“…Drawing mostly as a way to clear my own head” NEW FLAT-FILE ARTWORK & Q+A BY DOC BROWN
AS220 Galleries is ecstatic to announce new artworks through our AS220 Flat-File project, by Rhode Island based multi-media artist Doc Brown which is available for purchase through the AS220 Art and Editions Website. AS220 Galleries is also excited to announce a short Q+A with Doc Brown.
Doc Brown is a welder who lives in Rhode Island. He was born and partially raised in New Jersey. Brown describes his artistic practice as “I began drawing mostly as a way to clear my own head. I’ve only recently found out how much I enjoy it and it has since become my chief way of expression.”
To shop directly for Doc Brown’s artwork, click here.
Q+A with the Artist
- How did you start making art? Why do you make art?
I started drawing on catalogues and newspapers on buses and trains or on junk-mail at the kitchen table late at night, mainly just to pass time. Switching to blank paper and drawing with the intention to create something is the biggest shift as an artist I’ve taken yet.
- How has your practice changed over time?
The drawings have gotten much larger but are still pretty much the same pen or charcoal drawings I’d do on scrap or in notebooks. It was difficult to go from scribbling on scrap paper at the kitchen table just to pass time to trying to intentionally fill a blank page or canvas. I try to maintain the same grungy, unplanned quality of those early drawings by not being over-clean or too thought out because that process of scribbling things out and starting over right on top of a mistake, or getting unintentional ink blots etc, etc, are huge part of what make drawing so liberating.
- Describe a real-life situation that inspired an artwork?
Once I listened to a Doors song for like 4 hours straight while reading Paradise Lost and when I was done I had a huge picture of Satan just hanging out at the gates of hell. That’s the drawing I’m most proud of. I don’t even like looking at it anymore cause everything else is comparatively a let down. Other than that, I do most of my best drawing after a bad day at work.
- Who/What are your biggest influences?
John Milton. Auguste Rodin. Herman Melville. Caravaggio. John Bonham.
- Can you explain in what the process was for Untitled 1 and 2?
Those confusing collages usually come about when I can’t describe the way I’m feeling with one solid image. Things like stressed hands, frowning eyes, bared teeth and the like sometimes make more sense at the time. Bared teeth are especially good. I try to use them sparingly. Sometimes the features are my own, sometimes they are from sources. I like the contrast between plants and bones. Things like ferns and ribs look good together. The direction of the objects on the page usually become self-evident half-way through working on it.
- What is your most important artist tool? Is there something you can’t live without in your studio?
Bic Gelocity pens. Time. And books, mostly by dead Frenchmen and dead Russians. Dead Kennedys and Beethoven are also good motivators when I’m feeling lazy. However, it’s rare that I’d need to motivate myself to draw.
