Gallery Opening and Meet the Artist
Mr. J’s No Crap Beer
Beertography by Brian Johnston

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Metamorphism. It has come gradually to me since I first discovered craft beer in the mid 90's. The taste. The color. The excitement of it all. Knowing that there was more to life than just Bud, Natural Light and Busch. But most of all, I was intrigued and drawn to the bottle art in what I drank.

Overall, advertising can play a generous part in the discovery of new and wonderful flavor profiles. Thai-Infused Imperial Stouts. Beverages based on ancient Mayan recipes. So called "extinct" beer styles miraculously brought back to life. Then again, back in those early microbrew days it was all still so very new. Back before the term hipsters. Before the battle of New England Style vs. West Coast Style. And before extraordinary beer flights and $30 corked beer bombers.

Let's fast forward to the present. Craft Beer has now become all the rage. And for a price, every style you can possibly want is available in some form or another for you to enjoy. And this second life has generated a drive in me to take beer to the next level. To take the commercial product that we all recognize and change it into an artistic statement.

In part, that is what l've tried to capture for the last 5 years. The process of transforming the immature view of beer to a more adult form. And maybe we can alter the overall stigma of beer being just carbonated yellow water. And to me that is metamorphosis...