We interviewed Beastman about his background, lifestyle, artwork and his involvement in East Editions. We hope you enjoy the interview, and get more of an insight into East Editions.

EE: Tell us a little bit about who you are, where you grew up and what you tell people you do for a living?
B: I consider myself a multidisciplinary artist, which basically involves making artwork and art based projects using a range of different mediums and through various outlets. I grew up in the north western suburbs of Sydney, the Hills area.

EE: What path led you to becoming an artist?
B: I have always enjoyed drawing and was always attracted to visual imagery since a young age. As a teenager I was obsessed with skateboarding and everything that was part of skate culture, this led me to experiment with photography, film making, graphic design, painting and anything that was creative but still had a link to skating. I never stopped making art, it was always a hobby, something I did to relax and kill time. After high school I studied graphic design and ended up working as a graphic and website designer for many years, all the while making artwork in my spare time. Eventually I started making some art I thought I wanted to show people, so I started exhibiting my work in galleries in Sydney, and then I also started painting murals of my artwork too. I never stopped doing these things and over a period of 10 years or so, I was able to phase out the design work and make a living solely from my artwork.

EE: This is your first Edition for East Editions, why did you wait so long to do a product for your own project?
B: I think when we started out with East Editions we wanted to keep my Beastman art separate until it was well up and running. We didn't want the business to be about me, but more so about the other artists and makers we wanted to work with. Now that East Editions has been going for 3-4 years, its time to integrate my artwork into the business. So you can look forward to seeing some more Beastman artwork being released through East Editions in the future.

EE: Why choose the Timber Box Carts as the Edition you wanted to release with East Editions?
B: I think the Timber Box Carts actually chose me, rather than me choosing them! After the success of the carts we made in Bali with Carlos MagOne, we had an opportunity to make some in Sydney with our good friend Adam Gibson. I think that because of my connection to Adam and the timing of it all, I ended up painting the series of carts. Which I actually really enjoyed painting!

EE: What was your creative process for the East Editions Box Carts? How long did it take?
B: I wanted the boxes to be colourful using the palette i am most known for, blues, greens and oranges. My process was first undercoating the boxes with acrylic paint, then I masked off the white lines around the cart and then began painting in all the patterns working from light to dark. I painted 4 carts at a time, so did 2 sessions over 2 days.

EE: Did you enjoy the process of painting on the Box Carts as a medium instead of a wall or canvas?
B: Yeh i always enjoy painting on 3 dimensional objects. It’s always a challenge and a little more fiddly, but its great working with shapes and corners and angles of different objects. It took me

EE: You painted all the box carts with the same design? Tell us a little bit about the design and what meaning it has?
B: The design is based on my current and ongoing body of artworks which is all about the human intervention with nature. These contemporary abstract works portray the beauty of nature and the human impact on our future environments. Developed through a disciplined, repetitive process of measurement and balance, this connected series of geometric landscape inspired compositions explore themes of biodiversity, geology, hemeroby, regeneration, growth and universal expansion. The lines weaving throughout the compositions represent human intervention with our natural environments, acting as trails, roads, paths or connections cutting through and exploring the landscape. The choices we make as individuals and as a society can seriously effect the future of nature, our interventions can work in unison with the landscape and can also work harshly against it.

*'Seminatural' - Ashfield NSW, Australia*

EE: What lead you to Bali? And what do you love most about Bali life?
B: We first moved to Bali just for an escape from busy Sydney, and an adventure. We weren't sure how long we were going to be there, but we committed to 6 months to begin with. We are still there almost 3 years later, and still loving the lifestyle we can have there. The thing I love the most about Bali life is the connections you can make with the ocean - surfing, sunsets, coconuts - there is so much coastline to explore. I also love living in an area where everything you need is nearby, you can just cruise around on the scooter in our Canggu zone and experience such good food, good vibes, beautiful rice fields and just keep life as simple as possible. I also love the landscape itself, its so dramatic, colourful, tropical, intense and always changing.

EE: What is your life like, living in Bali and still making a living in Australia?
B: It can be quite intense at times, managing multiple art projects at the same time, travelling and then returning home constantly. My short trips tend to be quite full on, I literally push myself to get as much work as possible done in a short period of time, so I can get home sooner. When I am home I am more relaxed, it is here in Bali that I can find more time to explore new ideas, create concepts, get focused and stay on top of everything.

EE: Who or what inspires you? Where do you look for inspiration?
B: I am inspired mostly by nature, just observing the natural environment around us. I take this inspiration and reinterpret it into my artwork through distinctive patterns, geometry, design and colour. I am also of course inspired by lots of other artists out there, I love seeing how people interpret and present their ideas and their visions into visual imagery. Its so amazing what the human mind is capable of, and there are a lot of artists out there at the moment making some awesome work.

*'Echo' - Acrylic & ink on 50cm mounted framed wood panel*

EE: What are your plans for the rest of the year? Any exciting projects or exhibitions?
B: The rest of this year will see me painting murals in Sydney and Melbourne as well as working on East Editions also. I am also going to be beginning work on my next solo exhibition which will be in Melbourne next year. I want to make a series of large paintings that combine digital and painting mediums together, and I also want to continue exploring the human intervention with nature, I am keen to get my camera out more too, I keep seeing some great photos pass me by, I want to keep my camera on me so I can capture more of these moments instead of missing them.

View more info and images of our Beastman Timber Box Carts here.

Find our more about Beastman here

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