What themes run throughout your work? Life, death, love, mortality, afterlife. My work has many themes of duality: repulsion and beauty, history and contemporary cultures, beautifully made objects with melancholic content, depression and hope, etc. My work is emotionally driven so human emotions and the human condition is I suppose my main theme.
How do you hope your work will affect its audience? I want my audience to be moved on a gutteral level. I am not so interested in the cerebral and conceptual. Instead I want my viewer to have a moving physical real expereince and interaction with the work.
What makes you decide to create your work? I dont decide to, I have no choice in the matter.
Where do your talents lie? I think I have a lot of talents but the ones I choose to exercise and am most interested in are ones that include me using my hands to manipulate materials and create things.
What successes have you had so far? I am not really sure what kind of success I have had, I try not to dwell on the things I have accomplished but more on the things that I have yet to and still want to accomplish. But I suppose I have shown in galleries quite a bit, both nationally and internationally. I have a sculpture in the permanent collection at the Oakland Museum. I have been collected and commissioned by many people. But maybe more importantly the success that I am most happy about is getting emails or letters or comments from people telling me how touched they were by my work. When someone is moved to tears by seeing a sculpture or when someone tells me their 17 year old football player son who cares zero about art becomes obsessed with one of my sculptures, then DAMN thats when I know I am doing something right!
What was the first creative thing that you ever did? I am not sure I am a Lifer, so I have been making and doing things my whole life. I remember illustrating scenes from Conan The Barbarian in kindergarden, sculpting my mashed potatoes at dinner, and specifically discovering for my self the technique of rubbing and making a drawing by rubbing pennies when I was maybe 3. Ninja turtles and He-Men were constantly ripped apart and hot glued back together to make new toys at a very young age.
Has anyone taught you how to use your talent better? I have been incredibly fortunate to have an amazing support system and many many very talented, supportive and helpful teachers throughout my years. And my teachers have been in class and academic settings as well as people and friends in my day to day life.
How did you get started? My parents were very supportive, they were beyond supportive it is amazing! So they exposed me to a lot of art, museums etc. They enrolled me in a ceramics youth class when I was 6 and it was on and poppin' from then on!
What inspires you? This may be corny or cliche, but really what inspires me is life, specifically my life and the world and lives around me, This world, this time.
Who inspires you? I love art history, and think it is very important so I am constantly looking through books and images. I will try to give you a condensed list of artists, we will see how it goes: Ancient Egypt, Greek, Roman art, illuminated manuscripts and medieval art, gothic sculptures, Tilman Riemenshneider, Fra Angelico, Caravaggio, Bernini, Egon Schiele, Giacometti, Leonard Baskin, Stephen De Staebler, early Picasso, Barry Mcgee, Phil Frost, Os Gemeos, Clayton Brothers, Other, Percy Feils, Mike Lay, I guess thats good.
What do you do when you are suffering from creative block? I have to say it doesn't happen often, I have more ideas and things that I want to make then I could ever keep up with, with 3 lives. But when I do get blocked, I hit the books, looking looking looking, then I go to the studio and I make make make. Really working through the block is the only way to do it for me.
Do you collaborate? Yes I do collaborate and enjoy the cross pollenating, and sharing of ideas and energy.
Ignoring money and all of life’s woes, what would you want to be? An Artist without hesitation, however if I had to pick something else, I would pursue archeology, or maybe become a rapper.
Accepting the need for money and all of life’s woes, what do you want to be? An Artist without hesitation
What’s the most amazing thing you’ve ever seen / heard / experienced? Thats hard to answer, the world is full of so many amazing things? I cant even begin to answer it.
What do you consider to be the most important thing in life? making art, your emotions especially love, family, and knowledge
Who/what is your nemesis and why? Maybe myself, because It always makes me question myself and my life, but I also love it for that. I guess that goes back to the duality theme again.
Artist Statement: Go to your studio and make stuff, everyday! Fuck what other people say or think. Make your work the way you want because you have no other option. If you feel like you have another option, great, take it, make lots of money and buy my art or someone elses who you really like. Peace, find love and be good.
If you wish to contact Derek Weisberg, please email contact@magnusmagazine.co.uk and put Contact Derek Weisberg in the subject line.
Name://
Derek Weisberg
Location://
United States of America
Work:// - Who Will Be There To Pick Me Up
- Wes Smoot
- Victoria Everlasting installation shot 1
- Victoria Everlasting 2
- Out Of Gas And Lost In Space
- Looking For The Best Answer
- Into Days Yet Unknown
- Illuminating The Lonely Road of Forever
- Calculating the Moon
- Amongst The Fallen VII
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