Comedy.com Interviews Brandon Bird

Brandon Bird paints pop culture icons in hilarious situations.  You may know him best from the Internet meme “Law & Order” valentines, though his work has been featured in magazines and galleries as well. We caught up with Brandon at the Alternative Press Expo in San Francisco last weekend. (Where we also interviewed comic book legend R. Sikoryak.) We had a blast with Brandon, learning more about his inspiration for his disorientingly funny oil paintings, and scoring a sketch he drew just for Comedy.com!

Comedy.com: You have a very distinctive style. How did you get so awesome?

Brandon Bird: I was an art major at UC Santa Cruz. That first year, I learned how to use and control oil paints. When I came back home that summer, the first painting I actually planned and executed was the “cone dog” painting.

C: What was your first defining piece?

BB: I wanted to paint real content, but with something off-kilter — like, “oh hey, a squid and a whale and dinosaur,” or “Abraham Lincoln cage fighting” to “Bea Arthur fighting a squid.”  As you can see, it just snowballs.  [Laughs]

C: Wait, that’s still a pretty big leap!  How do you come up with the pairings of subjects you use?

BB: Well, it’s decidedly not random. It’s not just like, “X plus Y, plug in whatever.” I find a thing that’s funny — like water aerobics is just funny. My mom has done it for like 15 years. She even has special “water aerobics shoes.” Then, I thought, “who would just be a lame, dopey guy who would do water aerobics with old ladies?” Naturally, that’s David Schwimmer.  Most of my concepts are things that just fit in a way you can’t articulate. I always want just the right non-sequitur.

C: What was your reaction when the Law & Order Valentines went viral?

BB: Personally, it was like, “Oh my god.  I can make money in art now!” [Laughs]

C: Is it still your best seller?

BB: No, it was my first. It took me a while to set up my online business. It took some years to figure out how to turn that Internet popularity into generating actual income. As a “starving artist,” you can’t just go, “Well I’ll just put 2000 dollars into some t-shirts!” I did have to make a few small but scary risks, like buying my own printer. Once I built the website and mailing list, people were buying things.

C: What was the craziest fan response to what you’ve done?

BB: Oh gosh. When people send me a photo of their tattoo of my work. It’s flattering, but they’re gonna have that forever.  Do they know that? [Laughs] I’ve also gotten super awesome stuff. Like someone sent me this awesome painting of the “TNG” ["Star Trek: The Next Generation"] episode where Data has dreams. I like when people go, “Here’s something crazy I made!” To me, that’s awesome!

C: Would you be willing to draw something awesome for us?

BB: Sure thing, but it’s either gonna be Batman or a Ninja Turtle…

[We chose Ninja Turtle.  Cowabunga!]

Brandon Bird currently resides in CA after a residency at Cornell University. You can find prints of all Brandon’s work here.

If you love art (or comedy) check out these 10 Funniest Wall-Sized Pieces Of Art Based On Video Games and 8 Internet Memes Turned Into Art Masterpieces.

Written by Amanda Meadows and Geoffrey Golden, who would gladly take on Abe Lincoln and David Schwimmer in a cage match.