Local Strokes
well-traveled artist loves painting local
Bailey Berg, photos by Andrea Paulseth |
It’s not often that an artist gets very far when they’re constantly painting over their intensely labored over work, but it seems to be working just fine for local artist Robert Christy.
“I think too many artists today feel that everything they do is precious at every moment. I try to fight that,” Christy said. “I dirty it up, make it un-precious.”
Over the past 20 years Christy has been an avid painter, painting anything and everything under the sun. Seriously. He’s painted everything from the bustling streets of Chicago, to the fiberglass Rooster outside the Ron’s Family Restaurant.
The Menomonie native was interested in art throughout childhood, visiting museums and studying artists, although didn’t turn to art full time until the mid-80s, while in graduate school at UWEC. Christy had been writing a philosophy dissertation and “not liking it much.”
“I’d realized that most of my close friends at the time were artists and musicians, so I figured I must be in the wrong career,” Christy said. It was then that he reacquainted himself with art, and picked up a paintbrush. Although the dissertation didn’t go anywhere, his art career thrived and evolved over the years.
For the next two decades, Christy traveled all around America, chiefly along the west coast, drawing influence from what he saw. After a somewhat brief stint painting landscapes in Seattle, he retreated into the warmth and dryness of California, traveling further and further south year after year, letting the sea and desert inspire his art. Later Christy traveled to Chicago where his art took on a more “Pop feel.” His Chicago painting depicted Piranhas in the Downtown Area, and Fish Jams in the Southern Loop.
In some of his paintings Christy fuses together different styles, toying with the viewers’ senses. One massive painting looks like a bustling city at night from a distance, but take a few steps closer, and you realize, it’s a collage of many little abstract bugs.
Besides painting, Christy has dabbled in a myriad of other art media. He made sculptures for a while, a hobby he has since given up, because of his travels. During his time in Chicago, Christy was part of a group that went by the name of “The Dylan Morgan Orchestra Featuring Robert Christy.”
“It wasn’t much of an orchestra, just one guy that played the drums and cello, and myself, who played the sax and clarinet,” Christy said. More recently Christy’s been trying his hand at making folk art toys.
“I like to make folk art toys because I get to incorporate my wickedly sly sense of humor into my work,” Christy said. Sly indeed. One such piece, entitled I Heart Art, shows three wooden men looking at a painting with a sense of bewilderment. One man is scratching his head, another scratching his butt, and the other picking his nose. Frankly, I didn’t get it at first, either. Christy explained that if you look close there’s a mirror on the side, projecting the onlooker into the piece with “the idiots.”
Christy also combines his carpentry skills with his art, making frames, and stretching his canvases. “Too many times I’ve sold my art and seen it go into closets because it wasn’t in a hangable form.”
Christy has since relocated to his hometown of Menomonie after years of travel. “I would have a show, and sell around two-thirds of my art, and would drop the leftovers off here, and through the years huge archives built-up,” Christy said. He realized it would be easiest to sell off his stockpile if he was here, “among his paintings.”
Since moving back, Christy’s been selling his paintings on both his website and eBay, a process he refers to as “going fishing.”
Christy explained, “Selling online is like fishing because sometimes you get skunked and sell nothing, or you catch a lot of little minnows and get frustrated for the day, but every now and then, you land a big fish.
If you’d like to play the part of a fish and nibble on Robert’s artwork, visit www.robertchristyartist.com.
