Robert Harris is an artist living in San Francisco, California. He went to design school and was initially trained as a graphic artist, but while in school he explored the realm of fine art and has been painting ever since. His style is viewed as a mixture between cubism, surrealism, color fields, and impressionistic. You can catch him doing live art events throughout the San Francisco Bay Area for music festivals and wineries, as well as participating in important causes like the “It's About Sea Life Benefit” at the Aquarium Of The Bay in San Francisco, which raises money for non-profits.

Dig In Magazine: Hi Robert! How’s it going? Are you busy preparing for your show tonight?

Robert Harris: I’m well, thanks. Yeah, there’s a lot going on this morning…just details, some things that need to get finalized.

DIM: It was really cool seeing you at the San Francisco Treasure Island Music Festival. So, are you a local based artist?

RH: Yeah, my studio’s out of San Francisco. I also go up to Santa Rosa to do some work when I need a little more room. I have a work area up there. I am actually doing an installation there [Santa Rosa] on Monday.

DIM: Very cool! Where did you get your art training or were you self-taught?

RH: Well, I did go to school for design. I thought I’d be doing graphic design full-time, which I did for awhile. And then did a lot of self-exploration while I was going to school as far as the fine arts go and found that they were cross pollinating between graphic design and fine art. Recently, it’s been much more of doing the fine art, murals, live painting. And what I’ve found is my training in graphic design helps me as far as establishing the identity as an artist and self-promotional tools. Yeah, it’s all intertwined. A lot of the painting’s been self-taught. I taught myself how to paint and I’m always still exploring all the different tools and mediums.

DIM: What genre would you say your artistic style is? And what is your favorite genre?

RH: Well, ya know, it’s funny cuz I’m always pushing myself and always trying new things. The artwork, it often changes forms. It maybe what I’m reading at the time or what kind of art I’m looking at. The most common kinds of comments that I get are that it’s a mixture between cubism, surrealism, some color fields, some impressionistic. So, I’m kind of like a sponge to all the different movements that have led up to this point. And I’m kind of like letting go and doing what feels good. It’s definitely modern, it’s urban, but it’s definitely in the fine art realm.

DIM: What is your favorite medium to work with? Do you normally work with spray paint?

RH: I’ve been doing the live stuff…it’s much more acrylic and brushes. Most of the venues are indoors. But if I have the opportunity I’ll definitely use spray paint. That’s a fun medium to work with and I’m really comfortable with it. For the larger scale stuff I use spray paint. For more indoor, I use acrylics, oils…pretty much anything I can get my hands on.

DIM: Is it difficult to do such large scale pieces of artwork like on large wooden canvases compared to doing a smaller scale painting?

RH: Each painting presents its own challenges. If you have the proper tools then it makes any project a lot easier. I don’t think it is any more difficult. It just has different challenges in it. So, I personally really like working large scale. It gives me the opportunity to really move around and conquer a lot of space. I get into those a lot. And like maybe with the smaller paintings it requires more detailed work. So, there are challenges for each.

DIM: Where do you get your inspiration from for your artwork?

RH: [laugh] Inspiration comes from everywhere really! Personally, I get a lot of inspiration through natural patterns, observing nature and observing relationships between people. Other inspiration really comes from friends and artists that I’m close with. Ya know, talking about what’s going on in our community…in the art realm. So, that’s really inspiring to have those relationships with other artists.

DIM: Do you surround yourself with a tightly knit community of artists?

RH: Yeah, more so recently than ever. It seems like at the time that we’re going through everyone’s having the drive right now. A lot of times it just makes the community a little tighter when everyone’s gotta hustle and step their game up. Lately, I’ve been working with a really great crew of artists and also art collectives that bring people together and that really inspire people to keep on doing their thing.

DIM: Who are some of the artists that you work with?

RH: Um well, right now I’ve been doing a lot of live painting with Ian Ross. Actually, he’s been doing live painting in the City [San Francisco] for sometime now. He’s really established and has a style now as far as working fast in the public eye. Also, Max Ehrman (Eon75), Carly Ivan Garcia, Joey DeRuy. There’s a lot of artists that I’ve been consistently running into at events. Also, in the collective that I work with [Pacific Art Collective] there’s a large group of artists that are part of that collective. So, there’s a lot of them out there right now that are starting to do collab[orative] work and share projects. It makes the movement a little bit stronger. Lately, I’ve been working a little bit with Chor Boogie who is a really well-known San Francisco muralist…

DIM: Who are some of your favorite artists and who would you say are some of the best artists out there right now?

RH: …I’ve learned to appreciate every artist’s style even if it’s not one particular favorite. I’ve just learned to appreciate what each artist has to bring as far as their individual marks. I find something really powerful in that. I really dig what Chor’s doing right now. Chor Boogie is doing really large-scale community-based projects and is just like really bringing in a spiritual element to the art scene right now. And it’s amazing stuff what he’s doing.

DIM: Does he also do events with the community?

RH: Yeah, totally…like he’s doin’ a huge mural right now on downtown Market Street in San Francisco for the store front initiative projects from the San Francisco Arts Commission. There’s a huge wall and a lot of artists have been getting together to do these storefronts. When businesses lost their business from the economy or whatever they had to close down the shops and so they’re trying to make the shops more aesthetically pleasing to the public by having artists do installations.

DIM: Very cool. I noticed you do a lot of live painting for events, how did you get into that? Or is that a new trend that’s been emerging in the art world?

RH: Yeah, it seems like it’s been emerging for a few years now. Different collectives and art organizations have been really pushing that…Pacific Art Collective is one of the big ones and ArtNowSF. But I really got into it just because I like to paint and I had friends that were throwing some parties and they asked me to paint. And so I did that for a while and I realized that I was pretty good at it. And I knew how to captivate the crowd and I knew how to spit something out in a matter of hours. So, I just started really pushing toward that direction and as it’s growing I realize how important it is to continue this lineage of people getting together and enjoying music and drinks and food and expressing themselves. It’s kind of like this really ritualistic thing that’s been happening for thousands of years. It kind of gives me some self-importance. I feel like I’m a part of that…to help inspire people.

DIM: You mentioned some of your inspirations, how do you keep yourself so creative and original?

RH: That’s a good question! Ya know, there’s inspiration all around. Some creative time painting is when I secluded myself from all the inspiration [like] other artists and really tried to develop my own style. And I feel like that comes out a lot now. I give myself the time to do self-exploration. I guess I’d have to say that self-exploration is one of the biggest inspirations for me, because there is unlimited possibilities within us and within this world. Getting time to step outside of ourselves and our comfort zones allows new thoughts to come into our heads. If you’re in the mode of creating, then the thoughts are going to help fuel that creative power. So, it’s really just, ya know, just trying to continue self-growth. I just push my boundaries, do things that you dread, which makes it easier to do everything else. So, that’s really how I’ve found my game to just stay sharp and stay creative.

DIM: What kind of advice can you give to aspiring artists?

RH: For me…just keep on doing it! There were a lot of times when I got discouraged like when the picture didn’t turn out like I wanted it to…but as I kept on doing it and doing it and sketching in my book all the time, it really developed. And stepping back [I was] realizing that it was turning more into the forms that I wanted it to turn into. So, it’s just like there’s a lot of people out there that will give you praise and there’s a lot of people out there that won’t get it. You just have to keep on doing it for your own reasons and not because of what other people say…you have that voice inside of you telling you to do it because it feels right and you just go for it. You take that kind of leap of faith and everything else will fall into place. And really overcome that idea of starving artist. You have to do a lot of the other tedious tasks that artists don’t really want to do. The business-side of things is really important in order to make a living off of it. So, there’s a lot of things that go into supporting this type of lifestyle.

DIM: Where can we expect to see your artwork in the future? You seem to have a lot of events coming up, I was wondering if you could tell me a little bit about your more recent events and some of your upcoming events.

RH: The live painting has really taken off and I’m doing events that I couldn’t even imagine that I’d be doing. For example, I have an event next week for a group or orthopedic surgeons. They’re flying these doctors out from Sweden and they wanted me to do some live art for their convention. So, I’m getting into the medical field as far as my painting and bringing people from all over the world to check it out. My show tonight is a really anticipated show. I’ve sold over 30 pieces of artwork, so I’m showing the time frame of the kind of work that I’ve been working on for the last couple years. The name of the show tonight is the RAW Show for the Oakland Art Murmur.

DIM: And your doing some upcoming events at some wineries, right?

RH: Yeah, did a winery last weekend for Topel Winery in Healdsburg, Ca. That was a great event. I painted 13 paintings in five hours and they were really well received.

DIM: Wow, that’s a lot.

RH: Yeah, it was smokin’ for sure! I’m doing another event on the 14th [November 2009] of this month at Artesa Winery in Napa for a wine tasting, food pairing. They get really excited about the idea of bringing in some visual elements. The wines are all about sensations…the smell, the look, the taste and so bringing in some artwork adds a little bit of visual flavor to an event like that. …I’m excited…I always love the wineries, they’re always good times.

Another event [that] I have November 2oth, I’m really excited for this, is the "It's About Sea Life Benefit" event and it is raising money for five different non-profits…[It’s] going towards saving our oceans, because our oceans are really messed up right now and we need to bring more awareness. So, this event is going to have a silent auction and also a live auction at the San Francisco Aquarium. I donated a $2,500 piece for that and I’m going to give all the proceeds up for this cause, because it’s really important that we know about what’s going on.

DIM: So, do you donate a lot of your artwork or do you sell your pieces?

RH: Well, I mean, I try to keep it balanced. I think it’s important to give as much as we receive. So, when I’m doing well I like to give back. And I’m doing a good cause and getting my name out there a little more, so it helps everyone out.

DIM: Well, it was great talking with you and hope to see you tonight at the RAW event!