+ All Categories
Home > Documents > MDBY08 Rodger Stevens

MDBY08 Rodger Stevens

Date post: 10-Mar-2016
Category:
Upload: mdby
View: 219 times
Download: 0 times
Share this document with a friend
Description:
Manufactured design by Rodger Stevens, a contemporary artist who makes wire scultptures.
Popular Tags:
10
Transcript
Page 1: MDBY08 Rodger Stevens

RODGER STEVENS

Page 2: MDBY08 Rodger Stevens

Rodger Stevens, works with wire in an amazing way, creating very attractiveobjects. He tells us how he started out, and shows his passion for what he doesin a really inspiring interview….

Page 3: MDBY08 Rodger Stevens

Economical studies, then Art, Sotheby and now wire sculptor, did you needthese steps to get to know what to do? Or it was a natural process throughwhich you opened your mind to get to know what you really wanted?I loved drawing and making things ever since I was very young – it was aprecious interest to me, a very big part of who I was and I assumed that italways would be. When it was time to choose a field of study in college I wantedto explore a subject that was thoroughly different from art, something I knewnothing about. I never stopped making art while I pursued a degree inEconomics, but instead placed this new – to me, exotic – body of knowledgealongside of it. Working at Sotheby’s seemed like an ideal synthesis of thesetwo worlds. Working there was a fascinating experience, extremely edifyingboth artistically and professionally, but after several years the drive to make artwas overwhelming and ultimately I chose to dedicate myself to it fully.

You create great sculptures with several materials, but the principal material iswire. I’ve seen in a video by Persol, you just work on wire directly, without anymodel to follow or drawings, is that how your inspiration comes, directly fromyour mind, hands and wire?That is a wonderfully concise of way of delineating my whole creative process:“mind, hands, wire”. I do see these objects quite clearly in my mind beforemaking them. As I work, I am referring to that “model” – sometimes I deviatefrom the picture; often times I build it just as I have imagined it.

Page 4: MDBY08 Rodger Stevens

You use wire in its natural color or white, why you do not use any bright colors?When I first started working with wire, it was a black annealed steel wire that Iwould find at construction sites around the city. It had a wonderful malleabilityand the color and finish looked just like that of a pencil line. Sculpting with thatmaterial was very similar to drawing and the objects I made looked to me likedrawings that had come up off a page; they were drawings that in some sensebecame “real”. I don’t think I’ve ever let go of that initial impression – wheneverI have colorized the wire that effect is diminished and I feel the work suffers.It’s a very personal, very subjective opinion and I know I should probablyreconsider it.

Page 5: MDBY08 Rodger Stevens

You create mobiles; they always have a specific meaning for each person, whichis yours?I’ve done many self-portraits. Sometimes they are very elaborate,autobiographical compositions, encompassing a range of emotions, thoughts,or events in my life. Occasionally I will make a minor appearance in a piece,represented simply as a drop of sweat. I work pretty hard – at being an artist, adad, a son, a husband – so the sweat droplet seems like a fairly appropriateslyph.

Page 6: MDBY08 Rodger Stevens

Each piece you fabricate, do you consider it as a unique piece?Yes. Unequivocally. There is no shortcut to making one of these pieces, no wayto duplicate them mechanically. Not yet. Mind, hands, wire – each time.

What would be your ideal project?Having a show at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

You work on your own and I suppose is quite difficult to increase your firm doingyour type of work. Do you feel good working alone all day long?I adore “working alone all day long”. It is no exaggeration to say that I feelgrateful for every single day that I can walk into my studio and just start working… until, of course, my kids come home from school, then I adore being withthem.

Do you spend time in your work on publications or other media to make yourselfknown and increase sales, or do you have someone to help you?I realized quite early that surviving as an artist requires putting your work wherepeople can see it: in galleries, in magazines, hanging from lampposts on FifthAvenue. Self-promotion is not easy, it is rarely enjoyable, but it is unavoidable.And, as I have never had an assistant, all the self-promotion I do is exactly that:me promoting myself.

Page 7: MDBY08 Rodger Stevens

Have you ever had a mentor that has supported and guided you?No

What is the philosophy of your firm?I believe that I do not have a company, my idea is to realize objects of goodquality, made by craftsmen with which I can exchange opinions, and because ofit, my objects are made of France.

What is beauty for you?The simplicity, but simultaneously, the complexity of which one is notconsciously?

Tell us about a normal day in your workI begin the day reading and answering my e-mails (press, appointments,manufacturers). The normal thing, is that I eat working in front of the computer.Then I deal with the projects that I have in process, work on a new range of color,look for new materials’ effects, or design. And also I prepare the orders to besent. Also I am materials’ adviser, entrusted by several companies, so severaldays, I take part of the office life, I eat with my collegues, I take publlic transportand I go to meetings and exhibitions.

Page 8: MDBY08 Rodger Stevens

What is the most difficult aspect of your work?Self-promotion.

What do you like the most about your work?It is very difficult to articulate just what is so satisfying about working, why itis that time and tedium and tension evaporate during the process. I supposeeveryone has an activity that aligns with their psyche and their biology so thatsome sort of state of contentedness results … for me, it’s making things.

Page 9: MDBY08 Rodger Stevens

What has been your biggest success?There are creative successes, little achievements within the work itself thatare rewarding, even thrilling. And there are material, professional successesthat come in the form of high profile clients or renowned exhibition venues.Both types are always welcome and nearly always hard to come by.

What is your biggest dream for the future?That circumstances allow me to continue to do what I do.

What is beauty for you?My family. The sheer spectacle of existence.

Any advice?Try to find that thing I mentioned earlier, that endeavor that naturallycorresponds to your chemistry, then figure out a way to survive doing it. Andforget about being rich.

Page 10: MDBY08 Rodger Stevens

MDBY... RODGER STEVENSFor more information and pictures, visit:

http://mdbarchitects.com/mdby/mdby-rodger-stevens/http://mdbarchitects.com/mdby/mdby-rodger-stevens-2/


Recommended