Life, according to Ricky Day. There isn’t much this serial multi-tasker can’t accomplish or manipulate into existence, as evidenced by the myriad pieces of art he’s brought into this world. So we decided to question Mr. Day about his latest series – Red, Black & Green.
Tell me about the Red, Black and Green? What is the message you’re conveying?
The Red, Black and Green series includes digital collage, drawings and paintings. The work is a an examination of and reflection on the African-American experience in America and how the perception of that experience is shaped by imagery, race and class.
What are your influences, i.e books, movies, television?
I’m influenced by damn near everything and everyone around me at some point. I’m really into magazines, tee shirts and post cards. Oh yeah, you just have to love facebook and you tube. They are both influences for me on some level because I spend so much time using both of them.
What do you hope to accomplish through your art? Or is it merely art for art’s sake?
Well first and foremost I love to make beautiful things. However, there are other reasons I make art in addition to the joy of making beautiful sh*t. I believe that you are what you dream and that we are all much more alike than we are different and I want to use art to convey these messages again and again.
I think that when we as humans accept these truths the world will be a much better place to live in and true change will be achieved. We can talk about change all we want, but it wont REALLY come to fruition unless we accept the truth that we can have and be anything we want if we truly believe it. We also must accept the fact that we are all more alike than different. I believe that my work can communicate and demonstrate these two truths.
What are you listening to while creating?
I’m an 70′s/80′s kid (meaning I grew up during that time period). As a result my favorite music to listen to while I am working is 80′s pop, r&b and new wave. Not really for nostalgic reasons as much as I’ve found that music has colors and the music from that time period was open and free and had tons of variety so it is very colorful and inspiring.
The 80′s playlist includes artists like Prince, David Bowie, Talking Heads, Blondie, Culture Club, Berlin, Eurythmics, The Clash, George Michael, DeBarge, Eddie Grant, The Police, Duran Duran, etc.
When I am feeling like rockin current stuff it tends to be a playlist with artists like M.I.A., Santogold, Britney Spears, Kanye, Pink, Lil Wayne, The Dream, Brandy, T.I., Pink, Katy Perry, Estelle, Duffy, Rihanna, Rich Boy, and T-Pain.
Tell me about your creative process, does it involve certain routines?
There are no set routines per se, but I do a lot of reading, listening to music, walking through the city and just kind of absorbing the sights, sounds, smells, tastes and experiences around me. Then as the ideas come I express them in the most appropriate medium. The work is done when I no longer feel the need to add to it or subtract from it and it is relatively consistent my artist statement and aesthetic. However serious all that may sound, the bottom line is I enjoy making beautiful things, like to experiment and hate repeating myself.
What do you think is the role of the black artist in the seemingly post-racial America?
These notions of post race are peculiar to me. I am an optimist by nature, but a realist by experience. This rush to an instantaneously post racial America is a little unrealistic, but definitely an ideal to achieve ultimately. I believe that you are what you dream and that you cannot be something until you can picture it in your head first. Art in general and images specifically are very important because your first images of self come from family interaction, but shortly thereafter that it’s media, pop culture and ultimately fine art that provide a sense of self and what is possible to achieve. I think as artists our responsibility is first to the art itself, to create what we are driven to create from the inside. However, we do have a role in sharing our vision of the world as we see it. For me that means showing all the beautiful things that are possible in the context of what currently is.
African-American artists and athletes have been unfairly burdened with carrying the hopes and dreams of an entire race on their shoulders and a post racial world offers some relief from this in theory. However, I personally believe that it is important for those who are willing to carry the torch to record and preserve African-American expressions of self and our contributions to society for future generations to reflect upon. Museums are essentially a visual record of what a society looked like, believed in and achieved during specific time periods. If people of color are not included in the works of art housed in the museums of the future then it will be as if we didn’t exist at all. To this end, it’s artists, curators and patrons of color who are most likely to ensure that people of color are represented in the galleries and museums of the future in a responsible and fairly accurate manner.
What genre of art would you classify your work as?
I don’t know that my work can be easily classified or if most contemporary art in general can be classified anymore. It’s sorta one big mash up at this point. I have elements Pop, Conceptual art, neo-expressionism and performance in my work, but I doubt I’d fit into any particular “genre” of art. That being said, my work tends to be urban (meaning focused on the rhythms found in cities and/or communities of color), include some aesthetics of Pop art, and photography plays a major role in the work as well. So if you must call it something perhaps you could refer to it as Urban Pop, but I don’t think that is accurate either because I have moments when too much emotion shows up in the work and that’s not very POP at all. Pop is generally a much cooler and detached way of working and as cool as we are, African-Americans are far too passionate to be that detached about anything. Maybe someday a curator or critic will care enough about the work to attach a label to it (which I am sure I will promptly hate…LOL).
What artists inspire you the most?
There are a handful of artists whose work inspires me directly and then there are some with whom I am most definitely engaged in a conversation with. The inspirations are Andy Warhol, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Robert Rauschenburg, Gordon Parks, and Jasper Johns. The artists with whom I believe there is a conversation of sorts include; Glenn Ligon (whose work I have discovered and LOVE), Ed Ruscha, Richard Prince, David Hammons, William Eggleston, and Walker Evans. There are a lot of contemporary artists who I’ve met and whose work inspires me they include: Hank Willis Thomas, iona rozeal brown, Mickalene Thomas and Kalup Linzy.
I think it is interesting that the artists who inspire me are almost all non-black artists. This is basically a result of not being taught about African-American art and artists in elementary school and high school. I love the work of Romare Bearden, Jacob Lawrence or Aaron Douglas. Had I been exposed to them earlier I am sure they would have had a direct impact on my work. This is one of the reasons that I write my blog UrbanPopLife.net. I want to share my love of art with people outside of the art establishment and also make sure that contemporary and iconic artists of color are well represented. For instance everyone knows who Kanye West is and because of him a lot of people are familiar with Japanese artist Takashi Murakami, but most kids I know in the hood have no idea that Kehinde Wiley is one of the most talented and successful artists in the world! I want African-American kids to know they can include being a fine artist on their list of dreams if they choose to.
What’s next for Ricky Day?
I am a multi-tasker by nature so I tend to work on waaaaaaaaaaay too many things at once and I am guilty of that right now. I am in the midst of a photographic portrait series about the African-American Lesbian, Bi-Sexual, Gay and Transgender community called This Is The Life. I am also still working on my Red, Black and Green series of paintings, drawings, digital collage and photography. Lastly I am also shooting a series of images called Living Color: Beautiful Decay.
For more info on Ricky Day and his brand, check out his website, urbanpoplife.net .
Tags: Art, People, Ricky Day
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