8BitCubist Face Masks Now Available

Times are crazy, so everyone's got some face masks now, right? Me too. I worked with local SoCal artist Mr David Ruano (no relation) to create a set of facemasks in a couple styles. More information on the website. Let me know what you think.

CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE CURRENT FACEMASK SELECTION.

- Mr Benja -

8BitCubist Podcast Ep 001

I gave the first podcast a 000 index because it's kind of like the origin story. With this one, I'm just getting into the swing of things with my first real podcast. This whole coronavirus thing is what got me to set up the recording software and get serious.

Speaking of serious, be sure that you're subscribed on YouTube.



- Mr Benja -

The Return of The 8Bit Cubist Podcast

I was a podcast OG. Mostly thanks to Raph and Marcellus back in the late 00s. I didn't worry too much about recording my shit talking though. But between, myself, Raph, Jeff, Ryan, Theo, Marcellus, Josh, and a few others, there was always good shit-talking to be done. We found that out after bonding over video games, SoCal, and the San Diego Comic Con.

Come to think of it, we were all from vastly different places. That's probably why it was so unique.

Here's basically how the version were:
Version 1 - The Paiiow Podcast: Randomly wild. Missed it? That's too bad (many to many)
Version 2 - The 8Bit Cubist Podcast: Group Sessions (one to many)
Version 3 - The 8Bit Cubist Podcast: Interview Sessions (one to one)
Version 4 - The 8Bit Cubist Podcast: Mr Benja goes full art (singleton)

The current version of The 8Bit Cubist podcast is a direct extension my art and a complement to it as well. That is, it's an individual exploration of life viewed through the lens of a game.


Also, I'd definitely appreciate it if you could subscribe on YouTube so I can prove to the algorithm that I'm worth it. You know how that goes.

Thanks.
- Mr Benja -

Malcolm X Gonna Give It To Ya

Note: I sent this message out earlier in February, but should have turned it into a blog post back then. Here it is now as late as it wants to be.

As we close out Black History Month, I am releasing "X.1" as an 8BitCubist print. It's a reminder of the enigmatic and controversial figure known as Malcolm X, who unapologetically fought for freedom from racism while in the crosshairs of opposition from numerous forces. His story is also an interesting one of religion and culture. I didn't want to do much else but make a simple statement with this one.

See, the game doesn't always have a happy ending, but must be played to completion to the best of your ability. It's also probably your favorite button.

Love him or not, if you haven't seen the Malcolm X film by Spike Lee, then you should have watched that by now.
You can find that link here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6FtH94TiL0I

This new print, "X.1" was released on the8bitcubist.com.

- Mr Benja -

A Print-First Development Procedure

For a while, I only created original paintings and didn't do prints. The concept behind the art required that I create original works only. The philosophy had to do with creating representations of digital works in a 1-of-1 medium. It gets into a lot of artsy talk that I'd rather not get into now, but if you have one of those paintings, I will never create prints of those. Enjoy!

While a lot of artists create prints to supplement their original works, that's never factored into my art. In fact, I would almost rather not have to deal with the idea of prints at all, but times change.

Recently, my art has changed a bit, and the message no longer demands the works be unique offerings. So now, I have a started creating prints and will be creating them more often. In fact, the message/philosophy has changed so much that I have found myself with a print-first procedure. Basically, I create these images and then decide which ones I like enough to convert to paintings. Some of the prints are rather difficult to render as paintings, so there's that issue as well.

Interesting times.

Click HERE to see the prints that I create for 8BitCubist.

- Mr Benja -

Behind The Kobe Bryant Prints (Pt 1) - "24/8"

After the passing of Kobe Bryant I was inspired to create. It just happened that way. He is one of those figures that exemplified the push that I have been engaged with lately, so I felt I had to do what pop art does, speak on popular culture.

I always think deeply about those that have inspired me, and in the spirit of pop art, I created two pieces after Kobe's death. The first of these prints is called "24/8". 

As usual, I went with what felt natural to me. But since it's the first tribute piece I've ever done, I felt weird about not going the usual tribute route. In fact, while typing this, I realized that I needed to delete all of my art-speak and just let you know what was on my mind as I constructed this image:

* an ode to Kobe's legacy

* the game we play

* the ball

* constancy

* forward motion

I will post about the second one a little later on. It's a bit more involved.

CLICK HERE FOR THE "24/8" PRINT ON THE 8BITCUBIST SITE

- Mr Benja -

Knocking Off The Podcast Rust

Recording a podcast is work for me, but it's something that needed to be done for The 8BitCubist. I'm not exactly sure what to call the format that I'm putting together, but it's getting there.

The interesting (I won't call it 'fun') part of recording was noticing how many mistakes, stumbles, and logical errors I made. I haven't done this sort of thing in a while, so it took a second to get used to again. And since people expect a certain amount of quality from me on this, I couldn't just start off half-cocked. I had to knock the rust off and get to work.

Good thing that I'm an introvert that can just mull around all the thoughts in my head and put them out in a coherent manner though. Otherwise this thing would never get off the ground.

The podcast will get put out there along with my 2020 art plan.
I'll basically be centering around the 8BitCubist philosophy, which is "Life Imitating Game, Imitating Life".

Let me know what you'd like to hear me cover in the next couple weeks.

- Mr Benja -

Splitting My Focus Into Three Projects for 2019

I have three projects that I plan on getting worked on this year. I know that sounds like crazy talk, but I'm trying something out, here.

The common idea is that you should focus everything you are doing into laser-light precision and get that one thing done. I get it, and I believe that to be true in a general sense. In fact, The ONE Thing (by Jay Papasan and Gary Keller) is a great book that really got me to a good place with my productivity.

I know that I waste a lot of time, but when I'm most productive, I've found that I have a few things that I can roll onto. Basically, when one task is completing, I can roll onto another one without losing momentum. If I have to keep doing the same thing, I can sometimes burn myself out. I'll have to work on embracing the monotony, but that's how it happens right now.

Also, when I pour a lot of energy into something, it seems like people back away from the energy instead of responding positively to it. I don't know what that's about, but I've often been told to "calm down" on social media and in life. I've been told that I'm "too much". So pffft...I have to spread things out a bit or create new outlets.

Project 1 - The Trap Vector

The Trap Vector is my fine art print project. It's my lead-off effort for the year. It's a follow-up of sorts to a lot of the personal thoughts and feelings I was having for the past seven years. The genesis probably started well before that, but that's what it's about right now.

This outlet gets out my artsy fartsy concepts.

Project 2 - Transcendent Press

Transcendent Press is my writing project. If I could, I would probably just write for about a month, and then come out with some stone tablets full of god-like text. Then I'd realize it needs editing and I'd go away for another month. This doesn't fit in my plans right now, so writing is going to have to take the long and laborious route.

This outlet gets out my most heady creative ideas, and is currently my biggest long-range goal. I have a book planned for sometime this year, and I've gotten to work on it.

Project 3 - The 8BitCubist

Oh boy. A lot of people have been wondering what happened to the 8BitCubist from a while ago, and simply put, the band broke up. I mean, we didn't break up, but we went our separate ways, and the venture was never meant to be a solo one. So over time, I needed to put the brakes on it to figure out what the next iteration was going to be about. I am not going to be putting this in full force for the near term, but it's coming.

I think a podcast and apparel will do good to start with.

I'll do some other posts outlining what's coming I'm learning in 2019 in greater detail.
Let me know what you think of the plan so far.

I Have Been A Communications Fuck-Up For Decades

They say the first step in fixing a problem is to admit that you have one. Well, I'm saying it now: I don't think I've ever properly communicated very well for my entire life. I can trace bad communication back to my childhood. We were out at a mall, and I honestly wanted to show her a cheap plastic balloon set, so I tried walking outside with it. The hope that she would bring me back inside to pay for it. That didn't work out so well. I was legitimately confused when she and the store manager had a long discussion about what I was really trying to do that day. I was trying to communicate to my mother in a way I thought she'd understand. I expected her to say something like: "Oh look, young Benjamin walked all this way from the toy store to show me something!" Sadly, I didn't get the plastic balloons.

Fast forward decades later, and I'm still fucking up communication.

I generally have no idea to communicate properly, but in 2019, It's my resolution. As far as you're concerned, you will see me doing better communication with this blog. I've kept up a reasonable blogging schedule, so I think I can keep doing this without driving myself mad.

Alright. I've already got the idea for the next blog post, so I think we're getting somewhere.

Give A Christmas Gift To Yourself

I never liked conforming. It hurts my soul to go against what my gut is telling me to do. Unfortunately for me, my gut rarely lines up with what a lot of people in my environment are doing. This is especially true during the Christmas holiday period. There's so much pressure to conform: say "Merry Christmas", smile at people, spend money you don't have, etc. I actually like having general holiday fun, and I don't mind the decorations and hooplah, but there's something that happens to people that really gets them down during the holidays because of the pressure. Hey, man...don't be stressed.

BUT I don't give a shit, so I'm doing what I want to this Christmas. That's my gift to me. This year, I'm not doing too much "Christmas-ing" and I'm doing some creation because I feel like it. In fact, I'm about to get dressed and go to a park to continue my creating. It's something different so it'll kick me into a different mindset.

So get good with the good people around you, make things happen, and give a gift to yourself.

I wish you all well.
- Mr Benja -

The 8BitCubist Returns

In 2010, I created an art initiative called The 8BitCubist. I'm sure many of you reading this are familiar with it. The friends and I . It was a good four-plus years of art-making, events, podcasting, and generally having a good time with friends.

But things evolve, and the band went their separate ways all went our separate ways. Personally speaking, I was pushed to the forefront of the art side of things, and that caused me to spin off into making my own art brand a much bigger thing than I originally intended.

But there is a part of the philosophy and idea of The 8BitCubist that I want to keep going, so the site will be relaunching this week with that in mind. I'll take time to build it up, but I just wanted to let everyone know what was happening.

And while I'm here, I'll also go ahead and thank Jeff Junio, Raphael Phillips, Marcellus Barnes, Theo Harvey, Ryan Dormanesh, Josh Lange, Daren Bader, Andy Lowe, Andrew Wilson, Cleo McKeever, Ashphord Jacoway, Aubree Miller, Tiny Nightmare, MegaRan, Aly Mayhem, Shayne Anigan, Keisha Howard, Thumbprint Gallery, Gam3rCon, The 10th St Theatre, Brian Bielawski, Lauren Selman, Jennifer Schumaker, Walter Meyer, JoJo Brazell, Amy Fan, Tony Hulse, Aloha, Brendan MacNeil, Annalice Heinz, William Morgan, Josh Stolze, JC Mendez, El Gun Legro, MC Lars, and a whole slew of other people.

https://the8bitcubist.com