Graphite8″ X 8″2008 

 I recently finished creating the album artwork for an amazing band from Kansas: JUICEHEAD. The album is simply titled “Friends & Family”. Its anticipated release is early this summer. Stay tuned in for the actual release. The band features Jake & Josh Wasinger (lifelong friends of mine) and crazy drummer Jason Swart (who’ve I spent many years getting into trouble with). They are a mix of hard rhythm post-rock, with cool bass and guitar intricate shreds,  and of course a tendency to scream like angry punk rockers. I love them because they are noisy and in-your-face, but abstain from being fit into the “punk-rock” molded sound. The album artwork, I felt had to be a play on the words from the title “Friends and Family”. I wanted it to conceptually convey friends and family outside of our “normal” way of using those terms. Friends & Family reaching out to the entire animal kingdom, and the metaphysical display of animalistic traits in social gatherings through out all species (especially mammals). It needed to be humorous, wild and most of all mono-toned in color; I wanted it to be sepia styled, like old school photography, but taken from a foreign and impossible place: the bottom of the ocean. I felt a sort of surreal connection with this  dark, seemingly unknown environment and our everyday environment that we interact in during social moments. I have posted the entire album imagery here on rwruehlen.com. Please enjoy and keep your eyes and ears peeled for the release of “Friends & Family”.   

• 3 ft X 5 ft
• Acrylic on Canvas
• 2007

• 3.5 ft X 5 ft
• Acrylic on Canvas
• 2007

• 5 in X 12 in
• Graphite
• 2008

• 1 ft X 3.5 ft
• Acrylic on Canvas
• 2007

• 2.5 ft X 3.5 ft
• Acrylic on Canvas
• 2007

• 2 ft X 3 ft
• Acrylic on Canvas
• 2006

• 5 ft X 7 ft
• Acrylic on Canvas
• 2007