50th Anniversary Artist Interview
Robert Anderson
13 September 2004
Robert Anderson’s work is a unique mélange of pop imagery (James Rosenquist meets Roy Rogers. Or is it Buck Rogers?) and careful technique. He is truly one of the world’s finest airbrush artists, yet he rarely works in airbrush anymore, preferring good old brushes and juicy paint from the tube.
Anderson graduated from Pratt Institute of Art & Design in 1972 with a Master of Fine Arts Degree. He has taught college level drawing, painting and design and is the co-author of Art Of The Dot: Advanced Airbrush Techniques (Van Nostrand Reinhold). His work combines elements of the old West with images of Hollywood cowboys, pin-ups and science fiction. Images are borrowed from historical and film sources, western collectibles and the Pulp Fiction cover illustrations of the 1930’s & 40’s and compositionally woven into a brightly colored, historical mosaic.
He is the recipient of fellowship grants from the National Endowment For The Arts and the New Jersey State Council On The Arts and Airbrush Action Magazine’s Vargas Award. Robert is a past member of the Binney & Smith Studio Arts Advisory Council. He has been a Technical and Fine Art Consultant to Liquitex Art Products since September 1990.
We asked Anderson to be part of the 50th Anniversary artist profiles, in part because of his accomplishments as a painter, but also because he has developed a highly sophisticated way of using digital media and imaging software as part of his painting process. The result is extraordinarily rich composition, dynamic color, and – plain and simple – lots of fun, evocative imagery. He’s recently shown at OK Harris Gallery in New York, and was scrambling to get ready for another show when we visited.
At one point during the photo shoot, someone looked at a just-uncovered Polaroid and said, “The shots are looking great, Bob. The painting behind you is super; you’re surrounded by a bevy of beautiful women.”
“Well,” Robert replied with a sly grin. “I guess now’s the time to confess that’s been my plan all along.”
Liquitex: After having been an integral part of the Liquitex technical team for many years, you have a unique perspective on the process and mechanics of making art. How has your mechanical and technical awareness become part of your art making? And has it helped or hindered you?
Robert Anderson: It’s certainly made it easier to manipulate the paint. I’ve always been mechanical and technical by nature, and that’s shown up in my work. And because of my interest in paint and paint-making, I’ve got a better command of my tools, which makes it easier for me to concentrate on the message, on the visual dynamics of the piece.
Liquitex: Why did you become an artist?
RA: As I used to tell students when I was teaching, it’s almost as though you don’t make that decision; it’s made for you. And if you don’t have that compulsion, that drive, the need – if the art doesn’t come out and hit you over the head with a hammer – then in a short period of time, you won’t stick it out. It’s much too hard of a way to make a living if you don’t have that overwhelming need to make art.
Liquitex: So, where does that need come from?
RA: I suppose, for me, I had a way of seeing things – like an enhanced palette of colors, or amplified textures. I guess that’s just a part of genetic makeup. It’s hard to guess – not knowing how other people see things – but I suppose that people who are visual artists are seeing things in ways that others don’t.
Liquitex: What’s the greatest value that an artist brings to the community?
RA: Civilizations are measured and judged historically by the culture they produce, aren’t they? And certainly much of the artist’s job is as record keeper of the emotional, visual, political, societal quality of life. But I think the greatest gift that an artist can give is not just as record keepers but as culture makers.
Liquitex: Do you ever step back and think about that role while you’re working?
RA: No. You’ve got too many things to do when you’re making art. I only think about this kind of stuff when I’m asked questions like these.
Liquitex: Your work walks an interesting and provocative line; at first glance, it looks highly representational. But the imagery is assembled in such a way that – once you peer more closely into the work – works on a deeply abstract level in which the counterpoint of line, color, and form becomes paramount. How does that happen? Are you consciously looking for images that help you transcend representation?
RA: I don’t think that I’m consciously trying to make work that is both abstract and realistic at the same time. What I am definitely conscious of is composition to a high degree. And when these images come together, they have to work as a whole. That part is every bit as important to me as the representation of the images themselves. If that creates some kind of underlying abstraction, then that’s all well and good. But, in general, I work extremely hard to get all of these elements to just work together.
Liquitex: So the balance and counterpoint is paramount. How do you do that?
RA: That’s the part that’s playtime for me. That’s like sitting down with Lincoln logs and trying to build something. Getting back to the question of why I’m an artist – when I’m working with these images, it’s just playful creativity. It relates to how and why unschooled kids can sit down with paper and paint and paste and just have a ball. There’s no right or wrong, they just let it flow. And that’s how I approach the process when I start a new piece. As I get tighter and tighter, and closer to my goal, it sometimes gets harder. It doesn’t come as easily, and sometimes I feel like I have to beat it into submission. Or just go back to the beginning and start all over again. But, overall it’s that creative playfulness that’s the joy in making art.
Liquitex: You used to use an ‘analog’ process -- with paper cutouts and other tools -- in building the composition and structure of your images. Now you’re using Photoshop.
RA: In the “old days,” it was a laborious process to build compositions through cutting and pasting and drawing and re-drawing. Then, in about 1985 or ’86, personal computers gave me the chance to do electronic cut and paste. Ever since then, I’ve become increasingly reliant on programs like Photoshop to do all the development work. I can work very rapidly with multiple layers, and get to decisions that wouldn’t have been possible without the computer.
Liquitex: As the inventor of the first water-based acrylics, we’re obviously interested in how the materials help and inform the expressive process. And there are some mechanical and working properties that can only be had with acrylics – fast drying, dramatic flow, rapid working, good for masking. From the very beginning, in the 50’s and 60’s, artists like Hockney and Frankenthaler put acrylics to exceedingly good use, developing work that couldn’t have happened with any other media? What is it about acrylics that best allow you to do what you do?
RA: Almost from the beginning – when I first used acrylics around 1965 or ’66 – it was obvious that this was my thing, a keeper. And the reason was that, as you say, you’ve got a lot of options with masking, and flow and drying and permanence. But, even more, it was the fact that there were no rules, as opposed to oils, where you’ve got to watch out for drying time and fat over lean and all that other stuff. With acrylics, there was none of that to hold me back.
One of the very first uses that I put acrylics to was through an airbrush onto canvas. I wouldn’t have been able to do that with oils. But with acrylics I could do it with easy clean up and archival colors. It was – and still is – the medium for me.
Liquitex: But you’re not doing much with airbrush now.
RA: That’s true. And I think the reason is that one of the challenges that artist have is staying fresh and current. The tight, slick quality of airbrush is something that I’ve done and it’s time to move on. The more I paint, the more I seem to feel that the expressive quality of paint from a brush is more important to me. After a while, things can get a little bit stale and it’s time to move on.
Liquitex: What’s the most fun for you in your work?
RA: The Lincoln Log phase. The very beginning, where I’ve surrounded myself with images and there’s all the picking and choosing. That’s the most playful time. As it goes on, and I’ve got some time invested, it gets more serious. The painting part – although I enjoy painting -- is the most serious of all.
Liquitex: How about the biggest challenge?
RA: Staying fresh. All artists face this. You try to stay in touch with your peers, you visit galleries, you read the magazines, you travel, and – hopefully – all of that filters through and comes out in your work in a positive way. Knowing when to change, what to change is really the most challenging part.
But along with that it’s the different hats that you have to wear. It’s not just knowing how to paint. It’s the searching for images, the searching for a new direction; you’re also a marketer, you’re the VP of sales. So, you’re constantly changing these hats, and that’s challenging and not always so much fun. It’s world’s away from the Lincoln Log stage.
Liquitex: You’ve figured out a very workable method to get digital and traditional media to work in the service of each other. How do you see digital media fitting with traditional materials and applications over the next years?
RA: I think we’ll see more and more mixed media applications that include digital and traditional media. All the large-scale output that’s becoming available gives artists the opportunity to mix things on a new scale. I don’t think that digital painting will kill real painting, there will always be the need to express directly in paint.
It’s a tool just like we’ve used many tools and it just becomes part of the mix.
Programs like the newly released Liquitex Pixel2Paint will also really help artists see how to mix colors but also to see how digital color can translate into real life.
