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| The Paul and Danny Show, ink pad print by Bill Rose |
On June 10th, I joined artist Bill Rose for a tour of his
show, A Warm Narcotic American Night at the Emma Butler Gallery. What follows is an excerpt of our
conversation.
• GH: I think when I first came across your art I would
have described you as a social critic and now I'd definitely add
mischief-maker. How would you describe your role or character?
Bill Rose: It
is very difficult to be a social critic without being a bit of a
mischief-maker. Sometimes you have to make something that is
disturbing or funny or both, to get your point across. Maybe, having
been the youngest in my family has set me up as a clown or entertainer, in
an effort to get attention. At the end of the day, I like to think
of myself as the tall boy at the back of the class who is shooting spitballs at
the blackboard. But of course I am also interested in making
"beautiful" objects; just writing text on a canvas doesn't
really cut it for me. Maybe the social commentary in my work is just
a way of assuaging my guilt at having spent most of my life making
luxury items.
•GH: Your
method of working is incredibly labour intensive– was that part of the reason
to include some earlier work in this show? I found it a welcome departure
for a show in a commercial gallery.
Bill Rose: I often get bored just looking at painting
after painting when I visit other people's solo exhibitions. So when I am
assembling a show I think about the person who is going to be
viewing the work. I feel a need to entertain. I like to think
of the exhibit as a variety show. In some ways, I think my recent show at
The Emma Butler Gallery looks like a 6 person show instead of a solo
show. I had over 60 works to choose from. I made a list of about 30
and gallery director Alison Butler made a list of 30. By combining
both lists we came up with the final list. The earlier pieces that
we used all seemed to fit well with the show's title. i.e. You Have a
Spot on Your Dress, Louise, Hit Parade, There's a Crack in Everything.
•GH: One of
the reasons why I enjoyed it was that it contextualized the most recent work.
Bill Rose: You know the characters may change and the
specifics may change but at the end of the day I think my whole body of
work can be more or less characterized by the van Gogh quote which I used on
one of my first text paintings back in 1989..."There'll never be an end to
human misery". As a teenager I considered being a journalist.
I went to university and got a BA in English. I was very much taken by
the journalist's credo: To comfort the disturbed and disturb the
comfortable" I try to bring layers to the work by using text,
juxtaposition, humour, irony…Even though beauty in art seems to be suspect
these days, I also am interested in making beautiful objects.
•GH: I was
intrigued by the different methods represented, such as stamp pad prints,
collages, oil painting, mixed media with inkjet transfers...They were united by
a consistent aesthetic. Do you see it that way?
Bill Rose: When I started doing text back in the late
1980s I found that this was a way for me to be more political in my work.
Before that time I was basically teaching myself how to paint in a
photorealistic way. Once I figured out a way to make photoreal paintings
(by way of the grid), photorealism was no longer that important for me.
Photorealism had become a trick...a sleight of hand. The painting needed
something else to anchor it. However the photorealism does serve the
purpose of getting the work noticed. Our culture puts a great deal of
importance in images that are realistically rendered. The finely rendered
image is the bait that attracts the quarry.
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| The Meek Shall Inherit, oil by Bill Rose |
•GH: Let's
explore the relationship between the text over the image. I've heard you
refer to it as a veil. That brings to mind seduction and a welcome tension.
It's also an access point for the viewer. Can you elaborate?
Bill Rose: The text over the image tends to make the image
recede. It creates a feeling of visual depth. It also acts like a
veil. It partially blocks the image or impedes the viewer from having an
unobstructed view. Its a kind of tease...Text also reminds the viewer
that this is a painting; as in Magritte's painting of a pipe...C'est ne pas un
pipe.
•GH: I also
found it interesting in at least one instance, you've gone back and changed the
text. Can you tell us about that experience?
Bill Rose: I began to feel that the original text on the
large Niagara Falls painting was too obvious. The text was a quote from
Oscar Wilde:" Niagara Falls is only the 2nd largest Disappointment in a
New Bride's Life". I had the painting hung in my living room and
every time I looked at it, I knew it had to be changed. Eventually I came
across the present text by J. Paul Getty which I immediately knew was the right
choice. The text, "The meek shall inherit the earth but not the
mineral rights" was perfect. It was a clever play on words, ironic
and darkly true. I purposely didn't totally obliterate the original
text. If you look closely you can see the remnants of the Wilde quote ...
a kind of scar.
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| Happy Meal, mixed media by Bill Rose |
•GH: I have
to ask you about the two images that integrated the baby blocks. This
felt playful but in an ironic way because they were also very serious. Is
this a path you'll take again?
Bill Rose: I had these blocks around the house for a long
time just waiting for something to arise where I could use them. The
painting of the hen was a little piece that I hoped would say something about
vegetarianism and the food industry's treatment of animals. The piece was
around for at least 6 months and I couldn't come up with anything. Also
with it being such a small painting, I could only use a word or two. For
some reason the word CLUCK came to mind. It made me
laugh. And then I thought of the blocks. As soon as I laid the
blocks across the bottom of the canvas, I knew it was finished. At the
time I also had the painting of a refugee just sitting in the corner, still not
fully resolved. I don't know where ideas come from but out of the blue I
thought HAPPY MEAL. It was perfect. In a world where people are
starving, we here in the west have to make food fun before our children will
eat it.
The use of the blocks is such a specific solution; I may
not use them again. I don't want to be known as the guy who uses
children's blocks on his paintings. I don't want it to be the easy way
out. But if the blocks will serve the piece, I will definitely use them
again.
