Deacon Bruno (1983-2009) ate in great bites, drank in great gulps, breathed in great breaths. As though he knew that time were a luxury and life demanded grand gestures and swift movements. It made him a bon vivant and a man of action. Relentlessly alive. A centrifugal force. His spirit was electric and colossal and charmed multitudes. He saw a larger wilder brighter version of you that, in the mirror, you may never have seen. And he could bring it out. He felt the pressure to create and that pressure was contagious, made you want to be a part of the same borderless world of color and sound and feeling that he commanded without effort. Gentleman of the gutter, demonic under the mirror ball and saintly everywhere else. Today, what would have been his 26th birthday, we honor that ecstatic will to create and to be: his unwillingness to separate the two. We honor his volcanic inner life.

Love, Chau and B.J.

BJ and I both wanted to collaborate together, and while we had several designs almost finished, time was running out and we couldn’t get anything printed before he flew up to PA. I worked on this a little more last night and I think I finally found a way to make my drawing a little less bare, because B was right: Deacon was not a minimalist. I’ll post BJ’s design once he finished. If anyone would like a copy of the final print, whether it be a prayer card or poster, please email us. We’ll be more than happy to send it out.

Higher resolution of this drawing is available here.

You realize that life goes fast
It’s hard to make the good things last

Like B said, you never know when it’ll be the last time you see someone. We didn’t think it’ll be so soon and it took our breath away. We miss you, Deacon. RIP.