Artists Interview Artists: Rob Myers

Rob Myers, an artist from Peterborough, England, participates in the Artists Interview Artists Project. Below Rob responds to another artist's five questions (William Andrews from Starkville, MS). In order to participate, Rob had to provide me with five questions for some other artist to answer. The assigning of questions to artists is completely random. If you're an artist and interested in participating, let me know.

Belgrade (for Manik)
electronic image. Remix of US Govt. Nuclear Fallout diagrams
2004

1. Describe an atypical studio process you currently use or have used in the past.

I once spent days practising Jackson Pollock-style paint pouring with sticks for a piece based on a Boccioni cyclist. But that was part of producing a mash-up of two images, so the context wasn't atypical even if the process was. I also once flooded the studio floor with trichloroethylene when making colour photocopy dye-transfers. I think that was actually illegal.

I now write software to make some of my images. Software is embodied processes, I'm using it to embody a drawing process. Watching complex images being drawn by something you've written, with the capacity to surprise you and display unexpected behaviour, is a humbling and fascinating experience.

2. How long do you think that art should be made to last? Should it be recyclable or come with destruction instructions? Is there such thing as sustainable or green art or is it mostly just art about being sustainable and green?

How long art lasts is part of its concept, part of its aesthetic. Self-destructing artworks and temporary installations have their places. Art shouldn't be limited by technical concerns, even ethical technical concerns such as environmental friendliness. But it might be interesting to animate that ethical world aesthetically.

I make my art electronically, so there's very little physical material involved until it's exhibited. And I use existing cultural materials, so there's a kind of conceptual ecology or recycling as well. If people don't like my work they can remix it into something they do like or just drag it to the trash icon.

3. Describe the art you would be making if you were making some other art than the art you are making.

I'd be making low-run indie comic books in black and white. I've been a fan of indies since the 1980s. I don't know whether that has influenced my art. I do often sketch things in black and white in multiple frames on the same page, but they always end up as individual works. It would be good to tell a story in that way.

Or I'd be making great big expressive abstract canvases. I love really high-stakes aesthetics, work that should just collapse into areas of colour and linear brushwork but that comes together really dynamically. If I had the studio space and the belief in that world of possibilities I'd be very happy.

4. What do you want your art to do for you that it isn¹t currently doing?

I want my art to suggest what I should do next. At the moment each project feels like a harder dead end than the last. Apart from "1968", which led to "1969" I never know what my next project should be, I have to go back to the drawing board. It's like having to turn the hand crank on an old car each time you want to start it.

5. How important are the materials you use in art to your art? Do you consider the materials to be critical to the success of your work?

The cultural and physical materials I use are absolutely critical to my work. Getting the right materials sets the expressive range of the work. Whether it's finding the right source images to work from, the right software or programming language, the right pencils or markers, or making sure the print shop gets the inkjet prints right. I cannot imagine even the most conceptual or relational artist being indifferent to the materials they use, or not recognising how they affect the success of their work. Being indifferent about materials would be like an actor mumbling or a musician not tuning their instrument. You could do it as a provocation or to make a statement, but I don't think you could do it for long.

draw-something drawing
electronic image. Output of program written by the artist
2006

Previous Interviews:
Juno Doran (questions by James W. Bailey)
Josh Feldman (questions by Joseph Barbaccia)
Lisa Stephenson (questions by Whitney Lynn)
Joseph Barbaccia (questions by Josh Feldman)
James W. Bailey (questions by Matt Hollis)
Matt Hollis (questions by Juno Doran)
Carol Es (questions by James Leonard)
Alexandra Silverthorne (questions by Ami Lahoff)
Christine Buckton Tillman (questions by Carol Es)
Douglas Witmer (questions by Alexandra Silverthorne)
Sky Pape (questions by Douglas Witmer)
Whitney Lynn (questions by Lisa Stephenson)
Heather Levy (questions by Joanne Greenbaum)
Heather Lowe (questions by Samantha Wolov)
Samantha Wolov (questions by Heather Levy)
Timothy McClellan (questions by Heather Lowe)
James Leonard (questions by Sky Pape)
Joanne Greenbaum (questions by Timothy McClellan)
Richard Kooyman (questions by Robert Walton)
Candy Keegan (questions by Warren Craghead)
Robert Walton (questions by Candy Keegan)
John M. Adams (questions by Richard Kooyman)
Prescott Moore Lassman (questions by Mary Addison Hackett)
Mary Addison Hackett (questions by Prescott Moore Lassman)
Andrew Wodzianski (questions by Nathan Manuel & D.Billy)
Nathan Manuel & D.Billy (questions by Andrew Wodzianski)
Michael Janis (questions by Scott Listfield)
Scott Listfield (questions by Michael Janis)
F. Lennox Campello (questions by Sean Hennessy)
Matt Andrade (questions by Adrian Parsons)
Sean Hennessy (questions by F. Lennox Campello)
George Wayne (questions by Michelle McAuliffe)
Eridanus Sellen (questions by Anabela Jevtovic)
Anabela Jevtovic (questions by Eridanus Sellen)
Marianela de la Hoz (questions by A.B. Miner)
Martin Henry (questions by Barbara Johnson-Gresser)
A.B. Miner (questions by George Wayne)
Barbara Johnson-Gresser (questions by Martin Henry)
Adrian Parsons (questions by Matt Andrade)
Heather Schmaedeke (questions by Patricia Hartnett)
Anthony Easton (questions by Melissa Kennedy)
Roz Leibowitz (questions by Anthony Easton)
Melissa Kennedy (questions by Tracy Lee)
Michelle McAuliffe (questions by Marianela de la Hoz)
Tim Folzenlogen (questions by Jason Hanasik)
Rob Willms (questions by Dott Schneider)
Marsha Stein (questions by Gregg Chadwick)
Jason Hanasik (questions by Tim Folzenlogen)
John LeKay (questions by Rosa Naparstek)
Brock Neilson (questions by Richard Vosseller)
Rosa Naparstek (questions by Howard Salmon)
Patricia Hartnett (questions by Verta Reyes)
William Andrews (questions by Bean Gilsdorf)
Howard Salmon (questions by John LeKay)
Corey Amaro (questions by Jason Dean and Matt Nash)
Michael Grayeagle (questions by Chris Ashley)
Marion Boddy-Evans (questions by Deborah Fisher)
Richard Vosseller (questions by Brock Neilson)
Deborah Fisher (questions by Corey Amaro)
Eileen Wold (questions by Michael Grayeagle)

Comments

[Renata]

What do you think about to do Interview with Artist Alexander Klevan?
http://klevan.myexpose.com/