The COMP Magazine Darrell Roberts - The Intuitive Traveller

At present, Darrell Roberts is most likely on a plane in transit to his next aesthetic frontier. In recent years, this artist has traveled extensively to various residencies around the globe, while maintaining a serious art practice here in Chicago. The COMP Magazine caught up with Roberts in his overwhelmingly packed studio to discuss his current home base of operations, what’s going on in his head, the importance of intuition and going with one’s gut instinct, and where he may be off to next.

Darrell Roberts, Untitled, from Small Excavations, 2014

Darrell Roberts, untitled sculpture from Small Excavations, acrylic on plaster, roughly 8″x10″, 2013

You’re originally from Iowa, yet have lived in Chicago since the late 1990s. Has the city or any individuals you’ve encountered impacted the way you think about and produce your work?

Since grad school, architecture has been a major influence on my artwork. My studios were on the 14th and 16th floor of the 112 Michigan avenue building and I documented the construction of Millennium Park during those years. I continue to continuously document construction sites throughout the city. I never feel influenced by anyone, usually only annoyed by the people of Chicago.

Darrell Roberts, Lakeshore Drive, oil on canvas, 12″x12″x2″, 2013

Your studio is jam packed with an array of artifacts, detritus, paintings, and sculptures (completed and in-process). Simply put, the environment is rather overwhelming. In our conversation, you described your space as similar to what’s going on in your head. Can you share with us how the organization of your studio reflects your process or means for thinking about art?

I am constantly stimulated by visual sensations and travel, those hundreds of thousands of images are stored in my mind and it can be overwhelming to process. I work on many projects over the course of months so I can let some projects rest and think about them in my subconscious while constantly producing new work. I must constantly create to keep stable or the build up of energy would be terrifying and detrimental. I have many workstations in my studio, one for oil painting, a couple for drawing and sculpture making. I make thousands of works on paper and hundreds of paintings each year. I also create plaster sculptures and other assemblages using a variety of materials. I often do not know what or why I am creating but I rely on my subconscious and intuition to guide me and it is never wrong. When I am creating, I can create for hours at a time. I leave my body in a metaphysical sense. The energy flows from me, leaving the top of my head and circling back into me through my genitals. I can paint and create for 18 hours at a time a not be consciously aware of my surroundings, where I am or who I am. Then in a fleeting moment, like twilight the energy is gone. I am back into my consciousness and my creative output for the day/night has ended.

Darrell Roberts, untitled sculpture from Small Excavations, acrylic on plaster,
roughly 8″x10″, 2013

Is there a specific aesthetic approach or philosophy that consistently permeates your artistic production?

I paint from my gut, I do not use my brain. It is intuition. I have studied my craft and Art History so much I do not need to think about it anymore. For me painting is easy and enjoyable. Painting is not hard work. It is a luxury and privilege. I was lucky that by circumstances, chance and DNA to be born with a talent for painting. Hard work is construction work, minimum labor jobs and living in poverty.

Darrell Roberts, Untitled, Linea De Costa Residency, from Cadiz, Spain, 2015

Darrell Roberts, Landscapes, Beijing, China, oil pastel on paper, 2015

Where do you see the intersection between your sculptural works and two-dimensional works? Do these efforts parallel or compliment each other or does each work tend to be a self-contained system?

My small scale paintings are sculptural like, with 6-8 layers, globs of painting flowing over the edges and off the canvases. In my sculptural pieces I was interested in the plastic trash I was throwing away and how there is a decorative pattern in it that corporations spend millions or even billions of dollars on in branding their products. I was amazed how most people don’t even notice it and just toss the waste in the trash. I collected my plastic trash for a year, cast it and then not knowing what to do with it I destroyed it with a hammer because it seemed too didactic. I then reassembled the broken pieces. Some were left white form the plaster while others had elements of acrylic paint added to them. It was a deeper investigation for me to create these pieces and make things that felt right, with the right texture, form and balance. It related more to my study of the razing and constructing of buildings along with my interest in the study of Art History, Architecture and Archaeology. During my undergrad education at the University of Northern Iowa I spent a summer on an archaeology dig in Ashkelon, Israel, visited the Al Khazneh in Petra, Jordan and the Acropolis in Athens, Greece. My sculptural pieces are called Small Excavations and are like contemporary ruins to me.

Darrell Roberts, untitled sculpture from Small Excavations, acrylic on plaster, roughly 8″x10″, 2013

Darrell Roberts, Conservatory – Lincoln Park, oil on canvas, 12″x12″x2″, 2013

You’ve been doing a number of residencies in recent years. I believe most recently, you were in southern Spain, and before this you worked in China and India. Do you see any obvious shifts in the work you produce and how you interact cerebrally?

Travel is a necessity in life. I would have been one of the early Homo Sapiens who walked out of Africa in a past life. I must explore and know what is out there. That is what living life is about. Every culture experience directly changes my work, that is what keeps it alive and fresh. I study the sense of color and light all over the world. The clothing, food, markets, and the way light reflects on water and the buildings directly influences my art making and the color choices I make for my paintings. I have bodies of works from the studios in different countries I work in that are solely influenced from my cultural experiences in those specific countries.

Darrell Roberts, Abstractions, Beijing, China, watercolor and gouache on paper, 2015

What are you currently working upon? Do you have any specific projects in the works for 2016?

I have no idea what 2016 will bring. I applied to forty or fifty residencies and grants that I am waiting to hear back from. My life is always in flux and a state of not knowing. I live life in the moment and passionately.