Screens 'N' Spokes: Brad Klausen

Brad Klausen - Seattle, Washington
Many people will be familiar with Brad's consistently amazing work for Pearl Jam. The level of thought he puts into his pieces is always apparent, even if you don't actually hear the process from the artist himself, but in this case I'll let Brad's words tell the story:

Originally i was going to do a poster involving a bike or two...but then in an email you wrote "MS stops people from moving. We exist to make sure it doesn't"

And that struck a cord with me...movement..

My poster depicts the Hindu deity Ganesh, who has many attributes...one being that he is the remover of obstacles. If MS stops people from moving, then that is an obstacle in their life, something impeding their movement. The bike ride and poster show helps raise money to make sure MS does not stop them from moving. You are helping remove the obstacles that stand in their way. In my portrait of Ganesh i have him holding a wheel in his left hand...the symbol of movement and progress as well as the obvious symbol of the bike. In his right hand is a white orb or sphere, this represents consciousness...a ball of light if you will. Consciousness is the light of the universe, that which connects all things...through putting on this event and gathering artists to create art and the gathering of people who will attend the show, you have connected many minds to focus on helping others with MS...hopefully that collection of thought, of consciousness, will help generate the healing power of the light of the universe.

Behind Ganesh he is holding a crop circle design that appeared at Gog Magog Hills in Cambridge, England in July of 2001. This particular crop circle is known as "The Angel". Now the general public tends to not pay much attention to crop circles, and scoff at them saying they are man made...and a percentage of them are in fact man made. But as one researcher said, anyone who has read a book about crop circles, been to a lecture, watched a dvd, or actually been in a crop circle knows that there is something much larger taking place. No one knows for sure why they are here or what they are communicating or how they were made...but everyone involved with them, with studying them and being around them, speaks of how there is tremendous energy within them...some researchers believe they are messages of love being sent from the consciousness of the universe. The main form of communication is through unbelievable geometric patterns, mainly expressed through circles...again, this comes into play with the bike race....the power of the circle, of the wheel....to heal, to enlighten.

With this piece i wanted to convey ideas of healing, progress and love...