#toddsanders

Sometimes a Missed Turn Leads You to Your Destiny an interview with Todd Sanders of Roadhouse Relics by: Julie Mech The first time I drove past Roadhouse Relics Art Gallery it was nighttime. But even from half a block away I could see the neon buzzing brightly in Todd Sanders’s sculptures, like urban fireflies, the creativity and love literally pulsating before your eyes. I was dazzled by the sight, especially in a creative city that has surprisingly few art galleries. I vowed to find out more. Fast forward- I’d seen the ubiquitous “Greetings from Austin” mural painted to look like a larger than life postcard. But as an ATX newbie I wasn’t sure where it was. Then, one serendipitous day I was driving down First Street in South Austin and saw it out of the corner of my eye. Wait, is it painted on that building that has all those cool neon sculptures inside? Curiosity piqued I knew I had to learn more about the person behind Roadhouse Relics and the Greetings From Austin mural. Todd Sanders is the man behind the magic. While studying graphic art in college at Sam Houston State University in Huntsville, Texas he took a road trip to Austin, became enamored with the neon art he saw, and dropped out of college to learn how to make neon art himself. When I think of neon, admittedly, I don’t automatically think of Austin. I think of the Strip in Las Vegas, the neon stripes in the Art Deco buildings in South Beach in Miami. But Austin? However, just like when any subject is on your mind, such as say, buying a Civic, suddenly that’s all you can see. For example, I was driving home, stuck in slow-moving traffic and I turned to my right, and suddenly realized that both Top Hat Storage and EZ Auto Insurance on South Congress have neon signs. Even in South, Souuuuth Austin, land of big box stores on Slaughter (this is Texas after all) there is a car wash, H2O Hand Car Wash & Detail that has a giant neon H. And don’t forget all of the great neon signs, which blend in with the other artful signage in SoCo, South Congress, just south of downtown. Mr. Sanders approaches neon from a fine arts, not a commercial perspective, which is definitely left of center, even for a recovering art historian like yours truly. Not to bore you with Modern Art 101, but very few “famous” artists, post-World War II, have really worked with neon as their medium. Bruce Nauman is the most famous example, though his work is often composed of tubes of neon spelling out words or shapes, not as part of the overall work and Dan Flavin has made a killing scattering fluorescent tube lights at artful angles. (the work that Mikhail Baryshnikov played as Carrie’s artist boyfriend in Sex and the City is pretty much a duplicate of Flavin’s work. No judgment! This was pre-Netflix.) But Mr. Sanders, though romanced by the nostalgic factor of neon, is bringing the art form into the 21st century in surprising and sublimely accessible ways. A lot of my questions are already answered on Roadhouse Relics’s web site, which is great for those who can’t visit in person. You can see his work with Shepard Fairey, most famously known for his “Hope” Obama poster and OBEY work http://roadhouserelics.com/austin-neon-artist-todd-sanders-helps-bring-shepard-faireys-power-glory-concept-to-life-in-new-exhibit/ Or, if you’re a Kings of Leon fan you’ve seen Mr. Sanders’s work without even knowing it, he designed the sign for their album, Mechanical Bull. There is a video on RoadhouseRelics.com’s site that shows the process that went into creating the work. http://roadhouserelics.com/videos.html But there were still some questions that I had. Even though Mr. Sanders was prepping his gallery (with help from his brother) for a client who was flying in from Paris (?) the next day to see his work, he graciously sat down with me to tell me about his journey, both to Austin and the road he’s been on since then. *RunThisTownAustin (RTTA): You had said that “it was a missed turn that led you to Austin where you (Todd Sanders) saw neon signs and realized that you were home.” Do these signs still exist? I know that you had mentioned on your web site that the Terminix Bug was what you described as your “aha moment” on a video [on your web site]* http://roadhouserelics.com/videos.html* Are a lot of the signs still in existence? Or have they come down since then?* *Todd Sanders (TS): *“They’ve come down, but they’ve gone into public and private collections. The Terminix Bug is at Threadgills and there’s a lot of signs on the interior beer garden that were out on the street when I first moved here, which were inspirational to me. But the Terminix Bug, the *bug* is there, but the Terminix sign is in a private collection. *RTTA:* And then you fell in love with Austin and technically never left. You packed up all your stuff and said, I gotta move here! *TS: *Yeah, I tried to drive over one day, two days and then go back home. I was going to college in Huntsville, Sam Houston State University and I just couldn’t find a job. I kept driving around, trying to find a job here. And finally I, and I’ve done this before with things, but if I burn all the bridges behind me it forces me to go in a direction. So, I just loaded everything up in a 1950 Chevy pick-up and and pulled a ‘54 Spartan travel trailer over here and set it up in a trailer park. I had about two hundred dollars in my pocket and was like, you’re gonna find a job now or get kicked out! A week later I found this neon shop that I really just had a great feeling about when I first walked in and it had this small little gallery. And it had this older, older than me couple who had been in Austin and who had really just made more art related signs. And they wouldn’t hire me! So, I kept bugging them every day and every day I kept coming back until finally they were like we better hire you or get a restraining order! So, they hired me and I worked there for three years, apprenticing and learning everything I could about neon sign building and the design behind it. And then while I was working for them we were doing a lot of black Plexiglas and brushed aluminum and contemporary signage, boring stuff. And some modern, contemporary things. There was a Cajun restaurant that was opening up and they wanted this old, vintage sign and inside a sign that said Jack’s beer. So I studied the old sign design and designed and built it, put it together and weathered it. And again, just like driving past the Terminix bug my fate was set once again and I said, this is what I want to do! When I finished that job and had to go back to the Plexiglas and the aluminum it felt like I was coming back from vacation and had to get back to work. Someone told me a long time ago, “figure out what you would do for free and you’ll never work a day in your life.” And that was it. It was something that I was passionate about and I left Ion Art in 1995 and started a sign repair company named, Fast and Fair Sign Repair, just to pay the bills and had a crane truck. I’d drive around town and fix signs. But I built my first little shop in a little trailer park where Maria’s Tacos (Xpress) is now (2529 South Lamar Boulevard). It was the old slab from the laundromat and I built this little claptrap metal building on it. That was the first, in essence (Roadhouse Relics). I’d restored the neon signs at Threadgill’s in 1996 in that place. And so I was going around buying these signs and bringing them and restoring them and installing them at Threadgill’s. I built some signs for Threadgill’s- vintage neon style signs. Then I found this place (the current Roadhouse Relics Gallery 1720 South First Street) in late 1996. And I closed on it in January of 1997. The roof had collapsed and it took months hauling sections away. I live here here in this part (the front end of the gallery) and I just boarded off a little section. I lived here almost ten years. But I lived in a little trailer in the back for almost seven of it. I came up with the name Roadhouse Relics and decided to focus on commercial vintage neon and kind of started the trend towards people even nationwide are doing now with vintage signage, with commercial signs. Then in 2007 I just decided again to burn all the bridges behind me and go forward. And merge this into fine art. So, I refused to do any commercial signs after 2007. The last one that I did in Austin was Doc’s Motorworks with the little car on top (1123 South Congress). And I did restorations, I closed all of that out and just focused on making neon signs as art. For a few years it was a real struggle. But now I’ve kind of carved my own little niche in the art world. I’ve been showing work with Shepard Fairey http://roadhouserelics.com/austin-neon-artist-todd-sanders-helps-bring-shepard-faireys-power-glory-concept-to-life-in-new-exhibit/ and Jasper Johns and a lot of really big artists. My work hangs on walls with Andy Warhol’s screenprints right next to them. I’m really lucky and grateful to get to do what I do. Mine give a nod back to the original sign artists. A neon sign, in my sensibilities, needs a metal backing with a hanging and graphics and weathering. And they kind of look like in your mind that it could have been from the 1940s. But wait a minute, it says wtf with a question mark. (example of framed print version. Photo credit: Society6) http://society6.com/roadhouserelics/wtf-iwi_framed-print It’s a way to do a play on modern phrases, but still try to portray the fact that the guys from the 1930s and 40s were artists. They were considered tradesmen, like plumbers and guys who paved the road. But they honestly created art that people enjoyed. And to me they were the first Pop artists. Their stuff was art, used as commerce. From that I’ve tried to make a celebration of their lives and their contributions by doing my own contribution. *RTTA:* *I saw on your web site that you call yourself a Pop artist. So it must be very gratifying to have your work next to someone who, someone even without any art background, would say a Pop artist. Like, Andy Warhol. And say, yeah that’s art!* *TS:* Yeah, it’s a blend. It’s Pop art, it’s folk art in some ways. It’s handmade and that quaint, crude charm. It’s even modern art in a way. It transcends a couple of different art forms. But Pop art is the one that I relate to. I love Robert Rauschenberg, just all those guys. Even way before them, this guy Eduardo Paolozzi was cutting things out of magazines and pasting them together. Every time I see stuff like that it pulls me in like a full moon or something. And Marcel Duchamp, everything he did really resonates with me as well. The Pop art movement, that whole era really affected me a lot. But I didn’t really like it at first. I didn’t really like Andy Warhol when I was a kid. I was like, “what?!” And then when I finally understood the sensibilities behind it I loved it. And what’s great is the art never changed, I did. *RTTA: You kind of have your own “readymades” and found objects. Obviously, yours are * *hand-crafted. I know that you put a lot of time and effort to make them look like someone found them on Route 66.* *TS:* I always say if I do my job right, I don’t get any credit for it. It looks like something that was made before I was born. *RTTA: Speaking of “the pull” I saw on your web site this (gallery) used to be a fruit stand, long, long ago? But someone actually offered you $15,000 >not< to buy it? * TS: They wanted me to give them the contract, to sign the contract over to them. I was living in the trailer park over there. And I don’t know if you’ve ever seen Giant with James Dean and Rock Hudson and Liz Taylor. But there’s a sign in there. They’re trying to take this little piece of land away from James Dean as Jett Rink, and he’s like “if you want it that much, then it’s gotta be worth more than that. I’m gonna keep it.” And I kinda felt like him at the time. Like, if this guy wants to *give* me $15,000 to walk away... And people that I loved and respected and admired were like “do it!” “do it!” And I’m like “I’m not gonna do it.” And they were like “what!? you don’t even have the money to buy this place! You’re dreaming!” I had a 45 day contract to come up with the cash for this place and on day 42 I found an investor. So it was down to the wire. I don’t know how it happened, but this is my sanctuary. This place is like hallowed ground to me. *RTTA: And that was, when you were buying it, >before< SoCo got rebranded, when it was still pretty rough.* *TS:* This was a sketchy neighborhood, a pretty tough neighborhood. *RTTA: And now you’ve got multi-million dollar houses behind you. I’m sure you’ve seen the fancy new restaurants coming up around you, but some things still stay the same.* *Do you rotate out your pieces? On a monthly basis? Yearly?* *TS:* I rotate them as they sell. Actually in about March, maybe more like May I sold the entire gallery out. Every last piece. Some of the pieces in here are sold, they just haven’t picked them up yet. I don’t know if you remember, but one wall was lime green, this one was cobalt, and that one was yellow. So, we just took this opportunity and we’re still finishing it. And then tonight we’re going to paint the floor, hang the new show. There’s some pieces on the trailer. There’s some pieces in here. They’ll (potentially) stay around for a year. Some people are buying a house or building a house and want me to keep it for a while. But some pieces sell before I’m finished with them. I do this Mason jar fireflies and I cannot, You know I go, I’m going to do three this time because I want one to put in the gallery! And before I finish those three are already spoken for! I still don’t have one in the gallery. And if I ever do hang one in the window, it’s because it’s a wedding gift and they’re getting married in March. But I’ve never hung one that’s available for sale. And I’ve made twenty two of them. http://roadhouserelics.com/portfolio/fireflies-in-a-mason-jar/ *RTTA: Now is the first one because of- I’m not a big country fan- Miranda Lambert?* *TS: *Miranda Lambert and Blake Shelton. *RTTA: Was that the very first one and people saw it in a magazine for their wedding?* *TS: *They saw it here. They saw it on the JunkGypsy web site. (as of August 28, 2014 it doesn’t look like Junk Gypsy carries it anymore http://gypsyville.com) It was on a TV show, the Junk Gypsies. I made the first two for Miranda Lambert and Blake Shelton’s wedding. *RTAA: Now obviously you have your personal favorite piece, your proposal. Which makes guys with an army of pugs and balloons totally pale in comparison. I was like wow! For someone to a) make a personal piece, but b) as a proposal. I’m assuming she did not say no once she found her words? * http://roadhouserelics.com/portfolio/past-work/ (radio butto *TS:* No, and I almost put “yes,” “no” neon switches. But I’m not givin her the out, you know? Not give her the option to click the “no” switch. So yeah, she said yes. *RTTA: Now can I ask, is it in your home?* *TS:* It’s at our home, outside. I made this little barn that looks like the Grand Ol Opry and it’s right next to this restored travel trailer that is my wife’s craft studio. We have five pieces of neon art at our house. My son has a neon cowboy in his bedroom. *RTTA: Do you have any other favorite pieces? Or is it hard to choose a favorite?* *TS: *Well, I have favorites for different reasons. You know, the iconic pieces, like the Mercury Head http://roadhouserelics.com/portfolio/mercury-man/ I made it for the Continental Club (and when Johnny Depp was in town he liked it so much he custom ordered one for himself!) The Mason jars are really neat. They don’t have words on them and they’re iconic, graphic pieces content to be. Another favorite is this fleur de lis. http://roadhouserelics.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/Fleur-de-lis.jpg I did it as a tribute to the spirit of post-Katrina New Orleans. It’s got the flood stains, like the buildings have on them. And I felt compelled to create it. But I didn’t want to profit from that situation. So, I donated the profits to the St. Bernard Housing Project. http://www.stbernardproject.org/our-programs/opportunity-housing/ And they’re building a kitchen right now. Things like that really make me proud. I want to be able to create happiness with my art. But if the after-effect of my success is to help other people out, that’s a grand slam for me. *RTTA: And what has been your biggest piece to date?* *TS: *Well, let’s see. I’ve made a piece that was twenty feet long for a restaurant in Canada. I made it about a year ago, ten months ago. That’s one of the biggest. But I made this big five foot by eight foot sign that says “used cars” and it has this chasing arrow and triple strobe neon. It’s in a Beverly Hills private car collection. It’s kind of a joke. It’s used cars, but it’s Clark Gable’s Mercedes and technically they’re used, but... That’s one of the biggest pieces too. http://roadhouserelics.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/UsedCars.jpg I’ve restored enormous neon signs. I’ve restored the State Theater. It’s two stories tall. But that was in a previous lifetime. I don’t do that sort of thing anymore. It helped me learn about sign design and how signs are wired. It was part of the journey. http://www.austintheatre.org/site/PageNavigator/venues/state *RTTA: Well, my closing question is do you have any favorite weird places in Austin? Or favorite neon spots? * *TS: *I love the Continental Club. I used to love Helvida’s. I designed the sign and it used to be a redneck, South Austin version of Cheers. I had a drink named after me there, I went there so much. But there’s these little iconic pockets, like the Cathedral of Junk (4422 Lareina Drive). And the east side’s burgeoning now with a lot of new, exciting things going on. A real favorite of mine is the East Studio Tour http://east.bigmedium.org/ Get some comfortable shoes on and hitting all the neat little art studios. It’s a lot of fun. But my favorite part of Austin is right where I’m at now. This little strip. I’ve always had this vision of it being little art galleries because of these tiny little buildings with tiny little parking lots not good for much except law office (like the one across the street) or art galleries. And the law offices are winning. *Laughs*. Another favorite is Uncommon Objects (1512 South Congress) put in a plug for those guys. It’s great. http://www.uncommonobjects.com/ *** To try to describe Mr. Sanders’s process via the written word would be insulting to the filmmakers who have already loving captured his process and whose work is showcased under the Videos section on RoadhouseRelics.com So, I shall merely direct you there to see “a lot of pushing pencils and markers around to just get one sign made.” -from the Glow featuring Todd Sanders of Roadhouse Relics video http://roadhouserelics.com/videos.html I’ve said a lot, but I’ll leave you with words so beautiful, they should be a poem from Mr. Sanders’s Full Biography on his web site, *“He dreams of finding a forgotten town some day and resurrecting it as an installation full of shimmering neon, transformers buzzing like a high-voltage symphony. **If it evokes a scene from one of his favorite films, Disney-Pixar’s “Cars,” that’s fine with him. That animated film, a love letter to the same era he expresses in neon, is a future classic. Just like his art.”*– http://roadhouserelics.com/about-roadhouse-relics/full-biography.html Roadhouse Relics is open, by appointment. For more information please visit http://www.roadhouserelics.com Email [email protected] Or call 512-442-6366 If you’re in the area peek in the window at 1720 S. First Street Austin, TX 78704 Roadhouse Relics is available for custom orders http://roadhouserelics.com/custom-work.html Or, if you lack the wall space to showcase his beautiful designs, there are prints available as well as other authentic Roadhouse Relics gear via Society6 http://society6.com/roadhouserelics With thanks to Todd Sanders and RoadhouseRelics.com, who supplemented the biographical information and artistic background for this interview.