Flax interviews local artist Bob Armstrong

Tell me about your current work, what inspires you as an artist, and what you’ll be showing at this year’s Open Studios.

Lately I have been intrigued by the beauty of wood panels, because they are such expressive artifacts of nature. They inspire my Carved Paintings, where I carve in shallow relief and then add thin glazes of Acrylic paint. These are the pieces that I will show at Open Studios. That which is removed also reveals what is underneath, and viewers respond to the texture of the carved areas. These pictures imagine different aspects of a plant, like the different seasons of its life, or its relationship to other plants around it. They are meditative, because only still things can bring out the stillness within. They also encourage the viewer to journey into nature, and invite personal associations with the imagery. These paintings are clean and spare, almost minimal, and elegant in what they both depict and omit. They are, at the same time, abstract and precise. This work is influenced by Japanese art and by the California Arts and Crafts movement, with their shared insistence on grace and compositional beauty. 

The poetic impulse is also crucial. The poet Pablo Neruda offers a telling insight: “Blossom and water and wheat kernel share one precious consistency: the sumptuous appeal of the tactile.” It is this common but endlessly varied tactility that moves me to create artwork.

  What is your training?

  I received my A.B. from U.C. Berkeley. I subsequently studied Drawing and   Painting at the Massachusetts College of Art, and at the Hochschule der    Kunst in Berlin, in the former West Germany.

  What do you like most about SF Open Studios?

  I really enjoy showing at Open Studios, because it exposes my work to a      very wide audience of people who are genuinely interested in art.

  After Open Studios, where else can we see your work?

  My work can also be seen most weekends at outdoor sites, through the       Artists Guild of San Francisco, the premier outdoor exhibition group in the   Bay Area. If you visit my website, and click on the Events tab, you will see     where to find me on any given weekend.

Do you shop at FLAX, and if so, what do you like about it?

I shop at FLAX because it is a great local art store, and I have been going there for over 30 years. No other art store has the same range of products, and no other store has been as responsive to my needs as an artist. The manager even stocked a line of birch plywood panels at my recommendation, which I use constantly.

Website: bobarmstrongart.com