Robert Sumner
Portland, Oregon, USA
Website
rsumnerart.com
Social Media
Instagram
How would you describe your work?
Let me start by saying it’s hard to create art at this point in time without acknowledging the frightening political moment of resurgent authoritarianism we are witnessing in several places across the globe. Historically authoritarianism sought to constrain or eliminate values that bring meaning and richness to the human experience – independent thought, hard won expertise in various fields, personal liberty and freedom from coercion, sense of community, and forward looking intellectual and artistic advancement – and the current flavor of authoritarianism is no different. In this context, the creation, pursuit and enjoyment of beauty, openness and forward-thinking cultural artifacts can be difficult and seem to be a luxury better saved for calmer times, but in fact it becomes an affirmative statement in support of the importance of those values in defiance of authoritarian tendencies. Beauty, art, creativity are important, if fact, essential.
My work begins with my synesthetic experience with music and literature, using what I see as I listen and read as a beginning for the construction of a visual image. The image, as it develops, is informed by the work of artists I admire, the forms of other creatures that inhabit this planet, and the critical thinking of some of my favorite thinkers.
The objective of the work is to create a suggestive, yet open abstract visual matrix that is both visually and conceptually engaging, exploring the interaction of color, form, texture and movement. My hope is that the images that I create, whether they be paintings, prints, or drawings, will allow for a dialogue with the viewer who will bring a host of their own associations and experiences with them to the conversation. This conversation and contemplation then have the opportunity to create connections: visceral, intellectual, artistic, introspective, and interpersonal.
What inspires you?
So many things! Other artists. Music. Literature. The birds and bugs I see when I’m working in my vegetable garden. Art theory, criticism, and philosophy. The shape and movement of marine creatures, especially the strange creatures that you see in microscopic plankton or those that dwell in the deep blackness of the ocean. At the end of the day, I feel more authentic, complete, and honest when I am trying to figure out where an image is going than in any other activity, and that is what drives me to keep making images. It’s where I am at home.
Can you speak about your process?
The world is full of images, and I think it is important for artists to soak up those images, whether it’s from the work of other artists or from the world around you. Something as awe inspiring as the ocean waves during a storm or as simple as the shadows cast by some leaves on the pavement. These images can act as subconscious ‘library’ that can be accessed when drawing/painting.
Quite often my synesthetic experience with music and literature – ‘seeing’ the music or ‘watching’ the images of a piece of prose or poetry I am reading - becomes the original basis for a new composition. However, after the work begins the art work itself takes on a life of its own with its own unique needs and imperatives and ends up going in its own direction, responding to the characteristics of the medium, the movement of form, or the punch of color.
An image usually starts out with a thought that is full of potential, but after a bit of work the images typically hit the awkward teenager stage where things are out of proportion, movement is clumsy, and things just don’t seem to fit together correctly. It feels like a jigsaw puzzle with pieces that almost fit, but not quite. At some point, after a lot of thinking and experimentation, the path forward emerges, and the visual puzzle falls into place. That is a great feeling!
**A quickk note on my unusual titles: In order to create titles that were conceptually consistent with my visual objective of creating imagery that is an open yet suggestive abstract matrix, I pull random syllables from James Joyce's Finnegans Wake, which is a remarkable piece of literature in which words create an open yet suggestive matrix. This process is also a nod to the Dadaists, David Bowie and others.
How did you become interested in art?
I wanted to be an artist as a child. I remember falling in love with Joan Miro’s work in my youth. The challenge from me was always *how to become an artist. I was forced to disenroll from college at the beginning of the senior year of my BFA program when the university I was attending discovered I was queer. A few years later, after tiring of working tedious low paying jobs while not being able to afford art supplies I made the pragmatic decision to return to school to get some better financial security. I put together and completed a proposal for a BA in Arts Administration, then went on to earn a Masters in Business Administration. I kept painting while working with the goal of eventually getting back to the point of creating art full time, which is where I am fortunate to be now.
Do you have any favorite artists, movies, books, or quotes?
Favorite artists? There are so many. Nicola Tyson (@nicola_tyson), Bryce Marden, Arshile Gorky, Suzan Frecon (@freconsuzan), Willem DeKooning (especially his early work), Phillip Guston, Geoffroy Pithon (@geoffroypithon), 108 (@108_108_108), Oriol Enguany (@enguany), Arthur Lanyon (@arthur.lanyon), Lubos Plny (@lubosplny), among many others.
Books? For cultural/art theory I highly recommend Thinking in Time, an Introduction to Henri Bergson by Suzanne Guerlac. Bergson’s ideas about human lived experience, the passage and accumulation of time and memory have a huge potential for application to image making.
Quotes?
“Either art is the site of a philosophical investigation which is relevant to human experience or it is nothing.” --Mel Bochner
“Do you have the patience to wait till your mud clears and the water is clear? Can you remain unmoving till the right action arises by itself?” --Lao-Tzu
What advice do you have for younger artists?
Know yourself, first and foremost. Soak up everything around you but know yourself well enough to be able to discern what to hold on to and what to let go of. Remain authentic. Read, look, draw a lot, and then do it some more. Expect your life to take turns you can’t anticipate, and enjoy the journey and find ways to get where you want to get.
