HURLEY.COM: YOU RECENTLY MOVED UP TO SAN FRANCISCO – HOW RE YOU FINDING IT?
RICHARD COLMAN: I moved here maybe a year and a half, two years ago. My girlfriend lives up here. I like it better than LA—it’s more of a city. My studio is a block away from my house, in the Mission district. I like to skate there.
HAVE YOU BEEN TO THE LEXINGTON (LESBIAN BAR IN THE MISSION)?
I don’t go to bars much, so I haven’t been to the Lexington. People are always like ‘have you been to this, have you been to that’. But I don’t go out at all. Maybe a little bit, but not really. I used to go out when I was younger and I was drinking. I don’t drink any more.
HAS QUITTING DRINKING CHANGED YOUR APPROACH TO YOUR ART?
Yes, I think it has changed my approach. Certain aspects (of not drinking) are a little more difficult, but on the whole it has helped me stay focused. The thing about drinking was that it was almost like an off switch. It meant I wouldn’t have to think about any of the stuff that was concerning me about the work. I can get this hamster wheel going in my brain. You got to ride it out and it makes it difficult to sleep and stuff. Now if it’s like daytime stuff I will go for walk and ride my bike to relax. And at night I usually read.
I HEARD YOU LIKE TO COLLECT ACTION FIGURES. LIKE HE-MAN?
Yes. I like toys that I find at the flea market that have been used. I like the ones that kids have used a lot, that have been buried in the back yard and have been f---ed up. I have some He Mans and some wrestling guys and GI Joes. A bunch of stuff. Sometimes action figure companies will sell off the molds and cheaper companies will make knockoffs. I like those too. I have hundreds and hundreds of them.
TELL US ABOUT THE KIND OF ART YOU’RE WORKING ON RIGHT NOW.
I am working out different compositions and color and introducing new things. I’ll take ideas from sculptures that I have seen. For a while I wasn’t even using too much character interaction—but now that stuff is coming back in to balance out the compositional elements.
WHAT’S IT BEEN LIKE, REMOVING THE CHARACTERS FROM YOUR WORK?
Some of my pieces are devoid of characters because I didn’t want to have to rely on them. But the characters tend to come back—even when I finish a painting like that, it doesn’t really feel completed without the characters in it.
YOU’RE CREATING MURALS FOR HURLEY AT THE AGENDA TRADE SHOW. IS LIVE PAINTING IN FRONT OF A CROWD SCARY?
I am used to the live painting thing. Doing murals and stuff, you get used to people walking by and asking questions. If someone stops to ask you something, its not big deal. I don’t find it all that challenging to work with people around. I think if I had to talk or something that would be a lot more nerve-wracking.
DO YOU PAINT EVERY DAY?
I paint every day.
WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON SHARKS? THERE ARE LOTS OF THEM IN THE BAY AREA.
I don’t like sharks, because they are scary. I am fascinated by them but I am terrified of them at the same time, so I am not going to start surfing any time soon. There’s a lot of shark activity up here. One of the best places to surf is pretty much a Great White super highway. People go up there all the time and they’re like 'whatever'. They say “you don’t bother them, they don’t bother you”. But they do. I can’t imagine going back out in the water after being attacked by a shark. F--- that. I can get scared if the water’s waist deep. I get scared in swimming pools.
WOULD YOU PUNCH AN ALIEN?
Aren’t you an alien? — Caroline Ryder/Against The Grain
