Animals in the Walls
William S Burroughs
William Seward Burroughs II was an American novelist, short story writer, essayist, painter, and spoken word performer. A primary figure of the Beat Generation and a major postmodernist author, he is considered to be "one of the most politically trenchant, culturally influential, and innovative artists of the 20th century".His influence is considered to have affected a range of popular culture as well as literature. Read his biography. www.burroughs100.com |
Contributing Artists
The Beat Generation questioned politics, explored religion, developed styles & creative methods, and wrote about the human condition. This legacy is explored, re-defined and re-appropriated for a modern audience through connected commissioned artists (and events programme), deliberately designed to expand, introduce and directly engage with young, innovative, and cultured audience alongside mature fans of arts and literature. We feature alongside Burroughs works original responses from well known and emerging artists, exploring strong themes relevant to engage, inspire, innovate with a new generation.
The Beat Generation questioned politics, explored religion, developed styles & creative methods, and wrote about the human condition. This legacy is explored, re-defined and re-appropriated for a modern audience through connected commissioned artists (and events programme), deliberately designed to expand, introduce and directly engage with young, innovative, and cultured audience alongside mature fans of arts and literature. We feature alongside Burroughs works original responses from well known and emerging artists, exploring strong themes relevant to engage, inspire, innovate with a new generation.
Brion Gysin
A painter, writer, sound poet, and performance artist born in Buckinghamshire, UK. Best known for his discovery of the cut-up technique, used by his friend, William S. Burroughs. With the engineer Ian Sommerville he invented the Dreamachine, a flicker device designed as an art object to be viewed with the eyes closed. It was in painting and drawing, however, that Gysin devoted his greatest efforts, creating calligraphic works inspired by the cursive Japanese "grass" script and Arabic script. Burroughs later stated that "Brion Gysin was the only man I ever respected." www.briongysin.com |
Matt Black
One half of music duo Coldcut, which founded Ninja Tune. Black is widely regarded as one of the most innovative people in the new sphere of AudioVisual performance - his legendary AV tracks include "Timber" by Coldcut and Hexstatic as well as early involvement in the classic rave VJ series Xmix. Black is one of the inventors of the VJamm and Ninja Jamm software used in the Coldcut live show. ninjatune.net/artist/coldcut |
Shepard Fairey
One of today's best known influential American contemporary street artist, graphic designer, activist and illustrator who emerged from the skateboarding scene. He first became known for his "Andre the Giant Has a Posse" (OBEY) sticker campaign. He became widely known during the 2008 U.S. presidential election for his Barack Obama "Hope" poster. His work is included in the collections at The Smithsonian, the Museum of Modern Art in New York City, and the Victoria and Albert Museum in London www.obeygiant.com |
Cleon Peterson
Cleon Peterson is an LA based artist whose chaotic and violent paintings show clashing figures symbolizing a struggle between power and submission in the fluctuating architecture of contemporary society. www.cleonpeterson.com |
Aaron Brookner
Aaron Brookner is an American film director and scriptwriter. His debut feature film was The Silver Goat (2011). His first short film, The Black Cowboys, was awarded the Audience Award at the Rochester International Film Festival in 2004. Brookner recently restored his uncle Howard Brookner's film Burroughs : The Movie and is working on a documentary about Howard's adventures with William S Burroughs. He currently lives and works in London. www.facebook.com/smashthecontrolmachinedoc |
Ben Frost
A visual artist whose work seeks to challenge contemporary norms and values of Western culture and society. Frost’s visual work places common iconic images from advertising, entertainment, and politics into startling juxtapositions that are often confrontational and controversial. He currently lives and works in Sydney, Australia, and exhibits locally and internationally. hbenfrostisdead.com |
Yuri Zupančič
An artist from Kansas, USA who is most prolific in Microchip Paintings. Raised in Dodge City, he spent formative years in Lawrence, Kansas. Lawrence is home base, but much of his life is spent abroad. Yuri has created and exhibited art in Lawrence, Kansas City, Denver & Boulder CO, Paris FR, London UK, Berlin DE, Sydney & Brisbane AU, Wellington NZ, and Split HR. www.yuri-z.com |
Mobstr
Hailing from the Newcastle UK, street artist Mobstr employs a combination of stencils and cheeky quips to challenge the way we view public space. Whether he’s co-opting billboards, battling the local authorities or just having a little fun, Mobstr’s work is sure to bring you a mischievous grin mobstr.org |
Gastón Ugalde
Known as "the enfant terrible" of the Bolivian Art Scene and called "the most important living Bolivian artist" by the Konex Foundation in Argentina, and is also referred as the "Andean Warhol" by art critics. Gastón gained international notoriety with his controversial series of "coca paintings " that were given as presents to world leaders by Bolivian president Evo Morales. Gastón has been experimenting with coca in his art since the 1970s. www.gastonugalde.com |
The Dreamachine Ft Gorilla Perfume
The dreamachine is a stroboscopic flicker device that produces visual stimuli. Created by Brion Gysin, William S. Burroughs and Ian Sommerville. It is "viewed" with the eyes closed: the pulsating light stimulates the optical nerve and alters the brain's electrical oscillations. Users experience increasingly bright, complex patterns of color behind their closed eyelids. The patterns become shapes and symbols, swirling around, until the user feels surrounded by colors. This experience may sometimes be quite intense, but to escape from it, one needs only to open one's eyes. Installation created by Gorilla Perfume. www.facebook.com/GorillaPerfume www.guerrillazoo.com/brion-gysin-dreamachine-uk-launch-at-modern-panic-iii-2012 |
Paul Don Smith
Currently one of the most popular street artists in activity and his artworks are everywhere in East London. He works mainly with stencil portraying popular characters from TV, music, cinema and sport, but also paying homage to classic art. www.facebook.com/PaulDonSmith |
Philip Heying
Photographer living in Lawrence, Kansas. Born in Kansas City, Missouri, he acquired a passion for photography at a young age, and learned the craft of black & white film and print development while in middle school. During his time in Lawrence, Kansas, Heying met William S. Burroughs and began a friendship that endured until Burroughs’s death in 1997. Burroughs’s circle of friends, from Albert Hoffman and Allen Ginsberg, to Brion Gysin and Timothy Leary provided artistic insight and guidance for Heying, and during this time his focus shifted from painting to photography exclusively. www.philipheying.com |
Oliver Switch
"Obfuscated mnemonic reportage and synaesthetic, paradolic divination of the subconscious concerning psychonautic and sociodynamic investigations in entheogenics, disassociatives, Thelemic practices, lucid dreaming, neuro linguistics, and theoretical physics, utilising contextual abstraction to communicate between subjectively and objectively referenced models of reality expressed through idiosyncratic semiotics in the medium of collage ink sketching and photorealistic aerosol paint techniques." www.01yk.net |
Jon Blumb
Well-known for his work in commercial photography, Blumb is highly regarded for his photography of art objects, much of which can be seen in countless volumes of exhibition catalogues and other art-related publications. Concurrent with his work in commercial photography, Blumb has produced a large body of personal creative work. Blumb was also a close personal friend of Burroughs and over the years, Blumb assembled a large body of work related to Burroughs. |
Lana Alana
Lana Alana is the work of London based Painter & Graphic Designer Lana Hughes. Having attended the University for the Creative Arts (UK), & graduating with an honours degree in Graphic Communication, she now adapts her works throughout many forms due to her passion for bright coloured, hand designed typography. www.lanaalana.com |