Already Been Chewed
Many of you already know about Barton Damer. And those of you who follow him probably saw that he just launched his new site today. But for those of you not “in the know”, this post is for you!
I would say Barton is one of the best visual artists I know. His work not only inspires me but leaves me with my jaw dropped to the floor and usually one word …or sound… “uhhhhhhh.” Words like wow, cool, awesome, neato, groovy, epic, etc… they all fall short.
His portfolio and client list includes Igniter Media (where he used to work full time), Collide Magazine, tobyMac, Scion cars, Owl City, Wolfmother, Integrity Media, Story/Wibo, Catalyst, and a few skateboard companies. His company and blog URL “Already Been Chewed” lives up to it’s name in that, like gum, no one likes media that has already been chewed. Seeing his work is as refreshing as popping a Mentos in your mouth.
The world can be a drab and boring place. There is visual disease all around. And then “BAM!” a Barton Damer video hits the streets and it’s as if the world went from black & white to technicolor! Don’t believe all this hype? All I can say is watch this. It speaks for itself:
Over the past year, I’ve gotten the privilege to know Barton, and he’s as real as it gets. For him, his relationships come first and his artistry/career come second. I’ve also been one of the fortunate ones to hire Barton for a few projects. Our first was a doozy… wow. We had to produce three concert visuals to be VJ’d in a feature-length film starring Tim McGraw & Gwyneth Paltrow. It was my first true “Hollywood” experience and I learned a lot about how the industry works (or how it doesn’t work, I should say.) It was a classic case of the client not knowing what they wanted and going back and forth like nobody’s business, but Barton was a trooper and delivered what they called a “homerun”. We thought otherwise…but that’s another story. ;) But the best part of that project was getting to work with Barton, hands down. I’ll let you know when the movie releases!
Brad Zimmerman (CMDtv) interviewed Barton recently; I highly recommend watching it. And if I haven’t been obvious enough, go check out his new site and let some fresh visual goodness into your life!
