpected pieces that fit seamlessly into their surroundings. He’s extremely talented and it was a huge honor to get to meet him and see his studio. Here are some views of the pieces he was working on at the time of our visit. The last photo is a painting I was lucky enough to buy from him. I hung it above the door to my studio as inspiration.

my studio

Overall the trip completely exceeded my expectations. It was a lot of fun to collaborate and experience as much as we did in a few short weeks. I’m looking forward to planning my next trip to France for us to do something similar in Europe! About half the pictures in this post were taken by Oakoak… the picture below included: a friend I made on the subway.