designer of the week:
Brian Roettinger's work stretches from no-tech to super-high-tech. He is a multi-tasking artist whose work runs the gamut from painting to design and even making music.
North-East LA is the home of his 560m square industrial art studio. It is in this space that Roettinger moves from one project to the next every 2-6 hours. He may jump from working on a painting to designing books for museums and galleries, and is always teetering between high and low tech, from a xerox in one colour to a book that was generated by writing code.
Although he doesn't perform anymore, Roettinger still makes music. When he's really stressed with other work, he likes to give himself 24-hour deadlines to put out a record. This ability to jump from one medium to the next has led to creative musical collaborations, such as the Art Music Journal with No age.
Another collaboration developed after Roettinger was introduced to Hedi Slimane by a friend, Saint Laurent used several of his paintings as textiles in the 2013 winter collection, and the artworks also comprised a limited-edition book, which served as the invitation to the runway show.
When thinking about all of his different projects and whether there is a similar thread of similarity running through them, Roettinger says "I like to think that everything I make is a cultural artifact and that these things exist, and will continue to exist."
Interview courtesy of Elephant Magazine Issue 16
