Artistβs Statement
I just applied for an art grant and had to write an artists statement which goes as follows:
Iβm an artist working in narrative, mostly writing and illustrating, but some film making and animation. I wrote and illustrated a graphic novel over the course of five years, itβs published on ComiXology, called Red and the Wolfe. Drawing writing and illustrating is all I do (people who see me working have asked βis this all you do?β I thought it was doing a lot). I go into a coffee shop and work every day, making myself available to the work whatever it is, often it lets me know whats going on in me. I confront everything with it, sex, taboo, religion, parenting, innocence, anything that makes me uncomfortable I attack voraciously with my art. Reactions are varied from dismissive to offended to people who are very complimentary. I mostly hear this through the YouTube comments on an animation I made in 2010 that overnight garnered a swell of attention. I went to an art school, toward the end I started skipping classes to go to life drawing labs because I love it so much and it is the thing I miss most. I am currently working on another graphic novel called The God Labs which is about scientists trying to open a gate into heaven. The idea being to explore through the story what people actually have faith in and how faith and control are at odds with each other and how this juxtaposes against science and religion. Also how science and religion seek to control similar things and how paradoxically both can equally include or exclude faith and dogmatic belief systems. I recently made a short video for my YouTube channel to promote the project, since that is about the only place my work has gotten traction. I donβt make a living from my art but I am irresistibly compelled to do it and have never had a regular job or even taken commissions. I donβt accept commissions because I would greatly struggle with making someone elseβs work and it has always just turned out to be an expression of my feeling toward the client or the work. The only income I have from my work is pennies from the occasional sale of Red and the Wolfe, but it was pirated before I even had published it in entirety. This was actually encouraging, that someone cared enough to want to distribute it on their own; and has lead me to randomly encounter people world wide who have read it. One person in Belgium even claimed to have bought it after pirating it! At any rate I am Nicholas Rubatino and this is all I do.
