We are pleased to offer the 1996 Be-In Gallery, featuring veteran Mac artist Bert Monroy.

Bert Monroy is located in Berkeley, California.

"Why not just take a photograph?" This is a question which I have heard so many times, I hear it in my sleep. There are two answers to that question. First and foremost is the pleasure is derived from the process and not the end result. Second, simply, I'm not a photographer.

Growing up in New York I developed an appreciation for the urban landscape. People rush past buildings without ever taking time to look at them. They represent the soul of a city and are a testimonial to our very existance. I take these places and freeze them in time forcing the viewer to stop and enjoy or at least notice. A sort of "stop and smell the roses" situation. My influences are Richard Estes, the famous photorealist painter, and Maxfield Parrish.

The process of creation also serves as a means of experimentation with the different programs which I use.

Bean Bins

Bean bins started as an experiment in textures. The basic shapes of the bins and placards with their inscriptions were created in Adobe Illustrator. These objects were then imported into Adobe Photoshop where the color and texture was created. The beans themselves were created from a single bean. The bean was assembled into a pattern which was used to fill the bins. Individual beans were then added to break up the tile formed by the pattern thus creating a randomness.

Pic n Pac

All the shapes were created in Adobe Illustrator and imported into Adobe Photoshop. There are details to fine for Photoshop to handle at the resolution in which the is image was created. An example is the text on the newspaper in the box on the lower right. In the actual Illustrator file of the newspaper, the text is a letter which I wrote to my favorite artist Richard Estes and is completely legible. The leaves on the tree in the foreground were individually created with custom brushes.

Future City

The basic shapes of the buildings were created using RayDream Designer. They were then imported into Adobe Photoshop where they were turned into templates for Adobe Illustrator. In Illustrator the details were created and imported back to Photoshop where color and textures were added. Details are many. To give a few examples, the CDs on the desk visible through the windows at the lower right have titles on them. The dashboard on the cars floating around are exact duplicates of the navigational controls of the Starship Enterprise.through the window of the picture

Akihabara

Illustrator gives me the ability to add details even if they don't show up clearly in Photoshop but dither to give the impression of there existance. The keys on the computers and phones have numbers on them. I can also create lines, like the spokes on the bikes, which are thinner than what I could create directly in Photoshop. Oh! One very important note...I never use scans. The sky was lifted from one of the matte paintings I did for the film Robocop 3.

Night Walk

Inspired by an evening walk through my neighborhood in the Berkeley Hills, this image started as an experiment in leaves. The leaves were created by making clusters of leaf shapes and making them custom brushes in Adobe Photoshop. I used reference material for the moon. There is one scan used in this image, the little girl on the screen on the lower left is my friendÍs daughter. The menu the man is reading is composed of real text.

Hayden Orpheum

An experiment to recreate the effects of neon lights on a night landscape. All the shapes and neon signs were created in Adobe Illustrator and imported into Adobe Photoshop where the color and glows were added.