Is there a
Surreal Mouth Bed in your Future?
The “Monster Mouth” from The Bed in Your Head art installation is looking for new show opportunities and a new home. It was created by Karen Lewis and Max Allstadt in 2005 and is now available for rental or possible purchase!
About The WORK
The Bed in Your Head was first shown at Burning Man in 2005. It featured a giant soft upholstered mouth surrounded by neurons which displayed video dream sequences. Participants were invited to climb into the mouth and hang out on the tongue to experience the video from inside the bed.
After a successful debut on the Playa, it came back to live in its birthplace, a West Oakland warehouse, where it set the scene for surreal tea parties, costumed hangouts and an awesome place to slumber. In 2016 it was also installed for an art event at The Battery, a social club in San Francisco.
The mouth bed is in fairly good condition with a little wear and tear. Karen recently completed some gum rehab and replaced a fang too! Gum and tooth health is important folks!
The piece comes with a full set of chompers and room for your own Queen or California King Mattress. The lips and teeth are upholstered with marine grade vinyl and the gums have a special UV protectant and stain resistant coat.
Not only is it a bed but it can function as chill space/lounge and could possibly work as a great stage. The work is designed to be broken down into smaller more manageable pieces with 8 upholstered lip sections that surround the wooden platform and 40 teeth, 8 of which function as stand alone tooth tuffets/stools.
Assembled, the footprint of the monster mouth bed is
11’ 3” x 13′ and is 12’ 6” tall.
Additional InformaTion
Visit from the Cupcakes
We were visited my many Mutant vehicles on the Playa and the Mouth was very excited when the motorized Cupcakes arrived!
Custom Vinyl
Design
The Mouth has a total of 40 teeth inside, each custom created. They are covered with Marine grade vinyl and the lower molars are quite comfortable to sit on. The 8 corner fangs have a unique corseted closure created with grommets and rope lacing.
A Place to Chill
The inside of the mouth is a great place to meet, converse and relax. A dozen people can easily sit inside. Tired of traditional boardroom furniture? The mouth may be just the thing for your team meetings.
About The ArtistS
Lead Artist
Karen S. Lewis is a multimedia artist, who works in both traditional and digital mediums. Whether she is using wood, paper, paint, fabric, music, computers or performance, her wacky irreverent cartoon style is unmistakable. Karen’s work has been exhibited and performed in multiple cities around the globe including San Francisco, Chicago, London and Berlin. Karen was an Art of Peace Featured Artist in 2018 and was a Burning Man honorarium recipient for her multimedia piece, The Bed in Your Head, in 2005. Karen holds a BA from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and an MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. She currently lives and works in Oakland, California. Instagram: @kslewisart
Max Allstadt
Lead Artist
Max Allstadt makes custom objects in his digital fabrication workshop in Brooklyn. He has built a shipping container cabin, an electroacoustic sculpture, a stage and backdrop for the United Nations General Assembly, a giant pair of steel and plexiglass lungs, a platoon of robot costumes, a cage for men to fight in, a topiary giraffe and much more. Instagram: @Maxtropolitan