During May 2012, Artwork Network is exhibiting “Memento” -  a thoughtful compilation of imagery based on memories.  Denver artist Roger Rapp, half of this two man show, sat down to give us  a little more thoughtful insight into the man behind the art.

Feel free to comment and add your own questions for the artist!

Artist Roger Rapp in his Denver studio.

Where do you get the inspiration for your artwork?

Roger Rapp:  I read almost exclusively in the sciences. They all interest me, because they give me insight into how everything works.  I guess that might seen as very distant from art, but they have a lot in common.  Both require a concentration on observation and opening the mind to new things.  When new discoveries arise, all things previously known are brought into question and you have to be willing to accept a new paradigm.

What was the first piece of artwork that turned your attention toward art?

Roger Rapp:  When in my teens, my parents took me to the Albright-Knox Art Gallery in Buffalo, New York where I saw the painting, Orange Crush, by Larry Poons.  It was something I had never considered before.  It was not a depiction of anything we could see in the every day experience, like a landscape, a portrait or a still life.  The subject was about how we see, the mechanism of sight itself.

Are there personal experiences of that sort that come up in your work?

Roger Rapp:  The obscuring pattern that I refer to as ‘Noise’ represents the conflict of information that gets in the way of seeing things clearly.  I experience a lot of visual dissonance like after images or floaters in my vision and I sometimes see multiple images in one of my eyes.  Although I never have done peyote, when I shut my eyes and meditate I do see something similar to the things that practitioners of that drug describe.  Geometric patterns, in various degrees of complexity swirl or diminish or burst into color.  Although I may not be aware of it at the time, I have to believe that this experience is in the background of everything I look at. Perhaps everyone has this capacity and we just learn to ignore it because it gets in the way.

Do you visualize your Art before creating? Do you know what it will look like before you begin?

Roger Rapp:  I don’t.  I usually start with an idea or a phrase or a pair of images that I might have found in a book or on the internet and just put that down on the canvas, adding color and some compositional breakdown.  Presently, this resolves itself, at which point I paint some noise over it, obscuring part of what was accomplished.  I repeat this process of creating and destroying, each time trying to restore order to the painting.

What helps create a suitable environment for making art (aside from tools)?

Roger Rapp:  I like to have lots of items of reference around me.  I attach them to the walls in my studio, so that ideas I have found to be important are documented in objects and sketches and notes that are ever present. I also have files of images that I have collected that I can easily refer to.  If I need a model of a molecule or a map or a poem to insert into a painting, I just sort through that file until I find the right one.  I use it and move on.

"Mostly Nothing" by Roger Rapp.

What do you want people to walk away with when they see your work?

Roger Rapp:  I would hope that they have an experience similar to when I find a new bit of information and then try to balance that with what I already know.  This new bit might be in agreement with previous experience or it may be in conflict.  Some of my paintings have presented very specific points of view and others quite open-ended.  I don’t want them to seem like puzzles to figure out or impenetrable mysteries either; just something that spikes curiosity.

How important do you think it is for artists to know about art history, and why?

Roger Rapp:  It is always important to know as much as you can about whatever field you work in.  Everything accomplished by previous generations of artists can be stepping stones for your own development.  Why reinvent the wheel?  If you must, then you had better know how your wheel is different from those already in existence.

What gem of advice for the creative person has someone given you?

Roger Rapp:  I once asked my sculpture instructor, Duayne Hatchett what was the most important thing to learn if I wanted to pursue a life as an artist. He simply said, “Learn to do something else.”

See more artwork by Roger Rapp.
Read more about this artist.