Throughout Dennis Pearson’s artistic career, one particular figure kept popping up, a make-believe animal. In 1965, he met Andy Warhol in New York City. During the conversation, Pearson described his creatures.
The image intrigued Warhol, who encouraged Pearson to continue his development of the concept. Taking these words to heart, Pearson carried on sculpting the creature. Dennis began to create them in fiberglass and called them Beasties®™. Like artist Paul Klee, Dennis has created his own world of make believe animals which come in many forms, pen & ink drawings, watercolor, oil paintings, stained glass, jewelry and of course the fun large hand-crafted fiberglass figures and their smaller resin counterparts, “Baby Beasties®™.”
His artwork, sculptures, paintings and stained glass are now in collections worldwide. In 1987, a herd of 25 Beasties®™ were featured on the White House Lawn for the annual Easter Egg Roll. They have been sold throughout the U.S. and have migrated across continents to Belgium, Israel, Holland, France, New Zealand, Mexico, Japan and others. They are found grazing at playgrounds, malls, libraries, corporations, museums and children’s museums. They range in size up to 16ft. tall.
The city of Christ Church in New Zealand commissioned ten of the larger Beasties®™ to enhance their city parks.
The “Beasties®™ Beat” project in 2002 and 2004 was the largest public art display in Wisconsin featuring over 100 Beasties®™over the two summers, on the streets of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The project raised over $500,000 for the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra’s Youth Music projects bringing music opportunities to over 70,000 children in Milwaukee.
In the summer of 2018, a Beasties®™ Safari, a charity function for zoological society, will be held. His Beasties®™ will again be on display at the zoo and in the museums and streets all around the city of Milwaukee.
“Picasso once said that it took him a lifetime to learn to paint like a child,” said Pearson, “For me, painting like a child was something that never left me. Even though I was classically trained I am very much at ease with the simple qualities of childhood drawing.”
Dennis Pearson and his Beasties®™ have a lot in common – bright and compelling, enduringly popular and completely original. It’s the nature of the Beasties®™!