Art Fact Friday #17 Nov 17th Rashaun Rucker
- William Mandela Matthews
- Nov 17, 2023
- 3 min read
The 3rd of 4 Detroit artists I will be highlighting during November who is making an impact in the contemporary art world. I was able to ask 4 interview questions that pertain to the artist outlook and position in modern art.
Thank you @ruckerarts for sharing your insights and perspective.
William
1.How is your vission expressed
in your art work?
Rashaun
Most of the time that I am thinking about my vision and how I want to express it, it usually starts with research. Research is paramount in my practice. I usually have an idea that begets research, which begets sketches and then on to a fully realized idea.
William
2.What would you say is your primary motivation for creating?
Rashaun
My primary motivation for creating I would say is mostly rooted in self-care. I create because it is at the crux of who I am. Making art allows me to be at my best mentally. It gives me the ability to get out ideas as well as frustrations. There is something very cathartic to making. I always tell people that I am closest to God when I am making work.
William
3.What advice do you have for emerging artist?
Rashaun
My advice to young artist is to always be making. The life of an artist is truly a marathon. It is not an Eggo waffle and there is no real shortcut. The work is the shortcut! It is about doing the work and getting better every day. One of the biggest things I had to learn was how to work when I didn’t want to.
William
4.Where do you see your self in the contemporary art market?
Rashaun
I don’t necessarily see myself in any specific space in the contemporary art market. I see myself as someone who just works daily to get better and to use that to articulate the message more fully in my work. I truly only think about what legacy I am leaving for my family and the next generation of artist to follow.
Born in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, Rashaun Rucker attended North Carolina Central University and Marygrove College. He makes photographs, prints and drawings and has won more than 40 national and state awards for his work. In 2008, Rucker became the first African American to be named Michigan Press Photographer of the Year. The same year, he won a national Emmy Award for documentary photography on the pitbull culture in Detroit.
Rucker has held numerous fellowships and residencies, including: the Maynard Fellowship at Harvard in 2009; a Hearst visiting professional in the journalism department at University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill in 2013; an artist residency at the Red Bull House of Art in 2014; Kresge Arts Fellowship in 2019; a residency at the International Studios and Curatorial Program in Brooklyn, New York in 2021; and a Mellon Fellowship at the University of Michigan Institute of Humanities in 2021.
Rucker has been honored as a Modern Man by Black Enterprise magazine in 2016 and created the original artwork for the critically acclaimed Detroit Free Press documentary 12 and Clairmount. His work was recently featured in HBO’s celebrated series Random Acts of Flyness and Native Son. In 2019, Rucker was awarded the Red Bull Arts Detroit micro grant that was followed by A Sustainable Arts Foundation award in 2020 and a Visual Arts Grant by the Harpo Foundation in 2021. Currently, Rucker is a Gilbert Fellow pursuing a MFA in print media at Cranbrook Academy of Art. His diverse work is represented in numerous public and private collections.
#visualart #art #contemporaryart #artist #artwork #painting #design #illustration #artoftheday #drawing #artistsoninstagram #fineart #creative #instaart #visual #arte #artgallery #visualartist #modernart #portrait #photooftheday #instagood
References:
Comments