Dave Rogers

Sitting at his easel, in his well light and canvas packed studio, Dave Rogers a New York Based International Neo-Contemporary Artist works on one of some twenty paintings waiting to be finished. Like most painters his studio is filled with the smell of turpenoid and the sound of music, sometimes Jazz and at other times Classis Rock. Once the paintings are finished they are left to dry before being hung in the viewing area of his studio for friends, collectors, and gallerist to view when they visit.

Interview with artist Dave Rogers —

1. So why art?
I have always been an artist. From the time that I can pick up a pencil I have been creating art. I just knew it was what I was meant to do. When I was ten I went to my mother and said that I wanted to be an artist when I grew up. She took me to Washington Square Park where many people were sitting around drawing people for $5.00 a drawing. She said if I became an artist this would be my life. To me that was the dream, doing what I loved and getting paid for it. Many years later I learned there is a lot more to being an artist, but the principle still holds, getting paid to do what I love.

2. How do you work and approach your subjects?
Like many artists I have studied under I look at my art as more than something I do, but an extension of me and my views on life. I spend between 10-12 hours a day in my studio working on my paintings. Early on in my carrier I got some great advice from a mentor, and that was to treat my art like a job, and that is what I do. Because there are stages to my paintings, I work my studio like an assembly line, rotating canvases on and off the easel, and doing things in the same way from painting to painting. It allows me to create larger bodies of work, but more than that it keeps a consistency to my work, which is very important in the art world. I approach my subjects in the same way, so that they are organized and relevant to what I am doing.

3. What are your favorite subjects and media?
When it comes to subjects I don’t like to stick to just one, or a few, I always look for a new way to approach life from different angles. It is something that I have always believed in, and for that I tell people that I believe that even ordinary life can be immortalized through art. Currently I am working on a musician series, a political series and an urban landscape series, but I also enjoy doing still life, portraits and will work on a series just for an event sometimes. I think when an artist is open to many views of life their work is all the more richer. As for media, while I love to explore different media, I am traditionally an old school oil painter. What I mean by that is the fact that I still make my own colors and shades using just the basic of materials. I can create some 28 different shades of green just from using the basic pigments.

4. What are your favorite art works, and artists who have influenced your work?
Early on in my carrier before I really understood what art was I was luck enough to meet three artists who had a great influence on my work. Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein and Keith Haring. As I got older and started really studying art, and its transformation through history, I became even more influenced by the great artists of the Bauhaus, the Blue Rider Group, and the Impressionism periods of art. The use of strong lines and vibrant colors has always interested me in their art, and has transferred to what I am doing today. As for works of art, there are just to many that have had a lasting impression on me to list. I am an avid studier and student of art, and am always looking at works of art from all over the world in different periods of time. I find myself constantly amazed at what has been created through the history of humans.

5. What are the best responses you have had to your work?
I have had some great response to my work, and that is because over the last couple of years I have found that one thing that makes my work stand out from other work I am seeing. When an artist loves what they are doing and believes in their work it shows in the quality of work they are putting out. Just recently a work of mine was hanging in an art fair in Korea, and someone bought one of my pieces just 5 minutes into the fair. That tells me that they could see the dedication and hard work that I put into what I am doing. For an artist that is the best compliment you can get, when someone enjoys your work enough that they have to have it before anyone else has a chance too.

6. What advice would you give to other artists?
There is so much advice I want to give up and coming artists out there today, mostly because I feel that there are just not that many true mentors in the art world like there use to be. The main ideas I would put across are:

a. Don’t rush it; while there are some artists who get noticed faster than others, for the most part, success in art does not happen over night. It might take you 10, 15 even 20 years or more to find your niche in the art market.

b.  Be consistent in your work, I am talking about style here not materials or medias. If you are creating too

many different styles of art people will not know what you are trying to say with your work.

c. Have a great body of work. If you are trying to get your work into a gallery but only have a few works to show you will not get into anything serious. Galleries want to know that you have work that can sustain you for at least a year.

d. Be able to talk about your art and where it fits into the art world. If you don’t know why you do art, or what your art is about why would anyone want to show your work? Being an artist is more than just making art, it is about knowledge of art and your place in its history.

e. Lastly remember that art is a business. If you are hoping people will buy your work you have to think like a salesperson. People are buying you, not just what you are making.

7. Where do you see yourself in 5-10 years?
It is hard to say where anyone would be. Like many artists who want to be that artist I set goals for myself. My plan is to be doing what I am doing now, just at a higher level. Exhibiting in Chelsea, and Museums, and having a gallery representing me to a larger market.

Dave Rogers

LINKS —

 
Website:  Davesartstudio.co/
Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/Daves.Studio
Twitter:  https://twitter.com/davesartstudio
Email:  Daves-Studio@live.com