David Fobes
San Diego, California
Website
misterfobes.com
Social Media
Instagram
How would you describe your work?
In General my work is about the unseen world. Human vision can perceive about .0035% of the electromagnetic spectrum that courses through the universe. This means we cannot see about 99.65% of the energy that surrounds us. I try to capture some of that unseen energy in my work, regardless of the medium I choose. After Forty years of making work, there are a few works that get close to that.
More specifically I have had two trajectories of work. One is designing and constructing furniture and environments. The other is two-dimensional work that wanders from geometric abstraction to photography, video and surrealist collage.
What inspires you?
“Inspiration is for amateurs,the rest of us show up and get to work”-Chuck Close.
That may be a bit cynical, but in reality only the artist working will inspire the next body of work.Work makes work. Nature and being outside is important to me as a pause from work, and admiring the beauty of the natural world, but inspiration must come from within.
How did you become interested in art?
My mother was a talented painter and artist. I remember looking through her college sketchbooks and wished I could draw like that. When I was quite young, I was looking through an Encyclopedia and came across Dali’s “The Persistence of Memory” and I had a visceral, elated response. I didn't really have a word for what I was looking at, but I knew that someone, a human, had made that picture, and I wanted to do that too.
When I was in elementary school, I was bullied and never picked for sports teams. My superpower was drawing. I was always the “class artist”. I just seemed to know that’s what I was going to do with my life. I was fortunate to have the support of my mother as well as many talented mentors and teachers that encouraged my pursuit of art along the way.
Do you have any favorite artists, movies, books or quotes?
Favorite Artists: Georges Seurat, Bridget Riley, Carlos Cruz Diaz, Martin Puryear, Ronald Davis, Alexis Smith, Kara Walker, Llyn Foulkes, Ray Johnson, Ruth Asawa.
Favorite Movies: Pulp Fiction, The Great Escape, Eraserhead ,Blue Velvet, American Fiction, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. Any Almodovar movie.
Favorite Books: I have read almost every book by Bill Bryson, but the one book everyone should read by him is “A short History of Nearly Everything”. Absolutely brilliant.
Favorite Quote: “The purpose of Art is to reveal the questions that have been hidden by the answers”-James Baldwin.
Do you have any advice for young artists?
I taught art and design at a major University in San Diego for 25 years. I would show a short film “A brief history of John Baldessari”, narrated by Tom Waits, to my students at the beginning of each semester. In the film John Baldessari made a statement that there are three things every young artist should know.
1. Talent is cheap
2. You need to be possessed and that is something you cannot will.
3. Be at the right place at the right time.
I would also advise that one does not need to go to school and earn a degree to be an artist. That being said, the community colleges are great institutions to study art and work with professors who are usually working artists and won't break the bank. Take the classes that interest you and classes you will get the information you need for your career.
Almost every artist needs a day job. Try to find a job that keeps you in the game of art, and is not soul crushing.
Surround yourself with like minded artists, musicians, poets, dancers etc. If there is no art scene in your community, then make your own scene.
Establish a place to work, even if it's just a corner in a room. Make that your place, your studio.
Travel. Even if it's only to the closest major city and try to get to other countries while you are young.
Make work everyday.
