San Francisco-based illustrator and designer Reuben Rude will be opening Place To Place in Thinkspace Gallery's Project Room this Saturday (March 12), and we caught up with the artist with a few questions, and learned the man lives by the words of Joe Strummer.
1. One reason you make art: I can't think of anything else to do.
2. The last good movie you saw: Toy Story 3
3. Something you’ve always wanted to do, but have yet to: Travel to Europe and Asia
4. Favorite country or city visited: Sayulita, Mexico
5. A few words that sum up your philosophy on life: I'm mad as hell, and I'm not going to take it any more!
6. Something you want the world to know about you: I'm not a pessimist, I'm a cynical realist
7. Something that annoys or frustrates you about people: Too much belief in the hype.
8. Something that concerns you: The attack on organized labor and the unequal distribution of wealth and resources in America.
9. Artists you admire: Off the top of head: Robert Crumb, Chris Ware, Dan Clowes, Andy Goldsworthy, Robert Rauschenberg, George Tooker, Thomas Campell, The Hernadez Brothers, Clayton Brothers, Barry McGee, Windsor McCay…no way I can name them all.
10. Favorite quote(s): "Without people you're nothing" - Joe Strummer
11. The first record or CD you ever bought? The last album you downloaded? I'm not sure about the first record I ever bought, but I had a cassette tape of Hall and Oates' "Private Eyes" in sixth grade. I don't download much music, I just picked up a vinyl copy of Patti Smith "Horses" at a flea market recently.
12. Something you do when you’re procrastinating? Play Tetris
13. What is your most defining characteristic? I'm a loudmouth
14. What is your greatest fear? Death (what else is there?)
15. The moment you realized you were an ‘artist’: I drew a picture of a motorcycle when I was three, and everyone thought it was pretty good.
16. Your greatest quality: I think I am a good father, but I guess everybody who has kids thinks that
17. Something you wish you could change or alter about yourself: I would like to shut up and listen more, and lose weight
18. What is the biggest risk you’ve ever taken and was it worth it? I think I am in the middle of it now, putting in an offer on a house. Don't know if it's worth it yet.
19. Something you wish you had known five years ago: Can't think of anything, I'm a know-it-all.
20. What do you hope to accomplish in the next five years of your life? I want to make more public art.
Reuben Rude
Place to Place
March 12—March 26, 2011 Thinkspace Gallery Project Room
Culver City, California
