Sculpture Installation - "12 Sunsets"

After nearly two years of starts, stops, and delays, my new sculpture “12 Sunsets” finally got installed in West Los Angeles, CA. I took photographs of sunsets in different cities from my travels, and layered exposures from one of my paintings to create the imagery. It spins around a steel rod to catch the light. I like the idea that no matter where you go in our tribalized, polarized planet, no matter what color, creed or religion we are, the sun shines and sets on us the same. Our divisions are all human made. Thank you Ren Gallery and Hudson Pacific Properties for your vision and commitment to making this happen.

I Keep Thinking...

“I Keep Thinking If I Keep Thinking, I’ll Figure It Out.” The title is taken from one of my poems. Figuring things out. Finding meaning, has always been a hot topic for me. When you’re a 16 year old, depressed, drug addicted child of divorce, existential questions have a way of surfacing. What the hell am I doing here? Why bother?

We all make choices about what’s important to us, and where our meaning in life comes from. Time on earth goes pretty quick. Even if it feels like eternity sometimes. What am I going to do with this time?

When the Trees Stop Talking

How we see our world isn't really about what it is. It's about how we see it. What we tell ourselves about it. One day I can look at a tree and say, "nice tree," or even ignore it. And the next I could have a revelatory experience and feel connected to the source of all that is. It's about what I'm open to. What I allow myself to see.

So many of the issues I see in the world stem from how we're seeing the world. Not the raw materials of what it is. From there it gets messy.

From my early days kicking a drug habit in my teens, searching for meaning and a reason to live, I've always been on the hunt for those revelatory moments, that sort of reveal the matrix.

This pic is from an excerpt from a book I'm working on. If you'd like a free digital copy of the excerpt, send me a note through my contact page and I’ll send it to you.

My Installation Opening

I had such a great time at the opening for my show at The Los Angeles Art Association this weekend. It’s one thing to feel good about work and excited about the potential of something I’m doing. It’s another to be able to watch people experience it and discuss it. I really enjoyed all of the great comments and being able to share my work in 3 mediums. Amazingly, this show is somewhat similar in concept to the idea I had 14 years ago that started me in this journey to make visual art. I had an idea for a show and couldn’t find the right artist to make the work. So I got the idea to do it myself.

I didn’t have the skill or confidence at the time, so it wound up on the back burner. And here we are :)

How Do I Stay Inspired?

Staying inspired can be tricky. I get asked about this a lot. It's easy to look back sometimes and long for the good old days. When things were simpler. When life was simpler.

I've been pretty fortunate. From my early music days until now, I've always had this sense that my best days are in front of me...that my best work is in front of me. And even though I had some success in music early in my life, it was just the beginning of my creative and internal journey.

I've always been inspired by artists on museum walls who can reach out of the past, sometimes hundreds of years, and create magic inside me. Introduce me to a part of myself that I either didn't know was there, or lost touch with.

When I'm making my artwork, I try to tap into things that transcend time. Our environment and technologies change, but the human condition is timeless.

I found this in my studio today. It's a test I did when I was making my "I Got This" series a few years ago. I blew right past this idea at the time, but now that I look at it with a few more years in the rear view, I really like it!

What If You're Wrong?

Rob Grad Layered Collage

This is a new poem I’m working on:

What if you’re wrong?
I know
You’re not
I’m just sayin’
You could be

I mean
We could be
Wrong

You and me
Even on things
We agree

Crack a book
Or turn on the news
A hundred different people
Say a hundred different things
And everybody’s sure
They’re right

Beliefs are contagious
And that should enrage us
Because the truth is
What’s true today
Might feel right
But it’s not for the ages

They were sure
The sun was a God
Before Galileo discovered the solar system

They were sure the best way to keep food cold
Was a block of ice
Until Oliver Evans invented the refrigerator

And I was sure
My ex-girlfriend left
Because she didn’t love me

Looking back
It’s easy to see
Where bridges collapse
And turns went awry
You can’t unturn on a light
Every change that comes
Comes from being
Tired enough
To be inspired
To set aside
What once was a given
And reach higher

We climb the backs
Of our ancestors
For a better view
And I hope we always do
Because no matter
How clever we are
Or how much
We think we know
Our future selves
Will undoubtedly
See us now

As rather dim witted

Refinding Inspiration and Magic

I went to make a Valentines Day post and got sidetracked…and inspired.

Presidential Speech - Voter Fraud Concerns

This is what a GOP President could have said months ago, leading into an election where his party was concerned about voter fraud.

A New Father, Covid, and a World Gone Mad

Covid is awful
The politics of it
Is even worse

When did the news
Become news?
It shouldn’t be that way
Politicians
Shouldn’t be so infuriating
And entertaining
Just relevant

I don’t need more
To be pissed off at
Life is hard enough
Without jokers
At the helm

This country is too big
With too many varying viewpoints
For either the right
Or the left
To take over
If “us"
And “them"
Can’t figure it out together
Tougher times lie ahead

But with everyone hunkered down
In bunkers
There’s barely a fight
Just insulated tribes
Swearing they're right

I want to be able to discuss
And respect
To work from the premise
There may be a better way
Neither of us have thought of
Yet

But that’s not where we are today
And I don’t know how to get there from here

When my daughter smiles at me
I feel like I did something
Worthwhile
Maybe that’s enough
For today

I don’t plan to post much
About my girl
So many of you
My friends
Have been where I am now

My fresh revelations
Are old news to you
But she’s part of my journey now
Artistically and otherwise
So she’ll get included
From time to time

By default

Confucius Says...

Don’t you love it when an idea pops in your head and something clicks? It happened to me the other day. I’m sitting there doing a meditation / creative visualization technique I do to pick up new ideas and get guidance, and this quote comes into my head by Confucius:
“The green reed which bends in the wind is stronger than the mighty oak which breaks in a storm.”
It occurred to me that this quote is so relevant to not only the asinine political culture of the US, but it related to my artwork as well. If we’re not flexible, we’ll snap. And right now, America is snapping. It’s nature. It’s philosophy. It’s simple wisdom.

When I was a kid I didn’t worship musicians because I loved music so much. I liked the music, but what really attracted me was that the musicians were the prophets. Philosophers. They didn’t live by the same rules as everyone else. They lived hard and had something to report back to the rest of us. And when I felt that element become more rare in mainstream music, I moved on.
I’m working on an art project proposal where I have to talk about my artwork. Explain it without explaining it. It’s not an easy thing to do. All artists struggle with it. This quote clarified something for me that I’ve been searching for. And in understanding that connection so much more clearly, I feel like shackles have been taken off.
I guess being a new dad during Covid has given me a little extra time to think.

Independence Day

My grandfather fought in WWII, fighting against authoritarianism and genocide, to protect the freedom we enjoy today. I’m forever grateful. His unit was one of the first Allied units to enter and liberate Auschwitz. I could never get him to talk much about it. All he’d say was the horrors he witnessed were beyond words.
His generation made a huge sacrifice for us. He only enlisted because he got drafted. He didn’t volunteer. The government forced him to give up his freedom for more than 3 years, to protect our freedom today.
Freedom is not an absolute value. I try to remember that sometimes I have to sacrifice my short term comfort for the bigger picture and the greater good. Happy 4th!!!!

What the President Should've Said

After hearing the President's disappointing speech on Monday, I wrote and delivered one of my own. It expresses what I wish a President would say in response to the killings of George Floyd, Amaud Arbery and Breonna Taylor and the subsequent civil uprising.

Wall Sculpture Mural Installation

After 18 months of work, my 32' wall sculpture mural "I Could Sit Here All Day" was installed over two days in Brentwood, CA. The piece was commissioned by Hudson Pacific Properties through REN Gallery in Los Angeles. I made this video documenting the install process. It was quite the production!

Artly Owl Interview

This is a great interview with Elise Boivin from Artly Owl, an art consulting company in the Bay area. Wonderful agency. Wonderful questions. Really enjoyed the conversation. Thanks Elise!
https://www.artlyowl.com/apps/search?q=rob+grad

Staying Safe and Sane (hopefully)

I hope this finds you and your family healthy and well. We are going through an experience right now that they will write chapters about in the history books of the future.  Living in Los Angeles, I’ve lived through quite a few extreme moments in history…earthquakes, riots, fires and mass shootings. But this is a first. This time it’s planetary. Usually when the entire world is involved, it’s for a war, where one part of the planet is pitted against another. 

This time, we’re all on the same side. For years now, our political figures, social and news media have been driving wedges between us for their own benefit, whether it be to get elected, for money, or ratings. It occurred to me that this virus is like a physical manifestation of that wedge. As if in some universal way, our divisive thoughts have become reality. COVID-19 has literally put a 6 foot wedge between us. Yet, as disastrous as this ordeal has been, people are reaching out, across the divide. They’re coming out of retirement to help the healthcare workers. Donating time, money and resources. Consoling the sick and those who’ve lost, or just reaching out to make someone smile.

Ellie and I have watched a ton of uplifting Instagram Live broadcasts (even did a few of my own on IG Live), and we’ve attended “cocktail parties” with friends on Zoom. FaceTime. HouseParty. Old-fashioned telephone and email. I miss those live interactions with my parents and friends, as I’m sure you do. I didn’t realize how many seemingly insignificant visits I took for granted on a daily basis. With projects on hold and stay-at-home orders, I really thought I’d use this time for some new accelerated creative output. But I haven’t felt like it. Instead, I've gone inward, using this time to get centered and check in with myself. For me, this is a reset. It seems like perhaps a larger reset is in play here as well.

Thank you for sharing this journey with me—of creativity, and living our best lives.

Nothing Between Us. Except Us.

I forget it sometimes. This experience with the Coronavirus has reminded me that it's mostly ideas and beliefs that separate us. Nothing else. As we're physically separated, in some ways I feel more connected. 

Late Bloomer

I used to get a little sad after the holidays ended. During the holidays, life is a little more...lifey...I’d continue to do my regular routines, jobs, etc. but there’d be an additional thread running through that pervades everything. Celebration. Happiness. A focus on “things that matter.” Then Jan 1 would inevitably come and I’d be left with my routine again. Which, for many years, wasn’t my ideal life. 

2019 was different. I put all my chips on the table. I doubled down. On my investment in myself and my art. Financially, spiritually, and otherwise. I don’t know where the road goes from here, but I couldn’t have done it any other way. 

I make things as a way to share something that is so near and dear to me, so subtle, yet carries literally where I find meaning in my life, every day. Stories of what it feels like to be alive. Really alive. With you. Because that’s where I want to live. It’s an ideal, of course, as I waste more time on ridiculous crap than I wish. But this is a process. And I’m still learning. 

I think I’m a late bloomer. Better than dying on the vine having never really seen the sun. 

Wishing you a beautiful 2020, with clarity, health, happiness, and peace. Thank you for sharing this journey with me. 

LA Weekly Interview

This is an interview I did recently with Shana Nys Dambrot for the LA Weekly.

https://www.laweekly.com/meet-an-artist-monday-rob-grad/

The Show

Contemporary art poem

Fog is my favorite
It imposes itself
On the morning
Takes over
Without force
No vote
No coup
No violent takeover
No threats
Or bribes
It just moves in

Unignorable

I can see in front of me
But the distance is shrouded
In a cloud
Faint and fuzzy
Like God hasn’t decided
Exactly what to do with me
Yet
Which calamities and coincidences
To send my way
Which version of today
To let unfold
I can see behind me
But not too far
Like memories that are
Better left forgotten
I think
Of driving up the foggy coast to Big Sur
To visit my stepbrother
He was the first person I met
Who watched the sun set as an activity
He’d say
“I’ll meet you at the turnout
The one by the library
At 5:30
For the show”

It’s up there
The sun
I know it
But I can’t see it
This syrupy mist is playing hide and seek
And then it’s gone
Burns away in minutes

Mural Project Update

We're plugging away on my 32' layered mural going up soon in Brentwood, CA. After almost a year, it feels good to see it coming together. Lots of logistical challenges, but we're making it through. Can't wait to see it on the wall!