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

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.

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!

Beginning work on the mural project

I am creating a small scale model of the mural project in order to work out some engineering issues. Also, I expected a few surprises when I got it off the screen and into 3D space...and I got them! A few logistics to work out, but here's a peak at the way the shapes will be working together.

New Large Scale Commission Project Approved!

I have a new large scale commission project that just got approved. So I began work on it this week. Which means...running all over LA picking up supplies. It's a glamorous life…sometimes :)

Inspired by a Lack of Inspiration

Sometimes I still fall into the trap of romanticizing my idea of being an “artist.” Living from mindblowing inspiration to inspiration. Getting struck by an idea, sitting down, and cranking it out. It's all so magical and effortless in my mind.  

Yet I find that to be the exception and not the rule. 

The past few weeks I’ve been uninspired. Balled up like a pile of lint.

Yet somehow my productivity has been unaffected. The longer I make art, the more it becomes clear that my feelings about my work are unrelated to the quality or quantity of what I do.

My art happens in spite of me.

I needed something new for an upcoming event. So I sat down with a blank screen, a blank canvas, some plexiglass, and my library of photos. 

I remembered a songwriter telling me once that he never suffered from writers’ block because he’d just write a song about it. I thought that was brilliant. And it stuck with me.

So I decided to make a piece that was inspired by a lack of inspiration.

And it worked.

Like it does every time.

Lately existential questions have reared their heads once again. What really matters? And my usual answers haven’t sufficed. 

Something happened. Something changed. What exactly? Me. While I wasn’t looking. Now I’m trying to catch up with myself.

People say we don’t change, but I believe if we’re living right, we do strip away layers of ourselves we've piled on for protection. And as those layers disappear, our views, beliefs and motivations evolve.

It’s like I walked into a big room where no one turned on the light yet. It’s still dark, but I have a sense that the walls are further away than they were. My shuffling feet echo. It’s colder. Refreshing. But since it's still dark in there, I have no idea where I am or what’s in the room. 

Sometimes I have to step out of the game to get some perspective. Find a new entry point. A better one. That’s me today. Watching from the sidelines, assessing, setting up my next move. 

And I’m painting my way through it.

Patterns, art, and the solution to all life's problems

My bag of childhood memories mainly consists of the typical variety…a few heartbreaks, a couple key successes, failures, a bunch of “firsts” (first kiss, first love, etc.) and a few outliers. As I was working on new art for my “Overthrow the Quo” exhibit, one of those outliers popped into mind as particularly relevant. The work in progress photo above (you can see the final piece here), features a background pattern.

While I was making it, I got to thinking about patterns and why I'm attracted to them. Then I flashed on a memory of my father handing me the owners manual for his brand new 1979 black BMW 733i. We always had enough money to eat and houses to live in, but I don’t remember any extra cash for indulgences. My father was commuting over 2 hours a day at the time and needed a car that was comfortable and he could count on. In 1979, most autos still weren’t all that reliable. He handed me the manual and asked me to figure out how the dial worked for the air conditioner. I scoured the page. I thought long and hard. I analyzed which direction the arrows pointed on the dial, and how that affected which vents the air flow came out of.

Eventually I figured out, as you turned the dial downward, the air would come out the lower vents by your feet. My feathers plumed as I explained my discovery to my father. He seemed moderately impressed, and said thank you, but didn’t gush as much as I'd hoped. That’s when I realized he probably never really needed my help at all. He just thought it’d be a good exercise for me. He was right. Still proud, feeling smart, and slightly disappointed, the event sparked an interest in pattern recognition for me which has lasted a good part of my life. And it serves me in almost everything I do.

Music is built on patterns.

Art. 

Patterns.

Trying to understand physics and the universe I live in. 

Patterns.

Relationships. Driving. Computer programming. 

Patterns.

My thoughts and behaviors...the big two.

Patterns.

Recognizing and applying patterns. That's how I store information. That's how I learn. If I want to make a change or alter the course of my life, my success entirely depends on whether or not I can recognize and address the pattern of thinking that got me there.

All of the artwork in this series is about recognizing and questioning my patterns of thinking whether it relates to me personally, or my view of society, politics, and the world we live in.Abandoning autopilot. The complicated deliciousness of self awareness. 

A peak at work in progress for my upcoming show

I don't always have much work in progress to share, since my process all comes together right at the last minute, but I have one today. A sneak peak at my show coming up at Fabrik Projects in Los Angeles. Opens Jan. 5.

One of My Favorite Tom Waits Songs (...and a confession)

I took a break while waiting for a coat of varnish to dry on a piece for my upcoming show at Fabrik Projects in Culver City, CA to play one of my favorite Tom Waits songs...and confess why I haven't posted an update in awhile.

I Keep Thinking I Should Stop Thinking

Emerging Artist Rob Grad Mixed Media

I studied Buddhism when I was younger and was always fascinated by the Buddhist koans. Short poems made to short circuit the logical mind and open an opportunity to experience an enlightened state. Much of my interest in music and art stems from this same idea.

Essentially to bypass the gatekeeper in my head. This piece is from a new series in progress. I'm still working out exactly where it's going. This is the my favorite part of the process. There is a path ahead, but I'm not sure where it's exactly going yet.