LEO BOECKL INTERVIEWS ARTIST RR VAGNINI
Leo Boeckl: Did you always know you were going to be an artist? If not- what was the trigger event which propelled you down the road you have been traveling as an artist?
RR VAGNINI: At a relatively young age I exhibited artistic skills, and following my father’s advice about doing something you love for a living, I figured it was my best bet. I flunked art in high school so evidently I wasn’t too interested then. I think when I moved to California, the combination of my need to stay creative and loneliness, well, things just kind of fell into place.
LB: If artistic influences were not that trigger event – were there any artists who you found so compelling that their work so resonated with you and made you just want to pick up some color and immediately create?
RRV: Yes, once I entered college and I needed an elective, so I took a ceramics class where I met Joseph Hysong, my instructor. It was he that took notice of my paintings and introduced me to Abstract Expressionism, showing me his art books. I was completely unaware that I had been working in a parallel universe, so to speak, as he noted my work resembled the work of some masters. Klee, Miro, Pollock, Kline, Johns; all these cats really moved me. Their confidence in movement and texture and line opened the door for me.
LB: When we are young – energy and drive are much easier to come by. As we age more intensely personal things must drive us instead. What keeps you painting – what drives you to get up and apply color to medium?
RRV: A deep-seated desire and need to create. I’m self-taught in virtually everything I do. Nobody taught me Bonsai, to make furniture, to garden, model making techniques, or to paint and draw, etc. So, it’s really all I know how to do, be creative. I set myself up by creating projects that I dutifully commit to. Frequently, I bite off more than I can chew. I always feel behind, therefore, I always have work waiting for me when I’m done.
LB: Are there any rules or a theory that you adhere to which governs your work?
RRV: None. Other than relax while I’m working. I also listen to music, they seem to go hand-in-hand.
LB: Do you feel the need to communicate with the outside world through your work or is your work more personal in nature? Do you ever take the “Pollock” road down to only the interiors of your mind?
RRV: A little bit of both I suppose. In my collage series, The Cardboard Jungle, I’m trying to engage the viewer in some dialogue. My paintings are more personal in nature, as they reflect my moods, and such, one can only draw the conclusion that I create from within and when it suits me, from the outside as well.
LB: Is your vision for your work delivered via the aggregation in your body of works or do you articulate it in individual works as well?
RRV: Again, a bit of both. I’m jolted awake, so to speak, by a great idea and I play off and expand old standards – mix and match, blend. Something really new gets to “hang around” a bit as I ponder it’s content, but the ideas present themselves in an almost mystical fashion. They just appear in my mind’s eye.
LB: Given the difficult road the art world has traversed in moving from schools which had geographic centers for artists to the decentralized model we see today where artist are for the most part on the road by themselves – does this ever bother or frustrate you?
RRV: Yes. I’ve always wanted to belong to a great movement. I tried to start a group in Monterey. People are too apathetic these days for that – or too selfish, or too paranoid, or too worried. Whatever.
LB: Do you see the evolution of art towards the individual artist and away from group think as a healthy thing or something different? Has this change provided challenges for you?
RRV: Well, in a way, no. I’ve always done my own thing, unaware of current trends. Ultimately it will all be sorted, categorized, etc. by art historians anyway, so I’m not too worried. I do miss the interaction, though.
LB: Because the Internet has provided a method for non-artists to show off their pictures – has this impacted your ability to gain traction with your work?
RRV: Absolutely. It has muddied the field. Art for art’s sake is what I say though. It does rile me, however, when I see some rookie asking $10,000 for essentially a bad cave painting.
LB: Do you feel that post post-modern art is heading in any particular direction?
RRV: It’s exploded into a billion pieces. If there is any direction at all, it must be digital art. Art will follow technology as they go hand in hand. Digital art has it’s problems though as people will forget “how” to paint manually and lose a physical connection to art that I believe is important.
LB: Given the new dynamic in art – do you have sounding boards for your work and ideas? If so who – if not – how to keep all of those ideas together in a single mind?
RRV: My wife is my sounding board, although she quite naturally tends to like “everything I do”, she has her favorites and will hint in a woman’s way. I’m an open liberal person. I love to share ideas. So much so that I have been robbed numerous times of “intellectual property”, so to speak.
LB: Do certain mediums appeal more to you than others? If so do you know why?
RRV: I like water on paper. It’s simple, clean, elemental.
LB: Are there any taboos for you, which you can not or will not render in you works?
RRV: Well, I don’t like to hold back, so, no.
LB: Your works have at times a distinctive political tension and feel. Are those expressions of your vision or frustrated responses to the greater world you live in?
RRV: Sheer frustration. Not regarding my work, but the world. We are a fundamentally insane species. On the other hand, there is a great amount of goodness in this world that I recognize and extoll in my work too.
LB: Is there a place for humor in your art or should we read all of your works as symbolically literal?
RRV: Oh, hell yes, everybody loves to laugh. It’s my tip of the hat to Frank Zappa, a major influence in my life, and humor in art has always been around. From musical farts in Mozart to ancient Chinese painting. It’s very important, and I can proudly say that I’ve seen people burst out laughing at my Cardboard Junglecollages, and notin a bad way. And, many of the titles of mu paintings express humor.
LB: Do you ever repeat themes? If not why do you think so many other artists have? If so how do you keep a repetitive theme fresh and vibrant personally?
RRV: Yes. Oh, man, yes. Spirals, microbes, fish, animals, water, triangles, skulls. I have a list somewhere. “Conceptual Continuity”. A theory of a creative idea linked over time to create a giant image or the visual “note”. Again, Zappa’s idea – he did it with music. I took that idea and applied it to visual art. Keeping them fresh is another story, I add to the list, subtly change them, but they’re always lurking around.
LB: Does your style ever change or put another way – do you ever get the urge to paint in a different style?
RRV: You know, I have no styles. And yet my work, for the most part, is pretty recognizable. I do work in many styles, whatever interests me. Someone once warned against this, but I’d rather be happy and interested than bored, grinding out the same crap my whole life.
Leo Boeckl: Did you always know you were going to be an artist? If not- what was the trigger event which propelled you down the road you have been traveling as an artist?
RR VAGNINI: At a relatively young age I exhibited artistic skills, and following my father’s advice about doing something you love for a living, I figured it was my best bet. I flunked art in high school so evidently I wasn’t too interested then. I think when I moved to California, the combination of my need to stay creative and loneliness, well, things just kind of fell into place.
LB: If artistic influences were not that trigger event – were there any artists who you found so compelling that their work so resonated with you and made you just want to pick up some color and immediately create?
RRV: Yes, once I entered college and I needed an elective, so I took a ceramics class where I met Joseph Hysong, my instructor. It was he that took notice of my paintings and introduced me to Abstract Expressionism, showing me his art books. I was completely unaware that I had been working in a parallel universe, so to speak, as he noted my work resembled the work of some masters. Klee, Miro, Pollock, Kline, Johns; all these cats really moved me. Their confidence in movement and texture and line opened the door for me.
LB: When we are young – energy and drive are much easier to come by. As we age more intensely personal things must drive us instead. What keeps you painting – what drives you to get up and apply color to medium?
RRV: A deep-seated desire and need to create. I’m self-taught in virtually everything I do. Nobody taught me Bonsai, to make furniture, to garden, model making techniques, or to paint and draw, etc. So, it’s really all I know how to do, be creative. I set myself up by creating projects that I dutifully commit to. Frequently, I bite off more than I can chew. I always feel behind, therefore, I always have work waiting for me when I’m done.
LB: Are there any rules or a theory that you adhere to which governs your work?
RRV: None. Other than relax while I’m working. I also listen to music, they seem to go hand-in-hand.
LB: Do you feel the need to communicate with the outside world through your work or is your work more personal in nature? Do you ever take the “Pollock” road down to only the interiors of your mind?
RRV: A little bit of both I suppose. In my collage series, The Cardboard Jungle, I’m trying to engage the viewer in some dialogue. My paintings are more personal in nature, as they reflect my moods, and such, one can only draw the conclusion that I create from within and when it suits me, from the outside as well.
LB: Is your vision for your work delivered via the aggregation in your body of works or do you articulate it in individual works as well?
RRV: Again, a bit of both. I’m jolted awake, so to speak, by a great idea and I play off and expand old standards – mix and match, blend. Something really new gets to “hang around” a bit as I ponder it’s content, but the ideas present themselves in an almost mystical fashion. They just appear in my mind’s eye.
LB: Given the difficult road the art world has traversed in moving from schools which had geographic centers for artists to the decentralized model we see today where artist are for the most part on the road by themselves – does this ever bother or frustrate you?
RRV: Yes. I’ve always wanted to belong to a great movement. I tried to start a group in Monterey. People are too apathetic these days for that – or too selfish, or too paranoid, or too worried. Whatever.
LB: Do you see the evolution of art towards the individual artist and away from group think as a healthy thing or something different? Has this change provided challenges for you?
RRV: Well, in a way, no. I’ve always done my own thing, unaware of current trends. Ultimately it will all be sorted, categorized, etc. by art historians anyway, so I’m not too worried. I do miss the interaction, though.
LB: Because the Internet has provided a method for non-artists to show off their pictures – has this impacted your ability to gain traction with your work?
RRV: Absolutely. It has muddied the field. Art for art’s sake is what I say though. It does rile me, however, when I see some rookie asking $10,000 for essentially a bad cave painting.
LB: Do you feel that post post-modern art is heading in any particular direction?
RRV: It’s exploded into a billion pieces. If there is any direction at all, it must be digital art. Art will follow technology as they go hand in hand. Digital art has it’s problems though as people will forget “how” to paint manually and lose a physical connection to art that I believe is important.
LB: Given the new dynamic in art – do you have sounding boards for your work and ideas? If so who – if not – how to keep all of those ideas together in a single mind?
RRV: My wife is my sounding board, although she quite naturally tends to like “everything I do”, she has her favorites and will hint in a woman’s way. I’m an open liberal person. I love to share ideas. So much so that I have been robbed numerous times of “intellectual property”, so to speak.
LB: Do certain mediums appeal more to you than others? If so do you know why?
RRV: I like water on paper. It’s simple, clean, elemental.
LB: Are there any taboos for you, which you can not or will not render in you works?
RRV: Well, I don’t like to hold back, so, no.
LB: Your works have at times a distinctive political tension and feel. Are those expressions of your vision or frustrated responses to the greater world you live in?
RRV: Sheer frustration. Not regarding my work, but the world. We are a fundamentally insane species. On the other hand, there is a great amount of goodness in this world that I recognize and extoll in my work too.
LB: Is there a place for humor in your art or should we read all of your works as symbolically literal?
RRV: Oh, hell yes, everybody loves to laugh. It’s my tip of the hat to Frank Zappa, a major influence in my life, and humor in art has always been around. From musical farts in Mozart to ancient Chinese painting. It’s very important, and I can proudly say that I’ve seen people burst out laughing at my Cardboard Junglecollages, and notin a bad way. And, many of the titles of mu paintings express humor.
LB: Do you ever repeat themes? If not why do you think so many other artists have? If so how do you keep a repetitive theme fresh and vibrant personally?
RRV: Yes. Oh, man, yes. Spirals, microbes, fish, animals, water, triangles, skulls. I have a list somewhere. “Conceptual Continuity”. A theory of a creative idea linked over time to create a giant image or the visual “note”. Again, Zappa’s idea – he did it with music. I took that idea and applied it to visual art. Keeping them fresh is another story, I add to the list, subtly change them, but they’re always lurking around.
LB: Does your style ever change or put another way – do you ever get the urge to paint in a different style?
RRV: You know, I have no styles. And yet my work, for the most part, is pretty recognizable. I do work in many styles, whatever interests me. Someone once warned against this, but I’d rather be happy and interested than bored, grinding out the same crap my whole life.
©RR VAGNINI © RICK R VAGNINI All rights reserved
