One of the great privileges of my career is to catch an artist in the midst of a historical milestone and actively talk about it. Richard Downs is transforming his work, and taking all of the best bits of his creative experiences over the years to apply it into an immense sculpture commission.
(Above, Richard Downs, The Family, Oils on Birch Panel).
Richard Downs is multi-disciplined artist studio-artist based in Northern California who actively works as a painter, printmaker and sculptor. Richard is also an artist who I’ve had the honor to collaborate with since the mid 90s and most recently, a sculptural commission.
Richard Downs creates work out of his fixed curiosity, often pursuing foreign ground in pursuit of solving much larger visual problems. So large, in fact, that he has expanded his workspace under a canopy of trees where project attributes of density and scale can grow well-beyond the confines of his studio.
(Above, Walking Man, Bronze). Recently, I caught up to Richard Downs and happy to share:
mM : Richard, when did you discover your love for sculpture?
After High School in the late 70’s I got involved into the Southern California Car customization scene and I started airbrushing custom cars, dragsters, drag boats and low ridders and just about anything that was cool with a surface to paint on with an owner with a little bit of money.
(Above, Mark Murphy Wire Commission Study, 2014).
I did Kandy Apple and Metallic Micro Sequin paint jobs, (picture heavy metal flaked bowling balls of the 70’s). The real paint jobs and true customizing started with the cutting up of cars and pushing them out of their original design — like what
George Barris did with customization — the Batmobile and the Munsters Coach, (from the television series, above).
We all had dreams of being the next Barris. In the late 70s I bought a used 1972 Opel GT for $900.00 and cut it all up, flared the fenders and designed a giant air dam for the front. I removed the side windows and put in scoop’s. I built it all out of brazed sheet metal and I finished it without any instruction or advice except for my Dad who taught me how to braze.
My Dad was a civil engineer and had a complete machine and wood shop at the house. Luckily, I had access to all these cool fabrication tools growing up. In fact, I discovered my love for sculpture during this time, along with my school kid dreams of going on to become the next
George Barris in automotive design. I set my goals at attending Art Center College of Design in the Transportation Design Department and started AC in 1980 but quickly switched everything around after orientation day.
mM : What artist of the past inspire you? Do you reference the spirit of Calder when you are transforming braided wire into human form?
As a kid studying art history I knew of
Alexander Calder’s wire portraits and I really liked them in a novelty sort of way. Calder was such a better artist then those wire studies and he did pave the road for anyone working in wire today. My favorite work from
Calder was his Cirque (1926–31).
My main influences in sculpture are
Ossip Zadkine and
Henry Moore. Pictured above, Zadkine influenced my printmaking and my drawing style too, immediately, from day one after I stumbled upon an obscure book of his work at Powell’s Books in Portland back in the 90s.
What I continue to appreciate so much about Moore is that all of his work was based on the human form. There were only three recurring themes throughout all of his massive output: The “Mother and Child” series, the “Reclining Figure” series and the interior/exterior human forms. If you haven’t looked at Moore’s work in a while, go look at any large coffee table book collection of his work and you will see that he is unmatched in proportion in sculpture.
mM : What was the environment of Art Center like when you attended school there? Who are some of your other class mates still practicing in the field?
I loved my time at Art Center and looking back it was a time in education when analog was still king and education was built upon a model that hadn’t really changed in hundreds of years. Reflecting, we enjoyed that last point before the digital revolution so all of our instructors were rooted in the past and the training was very academic and classic.
(Above, Richard Downs, Woman, Falling Man, Bronze).
Harry Carmean and
Burne Hogarth were teaching there and it really felt magical, inspiring looking back today. Only a handful of my classmates are still in the business. And although I did teach at Art Center in the Illustration department from 1987 - 1993, many of the students I taught have gone on to be household names as Illustrators and fine artists.
mM : Share with us a little bit more about your most recent commission, translating your sculptural sensibilities into steel and an outdoor installation:
This private commission is in its fabrication phase right now as we speak. When you build a building you can’t just build the building and be done with it. A building takes what I’d like to imagine 4 phases: design, approval of design, construction and the last phase —manufacturing— the final finish and habitation/occupancy.
(Above, Richard Downs, concept developments 1 and 2).
This sculpture is a monster and requires a lot of time working with my clients for approval on design, keeping everything within a certain budget; their unique location and site plan; and finally — fabrication and the engineering of a concrete pedestal, transportation of the work to the Bay Area, and the installation. (Richard shared with me too, that he acquired special cutting tools and consulted with different artists and firms on assembly techniques).
So many tasks on this job are completely new and I am learning on the fly. This sculpture project has been so inspiring because there’s so much at stake and its personally invigorating to feel accountable as the fabricator/artist/designer.
Surprisingly, I love the physical feeling about the risks involved. You don’t get this type of feeling when creating work to hang on walls. I never got hurt or risked personal injury at anytime during my career as a printmaker and image maker, except for maybe a paper cut. This project has me feeling alive, at risk, and right now and I’m having the time of my career!
Richard Downs, goes on to describe his mammoth project, “Those pics of the giant model are to actual size so I can unclip all of the cardboard shapes and pull the pieces apart and trace the shapes to plasma cut all of the steel. The final art will be modular and riveted/bolted together like a steel suspension bridge so there will be no need for a crane during installation. This piece is a homage to my Dad who was a civil engineer for SCE and he designed many steel bridges throughout his career. We are cutting steel right now and it’s really a thrilling and inspiring commission.”
We can’t wait to see what happens. Looking forward to sharing the final results soon. Thank you Richard Downs for sharing your creative insight and taking time out.
Richard Downs is a painter, printmaker and sculptor and exhibits for galleries and museums. Check out
more of his work here,
gallery work here.
(Richard Downs, Wall Mounted, Braided Wire, 2014).
