 Profiles: Art > Richard Olmsted > Gallery |
|
|
I came across the work of Richard Olmsted through the Profane Existence Messageboard and instantly felt I needed to contact him. Both about this profile and also to be in touch with a guy who does such amazing art for future projects. Anyway, after I'd sent a mail his way it took just a few hours to get a reply, and just a few more hours to have his words and art ready to be posted, so obviously he's a man of action. And that's definitely a good thing as I'm sure you agree with me when I say I wanna see a lot more art from Richard. Krogh - November 10, 2005
Name, age, where from, etc... A little "get to know me" stuff. My name is Richard Olmsted, I’m from a small town in Washington north of Seattle called Mount Vernon (which in case you don’t already know it just happens to be the punk rock capitol of the world). I drink unhealthy amounts of coffee and spend too much time alone with a pencil. I find myself a great deal more concerned with the aesthetics of the physical world, than that confined by a frame or held hostage in a museum. I need look no further than these polluted pastures and seas of grey to be reminded that I’m not interested in discussion or depiction so much as in fighting for those whose voices we choose to ignore, for i'd give up any canvas in a heartbeat to draw instead upon the rubble of empires. I’m influenced by authors and criminals, strangers and friends, by so many people in passing along my travels. I am influenced by every honest smile that was more than good salesmanship. I’m influenced In a rather different way by rubber bullets and pepper spray. By the police who I’ve watched beat up my friends. I’m influenced by the polluted air, the tainted water, and the dwindling biodiversity. I’m influenced by the developers who are cutting down my back yard, by the businessmen that systematically rob the worlds resources, the management that robs our creative energy, and the stress filled dissociative social environment they have left us with. And I think its about time that the fucking lines have been drawn. When did you start drawing punkstuff and why? I’ve been drawing as long as I can remember, and there’s drawings I did in my first years of highschool that people still use. When I was in Germany I found a flier for a show at the Kopi, and it was one I had done when I was about 15. I got into punk music at an early age, mostly because I was fascinated with what I discovered to be an actively confrontational music scene. My art then circulated in the punk scene for a number of reasons, but likely due to the fact that I love to travel and I’ve done a number of tours with punk bands. When I was a senior in Highschool I left on a tour with Consume and Scorned, having to jump on a greyhound in California at the last minute to make it home to my graduation in time. Then, two years ago I made a short film in Europe about the squatting punk scene while Consume, Born/Dead, and later Hellshock were touring, and most recently, just this last summer I spent a month on tour around Europe again with Provoked. And its for the same reasons that the punk rock circuit is my favorite way to travel that I love seeing my art on punk fliers and records, because a lot of these bands are my very good friends, and it’s a good feeling when you can throw on your favorite record and it’s coincidentally put out by some of your favorite people. Are you mostly working out of what the band wants or do you have stuff ready for them to use, or how do you work? I’m so goddamn busy these days that it’s really hard for me to do something specific for a band, plus it’s generally a whole lot harder for me to work from their ideas. I’m much more connected to the drawing when its an idea that has been resonating in my mind for a while, and that way in the end I feel like the whole thing, not just the technical skills and labor was my creation. It’s also really stressful to work under deadlines because sometimes the art comes along real smooth and quick, and sometimes I get stuck, but its never something that I want to rush. I have done a few things upon specific requests, but even those they just told me what their project was and left the subject matter entirely to me, one was a piece called “remembering tomorrow” for a crimethInc. zine that may or may not ever come to exist, and I did a cover for a benefit record for the E.L.F. / A.L.F. north American press office, but I’m not sure if that will ever be pressed either. I am however serving the last year of my sentence at Western Washington University, and hopefully when I’m finished with school I’ll have time to take on more projects. Is there any money involved? Do you get paid or... how's the deal? If my art is being used for something non-profit that I support, then I don’t want a dime from them, it doesn’t make sense. I’m generally honored that they even thought of me and glad that I could contribute. With bands it’s always kinda up in the air. This band Deconditioned used an old drawing of mine for their first 7’ and I think they gave me 20 bucks, the record, and a t-shirt. To what End? Had contacted me about doing some art that ending up being kinda hard to silkscreen so they didn’t use it, but I met them In Denmark, and they gave me a record and t-shirt anyways. Especially if it’s a drawing I’ve already finished, and not a new project that I have to stress out about, then I’m generally ok with whatever they can afford or want to pay. I had my stuff hanging in a gallery last year, and had left prints with them that I said they could offer to people for whatever donation price they thought appropriate. I would stop by occasionally to pick up whatever money people had left, but one day when I came in and asked if anyone had bought prints the lady at the counter said very shyly “I’m really sorry, but there’s only a few dollars in here, and I think some homeless person took the money while we weren’t looking” but she gave me a puzzled look when I explained to her that I was homeless and she shouldn’t worry because it was probably me. Favorite work? A few comments on what you're most happy with. or if you prefer: what type of stuff do you like to draw the most? I’m really happy with some new drawings I’ve been working on, because they’re much larger than usual. Though there’s one drawing called “pseudocide” (although sometimes I switch the title to “suicity”) it’s one of the first drawings I ever did that I remember being honestly happy with and probably the oldest drawing I have that I saved, but I’m mostly happy with it because a few years after I had drawn it, a band made t-shirts out of it, and a friend of mine was wearing one in some department store when he was asked to either cover up his shirt or leave. That just gives you a sense of accomplishment ya know? Do you do other stuff than punk stuff? Whether or not it’s for a “punk” record or a “punk” band, I think you could call all of my stuff “punk art”. I think that probably has more to do with my attitude towards art than the art itself. Just recently, I had an art reception at a place where all of my stuff was hanging and was asked by the person who owned the space to bring some cheese and wine, you know, to prove that I’m a real artist and that it was a real art show or something? So we brought a really disgusting amount of Mad Dog 20/20 (fortified wine) and Easy Cheese (processed cheese in an aerosol can) and this band called “the dandelion junk queens” played”, and people got on each others shoulder and had chicken fights, and spilled things and laughed and sang and had a good goddamned time. I think that effort alone to destroy that god-awful sterile atmosphere that permeates nearly every art show I’ve ever been to, is enough to call any art “punk”. www.richardolmsted.com richardolmsted@hotmail.com |
|