The University will host an art show featuring work by University artist Richard Wilson Aug. 19-21.
University art major's show
displays a range of talent
Richard Wilson's art
provides unique takes on
personal and social issues
RYAN NYBURG
PULSE EDITOR
University art major Richard Wilson
is currently working toward his master's
degree. He has created art with found
objects, digital production techniques
and many other methods. He has had
work shown in galleries across Oregon
and will have a new show with many
never-before-seen pieces here at the
University on August 19. He recently
spoke to the Emerald about his work
and his life as an artist.
Emerald: Can you describe to me
what the show is going to like?
Richard Wilson: It's a collection of
quite a few years' work from my years as
a UO art major. There are two brand
new pieces that I just finished, more in
stallation pieces and larger pieces. The
show will involve a lot of sculpture and
3-D work; also, a collection of computer
and digital art that I've done over the
past couple of years or so. The live por
tion of the show will be on August 21.
There will be two dance pieces done by
local dancers. There will be a perform
ance piece, poetry, quite a few things.
The actually live show will be at 7 p.m.,
so people will need to be there by 6 p.m.
at the latest because at seven will be clos
ing the doors due to the lighting. It's go
ing to be a sort of surrealistic atmos
phere, so we're turning down the lights
and well have a fog machine going.
Emerald: How long have you been
involved in art?
RW: I've been involved in art for
probably close to 40 years. I had an
art photography business at one time
and then decided to close it. I'm hop
ing to get some job teaching a com
munity college art course or some
thing and earn enough money to
support my habit.
Emerald: How did you get started
on your habit?
RW: I grew up around artists. Kind of
an unusual background. From when I
was three months old we traveled
around the United States, never stayed
in one place more than three weeks at a
time. We traveled in the circuses and
carnivals, things like that, so I was
around artists and show people and
musicians. It was just my life from the
time I was bom, so I just naturally grav
itated toward that. My unde is a profes
sional artist and my dad was an artist
before he died. I'm a musidan; I write
poetry and prose and the like.
Emerald: What sort of themes do
you try to discuss in your work?
RW: My stuff almost always deals
with social issues: Things to do with
war, child molesting, hypocrisy in re
ligion. A lot of satire and sarcasm
you might say. A lot of the stuff I
make is from junk I pick up out at
Bring Recycling. A lot of my art is dig
ging at the Establishment. I'm an ex
hippy, so I guess it's sort of my men
tality. I see a lot of problems in the
world, and you either go crazy or you
find some way to cope with it. I use
art as a way of addressing it.
Emerald: Are there any particular
themes you address in this upcom
ing show?
RW: It's a conglomeration of a lot of
things. The title of the show is "It's All
a State of Mind." A big part of the
show has a lot to do with an event I
witnessed a long time ago. When I was
16,1 saw a girl die in a car crash. The
event sort of burned itself into my
brain. The first piece I'm going to do is
a piece of prose about that event and
how everything around us is degrees
of perception and how we view other
people. Like how a person can have
hatred toward another race because of
what was taught them but how they
can change that state of mind and be
come more open minded. It has a lot
to do with how the mind works.
Emerald: What do you want people
to take from this?
RW: Just, maybe, shock some peo
ple. Because we see so much, so much
violence and so much hatred, its in the
news and everywhere. I just want peo
ple to stop for a minute and think
about the consequences. A lot of artists
have done the same thing, it's nothing
new, but how I choose to interpret it
or how I choose to address it is unique
because its my personal perspective
rather than someone else's. A lot of my
images are not comfortable to look at
and will probably never sell.
Emerald: What kinds of artists do
you respect or are influenced by?
RW: I could care less about a picture
of a barn in a field. Like the Renais
sance artists. I admire their determina
tion and their integrity and their craft,
but that's as far as I'm interested in it.
I'm interested in Jackson Pollock and
others that broke the boundaries. The
Dadaist, who spit in the face of the Es
tablishment. People who where bold
enough to stand up against what
everyone thought art was, who risked
their careers for what they believed in.
A lot of my stuff is like what they did.
Some people say my work is nothing
new, but in a way it is, since it's ad
dressing contemporary issues.
Emerald: No one is doing it today.
RW: Yeah, in fact we seem to be
moving away from it. Here at the UO,
about 90 percent of the art I see is
pretty vague, you can't really put your
finger on what they are trying to say.
My kind of art might be considered by
some to be old-fashioned or passe.
I've studied a lot of art history and
there was an era where artists protest
ed with their art. They don't seem to
be doing it that much now, but I don't
really care. I like doing what I do. I'm
not all that concerned with selling my
stuff. If someone wants to buy it that's
fine, but if I can shake somebody up
a little bit or just someone pissed off...
Emerald: Are you involved with any
other art organizations in Eugene?
RW: Well, I've shown in galleries all
over the place, on the coast, in Coburg,
I've entered stuff in the Mayor's Art
Show every now and then. There's a
gallery that likes to show my stuff. They
told me they're probably not going to
be able to sell it, but they just like to
have it there because it makes people
stop, look and think. There's one thing I
do, I've kind of been keeping it a secret.
I make these little human figures and
leave them around town, on campus or
in the mall. I didn't really want people
to know who did it because I just want
ed to put them there and see how peo
ple reacted to them.
Emerald: Are you working on any
other projects?
RW: I'm trying to do more and more
public art projects. I'm trying to get some
art out on the islands in Alton Baker
Park. I like the idea of getting things
out that stop people in their tracks.
"It's All a State of Mind" opens on
August 19 and will run through August
21. The show will be in room 290 of the
Allied Arts and Architecture Building
and will be open from 12 p.m. to 10
p.m. every day.
ryannYburg@dailyemerald.com
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