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Small Tree 01 2014, United States Currency, Currency Ink Dust, 48" x 49"
How did you get into debt?
Putting studio and living expenses on Credit Cards have become a way to continue working despite income shortfalls. However: it only takes a year or so to lose control of that.
My Favorite Flag Pole, 2007, Oil on Currency, Currency Ink Dust in Pipettes, Hickory, YellowHeart, and Canary Hardwoods, 10.75" x 8.25"
How does your economic reality effect your art?
It affects projects with material and fabrication needs; which for me would be, paint, canvas, stretcher materials, hardwoods, film, processing supplies, etc.) The trick there is finding creative alternatives when the ideal method isn't available. It also creates a hierarchy of projects - those that I can afford to do now, and those that must be done in increments as finances allow not unlike passenger jets patiently waiting for takeoff on a tarmac. I have some projects that are 5 years in that queue. I don't want to complain, but there is a sense of momentum loss and missed creative opportunities when the execution of an idea encounters too many obstacles.
What Do You Live For? Grover Cleveland, 2015, Oil on Currency, Shittim Wood from the Sinai Desert, Madagascar Ebony, Poison Wood, Snake Wood, 10.75" x 8.25"
Would your work look different if you weren't in debt?:
The debt that I have has an emotional and intellectual weight and affects the choices that I make. The emotional component is a sense of failure. The intellectual component is a creeping lack of self confidence. Nothing kills inspiration or success faster than a lack of confidence. So, hell yeah, my work would look different without debt.
Twin Trees, 2013, United States Currency, Currency Ink dust, 107" x 81"
www.robinclark.com