Dogs
of the
Temple
You sell your work on everything from canvas and posters to stash boxes. Where do you see your work in the fine art sense of things?Funny you should ask, because some of these peripheral things have taken a kind of backseat to my originals. Ive had decent success in selling originals to collectors, which as any artist can tell you is pretty difficult, maybe in Vegas even more so. Im broadening my horizons a bit by working with another gallery owner, Brett Wesley, whos been putting on amazing shows at Newport Lofts, and hes getting his own gallery ready for opening this fall. Hes helping introduce me to other collectors, investing in national advertisements, and getting me into my first museum show at the Southern Nevada Museum of Fine Art. Were talking about other cities down the line. So, the prints and boxes and merchandise was sort of phase one for me . They were about getting my name out there and making fans as easily as possible, but not necessarily with the best archival and valuable means. Im moving into another phase now, I want my collectors to see things appreciate in value, so a deeper focus on originals and better quality giclées and finer prints are whats on the table right now. Were getting things photographed properly, and should be introducing a new line soon. They will be limited edition signed and numbered. I need to pursue other markets/cities in order to maintain longevity with this beast. In terms of theme within your work, you seem to draw on the type of worlds that exist primarily in the graphic novel and comic book realm. Were these things a part of your life as you grew into the artist you are today? You caught me. I was just another fanboy comic book shop employee during high schoolyou know, like every geek worth his weight should be! I worked at the Comic Domain, which was easy walking distance from Valley High School. Its since closed, but I was real close to the owner, Mike Smith, (his actual name, not generically changed to protect his true identity!) and he was like an older brother to me, introduced me to the cooler more adult titles, better artists and writers, alternative music I never knew existed, yadda, yadda, yadda. I was this close to pursuing a comic arts career of some kind, but it just never happened. Im still a fan though, and have gone to Comic-Con a few times. You can still see the influence in my work. I tend to go for a very graphic, high contrasted look almost like black and white panels. I still have elements of action lines and flying capes in my weird moving fabric interpretations. What do you hope the viewer will take away from your paintings? That theres always more going on than just whats on the surface. Im not all about mayhem or darkness. My menacing looking subjects are put there so they can be exposed. My destructive looking environments are put there so they can be fixed. My hope is that you can see some kind of hope in the meaning, even if its not really there in the painting.
You sell your work on everything from canvas and posters to stash boxes. Where do you see your work in the fine art sense of things?
Funny you should ask, because some of these peripheral things have taken a kind of backseat to my originals. Ive had decent success in selling originals to collectors, which as any artist can tell you is pretty difficult, maybe in Vegas even more so. Im broadening my horizons a bit by working with another gallery owner, Brett Wesley, whos been putting on amazing shows at Newport Lofts, and hes getting his own gallery ready for opening this fall. Hes helping introduce me to other collectors, investing in national advertisements, and getting me into my first museum show at the Southern Nevada Museum of Fine Art. Were talking about other cities down the line.
So, the prints and boxes and merchandise was sort of phase one for me . They were about getting my name out there and making fans as easily as possible, but not necessarily with the best archival and valuable means. Im moving into another phase now, I want my collectors to see things appreciate in value, so a deeper focus on originals and better quality giclées and finer prints are whats on the table right now. Were getting things photographed properly, and should be introducing a new line soon. They will be limited edition signed and numbered.
I need to pursue other markets/cities in order to maintain longevity with this beast.
In terms of theme within your work, you seem to draw on the type of worlds that exist primarily in the graphic novel and comic book realm. Were these things a part of your life as you grew into the artist you are today?
You caught me. I was just another fanboy comic book shop employee during high schoolyou know, like every geek worth his weight should be! I worked at the Comic Domain, which was easy walking distance from Valley High School. Its since closed, but I was real close to the owner, Mike Smith, (his actual name, not generically changed to protect his true identity!) and he was like an older brother to me, introduced me to the cooler more adult titles, better artists and writers, alternative music I never knew existed, yadda, yadda, yadda. I was this close to pursuing a comic arts career of some kind, but it just never happened. Im still a fan though, and have gone to Comic-Con a few times.
You can still see the influence in my work. I tend to go for a very graphic, high contrasted look almost like black and white panels. I still have elements of action lines and flying capes in my weird moving fabric interpretations.
What do you hope the viewer will take away from your paintings?
That theres always more going on than just whats on the surface. Im not all about mayhem or darkness. My menacing looking subjects are put there so they can be exposed. My destructive looking environments are put there so they can be fixed. My hope is that you can see some kind of hope in the meaning, even if its not really there in the painting.
Interview with artist Danny Roberts By Thirry
What are some of your influences, what really gets you going?
Besides all the usual suspects like comics, other artists and artwork, movies, and music, I pay close attention to everyday life. Add the stuff that goes on in my dreams, where everything mashes together, thats why Im artist. Theres an art to life and Im an easily influenced person, whether its by my environment, powerful photography, infuriating news or beautiful people.
It seems you have a very street level eye when it comes to your work. How do you decide what will become your next painting?
When the idea of an image refuses to go away, I take it seriously. I get the beginnings of a painting in my mind all the time. Sometimes theyre too weak at first, so they get filed away until I can build on it. Sometimes they make it to a quick sketch form. The ones that rise to the surface and demand the most attention are the ones that get painted. Obviously, they have that special something that excites me just a bit more. I have some rules I that look for in an idea. Is it emotional? Does it have movement and flow and something beautiful about it? Does it only take one side of an issue? Is it all too menacing, or is there a tad bit of hope in it?
The challenging part for me is to remain thematic in my work, cause as an easily influenced person, I could wake up tomorrow and start painting wildlife, which doesnt really fit into my regular milieu - or sci-fi stuff, or landscapes, or abstractions, which doesnt really fit either. I have to be careful, since galleries, museums and my audience have grown to expect a certain playground from me. So I cant be too distracted, which is a real battle. I used to say that I treat each painting as its own being, with a separate message from everything else, and in theory thats an okay thing to defend, but then you have the problem that they dont always hang very well next to each other for show theme reasons. So I guess deciding what my next theme is, is just as important as the individual paintings.
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