Brian Dewan
Encyclopedia
Brian Dewan is an artist who works in many media, including art, music, audio-visual performances, decorative painting, furniture design, poetry and musical instrument design. He has produced three albums of songs and concertized extensively as a solo artist, as well as having performed in various collaborations and as a sideman. He lives in upstate New York
and is the brother of artist Ted Dewan
.
. His vocal music is of a sort that tends to reference folk music
, hymns, century-old popular music and rock music. His first two full length albums, Brian Dewan Tells the Story (1993, Bar None Records
) and The Operating Theatre (1998, Instinct Records) find him in this mode. His songs often contemplate the nature of submission to authority, and often take the form of a tale. They are by turns humoristic and contemplative. In live performance, he most often accompanies his singing with an electric zither of his own invention, outfitted with eight humbucker pickups and 88 strings, sometimes piped through a leslie cabinet
or guitar effects pedals. He also plays a variety of other instruments, including autoharp, organ and accordion. His electronic music, either solo or in collaboration with his cousin, Leon Dewan
, tends to be more sprawling and free-form, often evoking the raw sounds of early electronic music of a modernist bent.
Other artists and projects he has worked with include They Might Be Giants
, Blue Man Group
, Sesame Street
, Flaming Fire
, Jed Davis
, The Music Tapes
, Loser's Lounge
, The Shondes
and The Musical Stones of Skiddaw
. He is a member of the Raymond Scott
Orchestrette, a group dedicated to reinterpreting Scott's compositions, and appeared on their 2002 album Pushbutton Parfait. He also composes and performs with the Patient Island Singers, a project loosely centered around the topic of Roosevelt Island.
He has also performed a song for the original soundtrack CD for the "Where in the World is Carmen San Diego?" television series, though this track was commissioned for the CD and never used in any other context.
s use the technology of the educational filmstrips from the mid-twentieth century as a point of departure for imaginative personal invention.
Each panel features one of Dewan's fanciful drawings, usually skillfully rendered in magic marker or watercolor. The images are accompanied by elaborate soundtracks in which Dewan is heard, adopting a deadpan narrator's voice, and playing various musical instruments to create a different miniature soundtrack for each panel of the filmstrip. When it is time for the projectionist to advance the strip to the next panel, Dewan's voice is typically heard singing "boop" in close imitation of the noise traditionally used for this purpose. The themes of the strips often seem as though they could have been taken from actual educational strips - Grimm's Fairy Tales
, Civic Pride, a short history of the Organ
, Biblical stories have all served as conceits for the filmstrips. The strips tend to take many free-associative liberties and are by turns satirical and surreal, often whimsical and sometimes touching on serious themes. "Before the White Man Came" seems as though it might be about colonialism or racism, but the "White Man" of the filmstrip starts to seem more likely to be a folkloric evil spirit, with a charged and ambiguous relationship to racial stereotypes
.
In 2003, Dewan created an installation at the Pierogi 2000 Gallery in Brooklyn which transformed the appearance of the gallery into that of an American classroom from an indeterminate bygone era, perhaps from the 1940s. He presented his filmstrips regularly during the course of the month-long exhibition, to audience members seated in old schooldesks.
Dewan has created a series of what he terms "shrines", constructed of wood and other materials, such as light bulbs, clocks, photographs and bottles. Perhaps the best known shrine is the one appearing on the cover of They Might Be Giants' album Lincoln
. The shrines range from about one to six feet tall and often evoke New England
church architecture with their lean geometrical spires. While the word "shrine" might connote a site created for devotion to a spiritual entity, Dewan's shrines seem to exist not as a conduit for worship, but as playful aesthetic objects.
Dewan created a number of shrines for New Year's Eve parties and performances, and those shrines often have some sort of illumination which could be turned on at midnight. At least one had a drink-dispenser built into it. The cabinetry he built for his recent series of electronic instruments, created in collaboration with his cousin, Leon Dewan
, often continue some of the visual ideas behind the shrines. His New Year's Eve shrine ritual involves completing the shrine only moments before midnight.
Brian Dewan currently works with his cousin Leon Dewan
under the name Dewanatron
. Together they have designed, and built a series of synthesizers in custom cabinetry, often reminiscent of either New England churches or 1940's school house architecture. The instruments create sounds evocative of the early electronic music. The instruments were exhibited and concertized at the Pierogi 2000 gallery in Brooklyn in December 2005, Pierogi Liepig in Germany in April 2006 and at "Another Year in LA" gallery as well as the Steve Allen
Theater in Los Angeles in August and September 2007.
Dewan has created album art for others, such as the cover of David Byrne
's Uh-Oh, They Might Be Giants' Lincoln, Beat Circus' Dreamland
, and the interior artwork of In the Aeroplane Over the Sea
by Neutral Milk Hotel
.
Upstate New York
Upstate New York is the region of the U.S. state of New York that is located north of the core of the New York metropolitan area.-Definition:There is no clear or official boundary between Upstate New York and Downstate New York...
and is the brother of artist Ted Dewan
Ted Dewan
Ted Dewan is an England-based American author/illustrator, born in 1961 in Boston, Massachusetts. He is married to fellow-illustrator Helen Cooper and has a daughter Pandora Dewan, and is the brother of musician/artist Brian Dewan.-Life:...
.
Music
His own music roughly breaks into two categories, vocal music and electronic musicElectronic music
Electronic music is music that employs electronic musical instruments and electronic music technology in its production. In general a distinction can be made between sound produced using electromechanical means and that produced using electronic technology. Examples of electromechanical sound...
. His vocal music is of a sort that tends to reference folk music
Folk music
Folk music is an English term encompassing both traditional folk music and contemporary folk music. The term originated in the 19th century. Traditional folk music has been defined in several ways: as music transmitted by mouth, as music of the lower classes, and as music with unknown composers....
, hymns, century-old popular music and rock music. His first two full length albums, Brian Dewan Tells the Story (1993, Bar None Records
Bar/None Records
Bar/None Records is an independent record label based in Hoboken, New Jersey.-Early history:Tom Prendergast started Bar/None in early 1986. Having previously worked in pirate radio and booked and promoted bands in his native Ireland, Prendergast moved to Hoboken in 1982 and started Pier Platters...
) and The Operating Theatre (1998, Instinct Records) find him in this mode. His songs often contemplate the nature of submission to authority, and often take the form of a tale. They are by turns humoristic and contemplative. In live performance, he most often accompanies his singing with an electric zither of his own invention, outfitted with eight humbucker pickups and 88 strings, sometimes piped through a leslie cabinet
Leslie speaker
The Leslie speaker is a specially constructed amplifier/loudspeaker used to create special audio effects using the Doppler effect. Named after its inventor, Donald Leslie, it is particularly associated with the Hammond organ but is used with a variety of instruments as well as vocals. The...
or guitar effects pedals. He also plays a variety of other instruments, including autoharp, organ and accordion. His electronic music, either solo or in collaboration with his cousin, Leon Dewan
Leon Dewan
Leon Dewan is an American artist, inventor, and musician. He collaborates with Brian Dewan on Dewanatron, an electronic music instrument project. The son of an inventor, Dewan received a degree in physics from Yale University in 1989...
, tends to be more sprawling and free-form, often evoking the raw sounds of early electronic music of a modernist bent.
Other artists and projects he has worked with include They Might Be Giants
They Might Be Giants
They Might Be Giants is an American alternative rock band formed in 1982 by John Flansburgh and John Linnell. During TMBG's early years Flansburgh and Linnell were frequently accompanied by a drum machine. In the early 1990s, TMBG became a full band. Currently, the members of TMBG are...
, Blue Man Group
Blue Man Group
Blue Man Group is an organization founded by Chris Wink, Matt Goldman and Phil Stanton. The organization produces theatrical shows and concerts featuring popular music, comedy and multimedia; recorded music and scores for film and television; television appearances for shows such as The Tonight...
, Sesame Street
Sesame Street
Sesame Street has undergone significant changes in its history. According to writer Michael Davis, by the mid-1970s the show had become "an American institution". The cast and crew expanded during this time, including the hiring of women in the crew and additional minorities in the cast. The...
, Flaming Fire
Flaming Fire
Flaming Fire is an American arts collective and experimental rock band from Brooklyn, New York, USA, which formed in 2000.Other projects include live performance, film, comics and the Flaming Fire Illustrated Bible .The band is on avant rock label Silly Bird Records, home to bands like Autobody and...
, Jed Davis
Jed Davis
Jed Davis is a New York City musician.As a high-school senior, keyboardist Davis formed the band Skyscape with singer Domenic Maltempi in 1991. Skyscape recorded a CD, Band of the Week, two years later...
, The Music Tapes
The Music Tapes
The Music Tapes is an experimental pop music project of Elephant 6 member Julian Koster, also of Neutral Milk Hotel, and the earlier Chocolate U.S.A....
, Loser's Lounge
Loser's Lounge
Loser's Lounge is an ongoing tribute project which performs music by songwriters and bands like Queen, Serge Gainsbourg, Neil Diamond, Paul Williams, Lee Hazlewood, Devo, and David Bowie. Each show explores greater- and lesser-known works by a single artist, or pits two musical forces against one...
, The Shondes
The Shondes
The Shondes are an indie punk band from Brooklyn, NY, best known for their brand of pop-rock, featuring Jewish influences and radical political messages, and for organizing and performing at benefit events for organizations such as Birthright Unplugged, Jews Against the Occupation, and The Sylvia...
and The Musical Stones of Skiddaw
Musical Stones of Skiddaw
The Musical Stones of Skiddaw is a lithophone made of a type of hornfels rock found in Cumbria, England. Constructed between 1827 and 1840, the instrument has entertained royalty; it is now housed at the Keswick Museum and Art Gallery in Cumbria....
. He is a member of the Raymond Scott
Raymond Scott
Raymond Scott was an American composer, band leader, pianist, engineer, recording studio maverick, and electronic instrument inventor....
Orchestrette, a group dedicated to reinterpreting Scott's compositions, and appeared on their 2002 album Pushbutton Parfait. He also composes and performs with the Patient Island Singers, a project loosely centered around the topic of Roosevelt Island.
He has also performed a song for the original soundtrack CD for the "Where in the World is Carmen San Diego?" television series, though this track was commissioned for the CD and never used in any other context.
Visual and Multi-Media Art
Brian Dewan's series of I Can See filmstripFilmstrip
The filmstrip was a common form of still image instructional multimedia, once commonly used by educators in primary and secondary schools , now overtaken by newer and increasingly lower-cost full-motion videocassettes and DVDs...
s use the technology of the educational filmstrips from the mid-twentieth century as a point of departure for imaginative personal invention.
Each panel features one of Dewan's fanciful drawings, usually skillfully rendered in magic marker or watercolor. The images are accompanied by elaborate soundtracks in which Dewan is heard, adopting a deadpan narrator's voice, and playing various musical instruments to create a different miniature soundtrack for each panel of the filmstrip. When it is time for the projectionist to advance the strip to the next panel, Dewan's voice is typically heard singing "boop" in close imitation of the noise traditionally used for this purpose. The themes of the strips often seem as though they could have been taken from actual educational strips - Grimm's Fairy Tales
Grimm's Fairy Tales
Children's and Household Tales is a collection of German origin fairy tales first published in 1812 by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm, the Brothers Grimm. The collection is commonly known today as Grimms' Fairy Tales .-Composition:...
, Civic Pride, a short history of the Organ
Organ (music)
The organ , is a keyboard instrument of one or more divisions, each played with its own keyboard operated either with the hands or with the feet. The organ is a relatively old musical instrument in the Western musical tradition, dating from the time of Ctesibius of Alexandria who is credited with...
, Biblical stories have all served as conceits for the filmstrips. The strips tend to take many free-associative liberties and are by turns satirical and surreal, often whimsical and sometimes touching on serious themes. "Before the White Man Came" seems as though it might be about colonialism or racism, but the "White Man" of the filmstrip starts to seem more likely to be a folkloric evil spirit, with a charged and ambiguous relationship to racial stereotypes
Ethnic stereotype
An ethnic stereotype is a generalized representation of an ethnic group, composed of what are thought to be typical characteristics of members of the group.Ethnic stereotypes are commonly portrayed in ethnic jokes.-Ethnic stereotypes:*African Americans...
.
In 2003, Dewan created an installation at the Pierogi 2000 Gallery in Brooklyn which transformed the appearance of the gallery into that of an American classroom from an indeterminate bygone era, perhaps from the 1940s. He presented his filmstrips regularly during the course of the month-long exhibition, to audience members seated in old schooldesks.
Dewan has created a series of what he terms "shrines", constructed of wood and other materials, such as light bulbs, clocks, photographs and bottles. Perhaps the best known shrine is the one appearing on the cover of They Might Be Giants' album Lincoln
Lincoln (album)
Lincoln is the second album by the band They Might Be Giants. It was released in 1988 . The album is named after John Linnell and John Flansburgh's boyhood home of Lincoln, Massachusetts. The two men pictured are Linnell's great-grandfather, Lewis T...
. The shrines range from about one to six feet tall and often evoke New England
New England
New England is a region in the northeastern corner of the United States consisting of the six states of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut...
church architecture with their lean geometrical spires. While the word "shrine" might connote a site created for devotion to a spiritual entity, Dewan's shrines seem to exist not as a conduit for worship, but as playful aesthetic objects.
Dewan created a number of shrines for New Year's Eve parties and performances, and those shrines often have some sort of illumination which could be turned on at midnight. At least one had a drink-dispenser built into it. The cabinetry he built for his recent series of electronic instruments, created in collaboration with his cousin, Leon Dewan
Leon Dewan
Leon Dewan is an American artist, inventor, and musician. He collaborates with Brian Dewan on Dewanatron, an electronic music instrument project. The son of an inventor, Dewan received a degree in physics from Yale University in 1989...
, often continue some of the visual ideas behind the shrines. His New Year's Eve shrine ritual involves completing the shrine only moments before midnight.
Brian Dewan currently works with his cousin Leon Dewan
Leon Dewan
Leon Dewan is an American artist, inventor, and musician. He collaborates with Brian Dewan on Dewanatron, an electronic music instrument project. The son of an inventor, Dewan received a degree in physics from Yale University in 1989...
under the name Dewanatron
Dewanatron
Dewanatron is a family of experimental electronic instruments.Cousins Brian Dewan and Leon Dewan collaborate on the creation and performance of these instruments...
. Together they have designed, and built a series of synthesizers in custom cabinetry, often reminiscent of either New England churches or 1940's school house architecture. The instruments create sounds evocative of the early electronic music. The instruments were exhibited and concertized at the Pierogi 2000 gallery in Brooklyn in December 2005, Pierogi Liepig in Germany in April 2006 and at "Another Year in LA" gallery as well as the Steve Allen
Steve Allen
Steve Allen may refer to:*Steve Allen , American musician, comedian, and writer*Steve Allen , presenter on the London-based talk radio station LBC 97.3...
Theater in Los Angeles in August and September 2007.
Dewan has created album art for others, such as the cover of David Byrne
David Byrne (musician)
David Byrne is a musician and artist, best known as a founding member and principal songwriter of the American new wave band Talking Heads, which was active between 1975 and 1991. Since then, Byrne has released his own solo recordings and worked with various media including film, photography,...
's Uh-Oh, They Might Be Giants' Lincoln, Beat Circus' Dreamland
Dreamland (Beat Circus album)
Dreamland is the second studio album by American band Beat Circus. It was released on January 29, 2008 by Cuneiform Records, and shares its title with the turn-of-the-century Coney Island theme park which burned in a devastating fire in 1911. The album is a 150-page score for 9 musicians composed...
, and the interior artwork of In the Aeroplane Over the Sea
In the Aeroplane Over the Sea
In the Aeroplane Over the Sea is the second studio album by American indie rock band Neutral Milk Hotel, released in the United States on February 10, 1998 on Merge Records...
by Neutral Milk Hotel
Neutral Milk Hotel
Neutral Milk Hotel was an American indie rock band formed by singer, guitarist and songwriter Jeff Mangum in the early 1990s. The band was noted for its experimental sound, obscure lyrics and eclectic instrumentation....
.
Albums
- Tells the Story (1993)
- The Operating Theatre (1998)
- Dewanatron (as Dewanatron) (2005)
- Live at the Auk (2005)
- Sleep on It - Electronic Excursions (2007)
- Words of Wisdom (2007)
E.P.s
- Hello Recording Club E.P. (March, 1993)
- Hello Recording Club E.P. (September, 1994)
Guest appearances
- "The Violin" (w/ Eileen IversEileen IversEileen Ivers is an Irish-American musician.Eileen Ivers was born in New York City of Irish-born parents and grew up in the Bronx. She spent summers in Ireland and took up the fiddle at the age of nine. Her teacher was the Irish fiddler Martin Mulvihill. She toured with Mick Moloney's band The...
on violin), Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego? soundtrackWhere in the World Is Carmen Sandiego? (album)Where in the World Is Carmen Sandiego? is the soundtrack to the popular educational children's TV game show of the same name that ran from 1991 to 1996...