Journey Beyond The Artist’s Studio: Jeremy Rabus

Beyond the surface, there is a deep end to each artist I meet.  Through this series of interviews, I have had the great opportunity to introduce many artists to a developing audience, virtually visiting each in their studio.  The latest interview in the ongoing series Journey Beyond The Artist’s Studio is with Saint Louis artist Jeremy Rabus.

Essential to Rabus’s work is a keen sense of intuition.  In fact, Jeremy describes his process as an improvisational, “call-and-response”.  Jeremy’s invented landscapes evoke movements in jazz, depicting a loose harmony and tempo.  Free waveforms permeate color fields, overlaid by tonal, organic structures.  Dust off your copy of “Informal Jazz”, select track four, and you just might hear what Rabus paints.

Avalon - John Coltrane Quartet

I recently had the satisfaction of asking Jeremy a series of questions:

DBS:
Please start off by telling us 5 random things about your self.

Jeremy:
•    I like MST3K (Mystery Science Theater 3000).
•    I once cleaned refrigerators for a living.
•    I trick-or-treated as Dracula 3 times.
•    DTV scares me.
•    One of my pastimes as a kid was to "mummify" action figures and bury them in elaborate tombs in the backyard, and then mount an archaeological dig to "discover" them.


DBS:
What are the three most important things people should know about your art?

Jeremy:
•    It is largely unplanned and improvised, a spontaneous "call-and-response" way of painting.
•    My work in it's present form has realized itself within the past year; up to that point it was struggle.
•    It continues to evolve, always.


DBS:
When did you start making art and how did you get into it?

Jeremy:
I started at about the age of the age of three, when I apparently could draw Bugs Bunny VERY accurately for a kid that age, complete with the tufted cheeks and distinctive ears.

As I grew up, I created cartoons, illustrations, and even board games, based on everything from the Super Mario Bros. to my Jr. high math teacher to Beavis and Butthead. The turning point must have happened when I drew Tonto from a photograph as requested by my eighth grade history teacher. I impressed myself, I impressed others, and that begun it all.

DBS:
If you could take a trip in a time machine, when and where would you go?

Jeremy:
I would revisit myself in high school, and urge that depressed little guy to just get out of the house, and try to talk to those other kids.


DBS:
Do you work full-time as an artist or do you have another job?

Jeremy:
As of October 2009, I am not employed, so that makes me a full-time artist. I eat lots of ramen. I did work at an art supply store on Cherokee Street for the past year, and used a studio there for the past year, which contributed in major ways to the growth of my artwork.


DBS:
What is the single most important supply/tool in your studio?

Jeremy:
The palm sander. It removes layers of paint and unwanted texture from my painted surfaces, and generates a variety of interesting effects.


DBS:
Please select one of the following super human powers that best fit your personality and tell us why:
-the ability to fly
-the ability to become invisible
-super human strength
-the ability to read minds.
-the ability to control the weather.

Jeremy:
The ability to control this stupid St. Louis weather! Actually, flying. Imagine- traveling freely above everything, truly in a straight line: Quick and efficient.

DBS:
What is the biggest mistake you have ever made?

Jeremy:
Being too concerned about other people's opinions of me, for far too long. It stifled my personality, my creative outlet, and my ability to connect to others, rendering me utterly boring. Now I act foolishly sometimes- never boring.


DBS:
Who do you admire (artist or otherwise)? Why?

Jeremy:
Robert Longyear, a local artist. He is fascinating, and fascinated at all times, with every moment. He'll pick up a down-on-his-luck hitchhiker, record the conversation they have, and use it to score a video of himself in the studio. Everything Robert offers to the world is poetic and natural. As someone who is more "prose"- more matter-of-fact, and detached from my paintings, I wonder what thought processes are at work.


DBS: -Longyear does have a way of tempting fate.

The title of a work of art:
(a) can make or break a piece.
(b) is unimportant, what’s in a name?

why?

Jeremy:
Both. My titles are generated randomly from free-form keyboard typing, then picking out "names" for the "landforms" I generate from these keystrokes. I'd rather not title my pieces, but I use them for distinction.


DBS:
What is the greatest motivator for you as an artist?

Jeremy:
Painting is just something I have to do, as if it were my duty. I do enjoy sharing the imagery I generate with others, and discussing what they mean or not.


DBS:
You completely change your career path with no limitations; what other fields interest you?

Jeremy:
Electronica/experimental music. I play no instruments, but I love picking out the nuances of music I listen to; some have called my painting "musical".

• To learn more about what Jeremy is up to, check out his blog.

• Be sure to check out The Studio Chronicle each Thursday for the latest installment of Journey Beyond The Artist’s Studio.

• To purchase work by Jeremy Rabus, please visit his shop.
  

• As always, comments are encouraged!

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