"Bindu Truss III", a Baffler! by Chris Yates.
This one is contains 96 pieces and is rated a 4.5 out of 10 in difficulty. |
What is creativity to you? Do you consider yourself to be creative? Why or why not?
Creativity is just what I am, what I do. I've just always needed to explore, consider and make things. This is almost a non-issue with how I conduct my life, there is no on/off switch for interacting with our environment (in multiple ways of course). It's just how I've decided to use my life - you can add or subtract, or you can just be a drone.
Do you ever critique your own work? How so?
Every artist critiques their own work. I will find micro-to-macroscopic imperfections in tons of pieces and worry myself to death with it, but no one will ever notice and it all sells eventually. So on and so forth. If you think everything you've ever made is golden unicorn shit, then it's going to be difficult to get anywhere with your career (although there are probably some notable exceptions to this rule).
How do you manage to stay both personal and original in your creative endeavors?
Again, I believe that there are so many factors of influence out there, that it is natural to pursue original ideas. To copy may help you learn the technique, but it won't give you the ambition a juicy, fresh concept will.
Has rejection ever affected your creative process? How so?
For every good idea I have, I have a kazillion bad ones. You have to be tough, and just keep making stuff until something eventually sticks. |
What kind of jobs did you have before your career took off?
Oh man, after I graduated RISD in 2001, I decided to go out to the Denver/Boulder area in Colorado, for some reason or another. Having a great degree and diverse creative skills in a fairly small talent pool allowed me to have lots of various interesting full or part-time jobs from 2001-2006. In chronological order: Cabinetmaker, Bartender, Animal ICU Assembler, Video Editor, Local Cable TV Director, Local TV Unit Technical Director, Technical Director / Head Photographer, Sign Designer, Large-format Printing Manager
It was kind of a ridiculously busy five years and never had enough time to make my own shit, so I started just doing part-time shifts at the local Pack'n'Ship where I send everything, two blocks from my house/studio in Boulder, and at some point in 2007, went full-time with my own business, Chris Yates Studios.
What was/is the biggest opposing force that you encountered on your creative journey?
Ha! The world makes me feel amazing sometimes and at others depressed beyond belief. We, as people who happen to be alive for some reason, can bring joy from keystrokes and penlines and sculpture -- from nothing, essentially. And not joy alone, we can stimulate and conduct a global conversation via what we do with our minds. The world is "immediate" now, which is good and bad.
But so much about the world in REALITY really disturbs me, and makes me worry. Oh I worry so much. But that is also why I live in Boulder, which is pretty much a hippy-dippy utopian small city where everyone is happy all the time (except when they are not).
If you had the chance to live during a different time in the evolution of your artistic medium, when would you choose? Why?
Hmm, I'd probably hang in the mountains of Hokkaido, Japan in the 1800s and make the impossibly intricate hardwood puzzle boxes, back in a time where hand-made craftsmanship meant something (it still does to an extent, in pocket artisan villages out there). Also, I would totally have an awesome koi pond and rock garden.
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Some signs made as a part of Yates' "Breakfast is Power!" collection.
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"Cascade", an amazing wooden terraform by Chris Yates. |
If you could interview a creative person (past or present, living or dead) who would that person be? Please explain your choice.
Oh, totally Andy Goldsworthy - just look him up if you don't know him - but I'd mostly just want to hang out with him for a day and take a good read on his energy. I admire and envy his entire catalogue, and even I was born earlier, and came up with the conceit, no one can match his patience and his inate and rare skill. Watch the awesome Danish documentary "Rivers And Tides" about Goldsworthy. You must.
If you were our president, what would your first order of business be?
I would never ever want to be president of this country. Oh god running my little business is stressful enough. But if for some bizarre reason I was, I would drastically reduce the brazen defense contracts and put that money into the arts and education. Do you remember the National Endowment for the Arts? It's a fucking joke these days.
How would you like to be remembered?
As an awesome dude. |
